Key takeaways
- Entry is timed and the number of tickets per day is limited. In July and August the midday slots go first; book one or two weeks ahead. How the ticket system works.
- The palace is closed every Monday, all year. The park is open. Opening hours and the other closed days.
- The sanssouci+ day ticket opens every open SPSG palace in Potsdam that day, with a fixed Sanssouci slot. It is more walking than most people expect. When it is the right buy.
- The interior takes about 40 minutes; the park takes a day. Plan the rest of your time around that gap. Three sample itineraries.
- Berlin to Potsdam is 25 minutes by regional train or 40 on the S7. Then bus 695 or X15 to the palace. Every route, including the boat.
What the ticket gets you
The confusion at the Historic Windmill counter is nearly always about this: what the palace ticket covers, what was free all along, and what nobody sells you at all.
With the palace ticket
- Entry to the ten rooms of Sanssouci Palace at your booked time
- With sanssouci+, one-time entry that day to the other open SPSG palaces in Potsdam, including the New Palace
- Felt overshoes at the door and free lockers for large bags at the visitor centre
- A route you cannot get lost on: one direction, connected doorways, out the far end
Free without a ticket
- Sanssouci Park, all of it, from 8 am until dusk
- The six vineyard terraces, the 132 steps and the Great Fountain
- Frederick’s grave on the top terrace, potatoes and all
- The SANSSOUCI multimedia app in 12 languages — bring headphones
Not included
- A live guide inside the palace — the interior is self-guided with the app
- Transport from Berlin or from Potsdam Hauptbahnhof
- Refunds: the day ticket sold on GetYourGuide is non-refundable
- Guaranteed seasonal buildings — most shut outside spring to October
The visit, room by room
The walk from the visitor centre to the exit, in the order you will do it. I have done it enough times to know where it slows down.
Everyone goes through the same way, because the enfilade only runs in one direction. The slot on your ticket is for the Ehrenhof door at the top; how you get up there is your choice.
- Historic Windmill visitor centre — Same-day tickets from 30 minutes before opening, free lockers for backpacks, the pram park. Closed Mondays, like the palace.
- The 132 steps, or the upper ramp — From the Great Fountain the terraces take five to ten minutes on foot. The step-free route is along the upper Maulbeerallee.
- The Ehrenhof at your slot — The courtyard on the north side. Be there at the time printed on the ticket; felt overshoes are handed out here.
- The vestibule — The entrance hall. Start the app now if you are using it.
- The Marble Hall — Oval and domed, the centre of the building. This is where the crowd bunches up, every time, so let the group ahead move on.
- The concert room — The first of the king’s rooms to the east.
- The study and bedroom — Where Frederick worked and slept; he died in this palace in 1786.
- The library — Circular and cedar-panelled. Most people photograph it from the doorway.
- The gallery — The long room along the north side.
- The guest rooms and the Voltaire Room — Five guest rooms to the west; Voltaire was Frederick’s guest at court from 1750 to 1753.
- The exit — About 40 minutes after you went in, at a comfortable pace.
- Frederick’s grave on the top terrace — A plain stone slab beside the greyhounds, free to visit, buried here at last on 17 August 1991.
- The Picture Gallery next door — Built 1755–1764, the oldest purpose-built museum building in Germany. Seasonal, so check the day’s list.
What to look for in each room is on what to see inside; the rules on cameras are on photos inside the palace. If steps are the problem, the upper approach and the companion rule are set out on accessibility.
How booking works
Pick a day that is not a Monday
Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:30 from April to October and to 16:30 from November to March. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing.
Choose the slot, not just the date
The 10:00 opening or the last hour before closing are the quiet ends of the day. Midday goes first in summer.
Book, then screenshot it
Ticket in the GetYourGuide widget below, or through SPSG directly. The GetYourGuide day ticket cannot be refunded, so be sure of the date.
Be at the Ehrenhof on time
Leave the big backpack in a locker at the Historic Windmill, climb the terraces, and show the ticket at the courtyard door.
Live dates for the Sanssouci day ticket
The sanssouci+ ticket as sold on GetYourGuide: a fixed slot for the palace plus the other open Potsdam palaces that day. Pick the earliest slot you can face.
Ticket alone, coach from Berlin, or a private guide?
Three ways into the same ten rooms. The middle column is where most Berlin visitors land; the left is where Potsdam locals send their friends.
| Most flexiblePotsdam: Sanssouci Palace and Prussian Palaces Entry Ticket | From Berlin: Potsdam and Sanssouci Palace Tour with Entry | Potsdam: Private Walking Tour of Potsdam and Sanssouci | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Format | Timed-entry day ticket, self-guided | Coach tour with a live guide | Private walking tour, per group |
| Duration | About 40 minutes inside; the day is yours | 4 hours from Kurfürstendamm and back | 2 hours from Potsdam Hauptbahnhof |
| Palace interior | Included, at your booked slot | Included, about 45 minutes with fast-lane entry | Included, with the audio-guided visit |
| Guide | None — the free SANSSOUCI app | Live guide, English and German | Your own guide, German or English |
| Transport | Not included | Return coach from central Berlin | Not included — meet at the station |
| Cancellation | Non-refundable | Free up to 24 hours before | Free up to 24 hours before |
| Rating | 4.5 · 2,634 reviews | 4.7 · 1,310 reviews | 4.9 · 42 reviews |
| Book this → | View → | View → |
Photo Gallery
Sanssouci, from the fountain to the far end of the park
The palace, the room everyone stops in, and four of the buildings a day ticket adds.
The tickets and tours we compare
Four ways to see Sanssouci, from the plain day ticket to a private guide. The small-group walking tour from Berlin is on tours from Berlin.
Palace ticketPotsdam: Sanssouci Palace and Prussian Palaces Entry Ticket
From BerlinFrom Berlin: Potsdam and Sanssouci Palace Tour with Entry
Most reviewedPotsdam: City and Castles Tour
PrivatePotsdam: Private Walking Tour of Potsdam and Sanssouci
What visitors wrote afterwards
Reviews left on GetYourGuide for the tickets and tours above.
Everything worked out wonderfully. Thanks to the time slots, the palace is not overcrowded.
Susan does a spectacular commentary about the history of the city.
Stefan is a nice guide who makes people pay attention.
Ratings and reviews are the operators’ live GetYourGuide figures. Read our full tour reviews ›
Quick answers before you book
The four things people ask me at the gate, answered in the order they ask them.
Single ticket or sanssouci+?
If you are only going into Sanssouci Palace, the single palace ticket is enough. If you intend to walk to the New Palace as well, sanssouci+ covers both with a fixed Sanssouci slot and, optionally, a New Palace slot. The full list of what it opens is seasonal.
What if the slots are gone?
The park, the terraces and the grave need no ticket. Same-day tickets are sold at the Historic Windmill from 30 minutes before opening, but by noon in July they are usually finished. Coming from Berlin, a tour with entry included carries its own slot.
Can I bring a bag and a pram?
Small handbags go in with you. Large backpacks go into the free lockers at the visitor centre and prams stay in the pram park at the entrance. Felt overshoes are handed out to protect the floors.
Where do I eat afterwards?
The café at the Historic Windmill visitor centre is closest; the Drachenhaus is a pagoda-style café inside the park; Brandenburger Straße in town does lunch. More on where to eat.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Sanssouci Palace tickets and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Sanssouci Palace, explained
I grew up in Potsdam-West and I still walk the park most weeks, so I have watched the same scene at the Historic Windmill counter more times than I can count: a family arrives at noon on a July Saturday, asks for four tickets, and is told the afternoon is gone. Or they arrive on a Monday and find the door locked. Both are avoidable, and avoiding them is most of what this site is for.
Timed entry, a daily cap, and the Monday trap
Every visit to the palace interior is bound to a fixed admission time, and the number of tickets per day is limited. Same-day tickets are sold at the visitor centre at the Historic Windmill from 30 minutes before the palace opens, but SPSG itself recommends booking online in advance, and in summer I would put it more strongly than that. Midday slots go first. In July and August, book one or two weeks ahead and take the 10:00 opening slot or the last hour before closing; the terrace steps at midday are the other pinch point, and the early slot avoids both.
The palace is closed every Monday, all year. The park is not: it opens at 8 am every day, and the terraces and the grave are part of the park. So a Monday in Potsdam is a park day. The hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:30 from April to October and 10:00 to 16:30 from November to March, last admission 30 minutes before closing. The New Palace closes on Tuesdays instead. The whole table is on opening hours.
Single ticket, sanssouci+, or a tour
There are three ways in, and the right one depends on how much of the day you are giving Potsdam. The single palace ticket does exactly what it says: Sanssouci Palace, at your slot, ten rooms, out. If that is all you want, buy that and spend the rest of the day in the park for nothing. The sanssouci+ day ticket adds one-time entry that day to all the open SPSG palaces in Potsdam, with a fixed Sanssouci slot and optionally a New Palace slot. Sanssouci and the New Palace are open year-round; the rest are seasonal, roughly spring to October, so check the day’s list. The version sold on GetYourGuide is the sanssouci+ ticket, and it is non-refundable, which is the main gripe in its reviews. The other gripe is the walking: the New Palace is about 2.5 km from Sanssouci, 30 to 35 minutes on foot. The whole decision is on the sanssouci+ ticket.
The third way is a tour that carries its own slot. The four-hour coach from Kurfürstendamm in Berlin gives you a guided drive through Potsdam, about 45 minutes in the palace with fast-lane entry and the audio tour, and the ride back. The two-hour private walking tour from Potsdam Hauptbahnhof includes the palace ticket and the audio-guided visit, priced per group. Both cancel free up to 24 hours before, which the plain ticket does not. There is no standard live guided tour inside the palace for individuals; the interior is self-guided with the free SANSSOUCI app, which is why the tours bring a guide for the city and hand you the audio inside. The full set is on all tickets and tours.
Forty minutes inside, and what to do with the rest
The interior takes about 30 to 40 minutes at a comfortable pace, or an hour if you listen to the app in full. People plan a day around it and are out before eleven. That is not a failing of the palace; it is a single-storey building with ten rooms, built 1745 to 1747 so that Frederick could step from his study straight into the garden, and it was never meant to be vast. The Marble Hall is where the crowd bunches up, always; let the group ahead move through it. The library is circular and cedar-panelled, and most people photograph it from the doorway.
So plan the rest. Palace, terraces and grave together take an hour and a half. Add the Picture Gallery next door and a walk to the Chinese House and you have half a day. The whole park, with the New Palace at the western end, is a full day; Frank Olaf from Germany, who did both palaces on one ticket, wrote that one day is not enough to see everything. He is right, and it is fine. If Potsdam itself is the day you have, one day in Potsdam lays it out.
Getting there without a tour
From Berlin, the regional trains take about 25 minutes to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof and the S7 about 40, both on a Berlin ABC-zone ticket. From the station, bus 695 or X15 to the stop Schloss Sanssouci takes about 10 minutes; walking through the old town is about 2.5 km and 35 minutes, and it is a good walk. To do the park west to east, get off at Potsdam Park Sanssouci station instead and start at the New Palace. Drivers have the paid car park P1 at the Historic Windmill, but the train is easier. Every route, including the seasonal boat from Wannsee, is on how to get there.
The grave and the potatoes
Frederick died at Sanssouci in 1786. He wanted to be buried on the top terrace beside his Italian greyhounds, and Prussia ignored him for two centuries; the wish was only fulfilled on 17 August 1991, after reunification. The grave is a plain stone slab, free to visit, and there are always potatoes on it, because he pushed potato cultivation in Prussia and the country has not forgotten. The story goes that Napoleon visited the earlier tomb in the Garrison Church in October 1806 and told his marshals: hats off, gentlemen; if he were still alive, we would not be here. I would end every visit at the slab. It needs no ticket, no slot and no Monday check, and it is the one place in the park where the visitors go quiet on their own.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need tickets for Sanssouci Palace?
For the interior, yes: every palace visit is bound to a fixed admission time and the number of tickets per day is limited. For the park, the terraces and Frederick’s grave, no. Same-day tickets exist at the Historic Windmill, but in summer I would not rely on them. The three ticket types are explained on Sanssouci Palace tickets.
Is Sanssouci Palace worth visiting?
For the terraces, the library and the Marble Hall, yes, and it is a far shorter commitment than most people fear. It disappoints visitors who expect a vast state palace; it is ten rooms and a single storey, by design. My longer answer, including when Berlin’s own Baroque palace at Charlottenburg is the better use of a day, is on is it worth visiting.
How long does it take to visit Sanssouci Palace?
About 30 to 40 minutes inside at a comfortable pace with the app, or an hour if you listen to everything. Add the terraces and the grave and it is an hour and a half. The whole park with the New Palace at the far end is a full day. Three itineraries are on how long to visit.
Who is buried at Sanssouci?
Frederick the Great, on the top terrace beside his Italian greyhounds, under a plain stone slab. He died at Sanssouci in 1786 and asked to be buried there, but the wish was only fulfilled on 17 August 1991. Visitors leave potatoes; he pushed potato cultivation in Prussia. The grave needs no ticket. The story, including Napoleon’s visit to the earlier tomb, is on Frederick’s grave.
Can you take photos inside Sanssouci Palace?
Personal photos without flash are allowed in most rooms; tripods, selfie sticks and flash are not, and the rules are posted at each room entrance. SPSG has in the past sold a photo permit, so check on the day whether one is still required at the counter. Details on photos inside.
What are the opening hours of Sanssouci Park?
The park is open every day from 8 am until dusk, including Mondays, and it is free; a voluntary contribution is suggested at the gates. Only the palaces and museum buildings need a ticket, and most of those apart from Sanssouci and the New Palace are seasonal. Entrances and a walking route are on Sanssouci Park.
How do I get from Berlin to Sanssouci Palace?
Regional trains reach Potsdam Hauptbahnhof in about 25 minutes and the S7 in about 40, both on a Berlin ABC-zone ticket. From the station, bus 695 or X15 to the stop Schloss Sanssouci takes about 10 minutes. Regional trains also stop at Potsdam Park Sanssouci, near the New Palace end. All of it is on how to get there.
When is the best time to visit Sanssouci?
The 10:00 opening slot or the last hour before closing, on any day but Monday. Late April to mid June and September are the easy months for slots; mid-September to late October has the best light on the yellow façade; July and August need booking one or two weeks ahead. Month by month on best time to visit.
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