Buy Online Tickets for Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam near Berlin

Tickets for Schloss Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam are sold online or from the palace. Tours are a further advance reservation option to see Frederick the Great’s favorite residence.

©TMB-Fotoarchiv/Boldt/Schloss Sanssouci (SPSG)

Tickets to see Fredrick the Great of Prussia’s favorite palace, Schloss Sanssouci, in Potsdam near Berlin may be bought online or at the palace itself. Guided tours are a further option to make advance reservations to see Schloss Sanssouci and ensure that visitors will actually be able to see the preferred residence of Prussian King Friedrich II. Discount and combination tickets are available to see many of the palaces in Park Sanssouci as well as other properties in the region managed by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten / SPSG). The royal palaces in Potsdam are very popular day-trip destinations from Berlin.

Buying Tickets for Schloss Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam

Admission tickets for Schloss Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam near Berlin are available online or at the ticket office at Sanssouci Palace itself. Online, the only option is a premium day ticket, which gives admission to most of the palaces and royal properties in Potsdam

Tickets for Schloss Sanssouci are available from the Visitors Center (Besucherzentrum) at the Historical Windmill and most of the most other palace ticket offices in Potsdam if part of the premium ticket. Schloss Sanssouci is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage-listed property and in order to preserve the palace and its fragile interior, the number of daily visitors is severely restricted.

Online tickets for Schloss Sanssouci are available months in advance but the number of tickets available are limited making early reservations sensible. Visitors must enter the palace at the specific date and specific time stated on the ticket. The €2 surcharge for online reservations is usually money well spent.

Tickets for admission to Schloss Sanssouci bought at the palace ticket window are only for the same day and the specific time stated on the ticket. Visitors must arrive at the palace entrance on time for the stated tour, which is either a guided tour in German or with an audio guide.

Tips for Buying Tickets for Schloss Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam

Tickets are always sold on the day at Schloss Sanssouci Palace but as sensible visitors will now reserve online, the number of tickets at the palace itself will be even more limited than previously. Tickets are available Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am onwards and often sell out early, especially on weekends and during the summer holiday season. The number of tickets any individual can buy is limited to prevent reselling.

Queuing at the ticket office usually start a few minutes before 10:00 but the reservation computers are only online from 10:00 sharp. Screens display available times but these may disappear fast as tickets are also sold at other offices.

It is not necessary to take the first time slot that becomes available. Visitors planning to travel to Neues Palais (New Palace) while waiting to enter Schloss Sanssouci will need several hours for the journey and to tour Frederick the Great’s grandest palace. However, if the weather allows, it is easy to spend an hour or two in the park below Sanssouci Palace or to see nearby sights such as the Orangerie and the Picture Gallery (Bildergalerie).

Admission tickets to Schloss Sanssouci are currently €12 (€8 from November to March). Most visitors will benefit from the wide range of discount, family, and combined tickets available for properties managed by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg.

The sanssouci+ day ticket for all palaces in Potsdam (including Schloss Sanssouci) cost €19 when bought in Potsdam or €21 when bough online. A family ticket for two adults and up to four children under 18 is €49. These premium day tickets are the only option available for online purchases – currently a paper printout is essential. (Tours usually allow mobile phone tickets.)

Photography for private use is allowed (no flash, no tripods) but requires a Photo Permit (Fotoerlaubnis), which is €3 per day for all palaces.

See Schloss Sanssouci Palace on a Guided Tour of Potsdam

Tour groups can (and must) make advance reservations for touring Schloss Sanssouci. Joining an organized tour is thus an option to see Sanssouci Palace on a busy day.

Many tours are available from Berlin to Potsdam – see Get Your Guide for some examples. Note that just because a photo of Sanssouci is shown with a tour does not imply that the interior will be seen – anyone can see the exterior for free. Tours that include the interior of Sanssouci Palace usually state so very clearly, e.g. Tiqets and GetYourGuide – both allow for mobile phone tickets. If in doubt, enquire before booking.

Public transportation back to Berlin is easy and cheap, so simply abandon the tour after seeing Sanssouci if planning to spend more time in Potsdam than the guided tour allows.

Transportation to Potsdam from Berlin is fast and cheap by train making the Prussian royal palaces in Potsdam an ideal day-trip destination from Berlin. ABC public transportation tickets include all of Berlin as well as Potsdam.

Henk Bekker in armor

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance travel writer with over 20 years of experience writing online. He is particularly interested in history, art, and culture. He has lived most of his adult life in Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark. In addition to European-Traveler.com, he also owns a travel website on the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland and maintains statistical websites on car sales and classic car auction prices. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Development Finance from the University of London.