Chiemsee & Herreninsel

The Chiemsee is the largest lake in Bavaria and, for its size, is called the Bavarian Sea. On the Herreninsel, King Ludwig II had the lavish Herrenchiemsee Palace built as a replica of Versailles. Boats connect the islands, including the idyllic Fraueninsel with its convent.

Highlights

• Largest lake in Bavaria (the Bavarian Sea)
• Herrenchiemsee Palace on the Herreninsel
• Idyllic Fraueninsel with convent
• Boat service between the islands

Good to know

Practical info

Background & History

The Chiemsee is the largest lake in Bavaria and, because of its breadth and its often choppy waves, is affectionately called the “Bavarian Sea”. It came into being at the end of the last Ice Age, when a mighty glacier gouged out the basin; originally it was far larger and silted up gradually at its edges over the course of the millennia. In the lake lie several islands, of which the Herreninsel and the Fraueninsel have played an important role as monastery sites since the early Middle Ages and are among the oldest religious centres in all of Bavaria.

The Herreninsel became world-famous through King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who from the year 1878 had his Herrenchiemsee Palace built here, a sumptuous replica of the French Palace of Versailles, with which he expressed his admiration for the Sun King Louis XIV. The construction devoured enormous sums and remained unfinished at the king’s early death, but to this day impresses with its magnificent hall of mirrors. On the nearby Fraueninsel a Benedictine convent has existed for over a thousand years, whose history is closely interwoven with the early history of Bavaria and which gives the quiet, fisherman-inhabited islet its unmistakable, peaceful character and makes it to this day a place of contemplation.