Dachau – Art, Old Town and Palace Gardens

Dachau combines an important history of landscape painting with a protected Old Town, palace gardens and a special commemorative route. If you want to bring together different interests during your stay, you will find both art and local history here, as well as specific ways to spend time outdoors. Which holiday apartment is right for you also depends on whether you mainly want to explore the Old Town or include other destinations, such as the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, in your stay.

Artists’ Colony and Local History

The permanent exhibition at the Dachau Picture Gallery is devoted to the origins and development of landscape painting in Dachau, from its beginnings to well into the 20th century. Around 200 paintings and a selection of sculptures explore this subject; the focus is on the Dachau artists’ colony, which flourished around 1900. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dachau was one of Europe’s most important artists’ colonies. The collection also includes 19th- and early 20th-century landscapes and genre paintings.

The Dachau District Museum offers a different perspective on the past: across three floors, it presents the cultural history of the town and district. In addition to its permanent exhibition, it regularly hosts special exhibitions. Regular guided tours of Dachau Palace provide further opportunities to learn about the history of the area. If you want to focus your stay on art, local history or the palace, you can plan visits around these different interests.

Old Town and Palace Gardens

The historic Old Town is protected as an architectural ensemble and invites you to stroll and linger. The Picture Gallery, District Museum, St. Jakob Parish Church, Town Hall and Dachau Palace are all within easy walking distance in the historic Old Town. The parish church defines the townscape with its 44-metre-high octagonal tower, visible from far away. On the south side of the nave is an 18th-century sundial that shows the time, month and zodiac sign.

The Dachau Palace Gardens bring together a variety of garden features: a Baroque linden-tree pergola, old garden walls, fruit trees and flower beds, as well as a small adjoining wood. The bee nature trail adds another theme to a visit to the gardens. Information boards explain the beehives; five colonies of bees live in the English Garden section of the palace gardens. If you are interested in gardens and bees, you can include these impressions alongside the museums and Old Town during your stay.

The Path of Remembrance and Getting There

The “Path of Remembrance” leads from Dachau railway station to the visitor centre at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Twelve information panels have lined the route since 2007. The path is three kilometres long and takes about 45 minutes on foot. The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on 24 December. You can plan this visit as a separate focus alongside exploring the historic Old Town.

To travel from Munich, the S2 suburban train runs directly from Munich Central Station to Dachau station without a change; the journey takes around 20 minutes. From the station, the 719 city bus takes passengers to the Old Town every ten minutes on weekdays and Saturdays until 2 p.m. On Sundays and public holidays, bus routes 720 and 722 run there. This information can help you factor in your arrival and getting around Dachau when choosing where to stay, without combining the different destinations into a single itinerary.

The Dachau Picture Gallery and Dachau District Museum are open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. You can plan your visit days around the subjects that interest you: art and the artists’ colony, cultural history, the palace and gardens, or the Path of Remembrance to the memorial site.

More local pages: Pellheim, Haimhausen, Röhrmoos, Hilgertshausen-Tandern, Bergkirchen, Schwabhausen, Vierkirchen, Sulzemoos.

For the overview of the wider region: Dachau.