Potsdam Palaces, a warning

Have you used this --- https://www.ricksteves.com/forms/guidebook-feedback-form to report on the current conditions?

That sounds like a pretty awkward system. Thanks for the heads up!

FYI, Guidebook Updates for Germany

It's always a good idea to go directly to the site's website for the most current information. R.S. and other guidebooks, the wonderfully detailed traveler's blog that explains exactly how to get from point A to point B, the friend who visited five years ago (or last month), and anyone else who isn't on site daily is easily subject to being out of date.

I've had the experience of being ready to board a train for a day trip and luckily doing a random check of the website to discover that the location I was heading toward was closed for movie filming that day. Or, to learn that a location was closed during my timeframe due to a private party. I arrived at a small art museum in Bremen two weeks ago to find it closed due to staff illness. That was not updated on the website. Point is, there are often unexpected changes, some can be found before arrival, others not.

Tom, I'm sorry Neues Palace and Sans Souci wasn't all you expected. I know I found a lot of info and maps online that helped me plan my visit. Pre-Covid - that would all be out-of-date now!

Some years ago (2011, 2012 ?) I went on the guided tour of Potsdam which obviously included Sans Souci and Neues Palais. We were allowed to get off the bus and walk on the premises at both sites with the tour guide. The tour took us back to its starting point, Potsdam Hbf.

I wanted to get back to Neues Palais, (the salient events in the July Crisis of 1914 connected with the German government took place in Neues Palais) so I took the bus in front of the Hbf. Several bus lines start from this point. Signs indicate which one to take. It's another ten minute or so walk from the bus stop to Neues Palais.

True, you had to buy the ticket from the ticket office right then and there. No preordering, etc and was told repeatedly by the woman in charge the next scheduled tour was only given in German. I told her that posed no problem at all. She continued to say that over and over, at which point I almost snapped at her in German, since we had been speaking in German the entire time. Obvious, isn't it?

Part of Neues Palais also serves as a campus for university of Potsdam.

t's always a good idea to go directly to the site's website for the most current information

There’s no mention of any of this on the official website.

Neues Palace and Sans Souci wasn't all you expected.

I didn’t say that. I wished I had known about the art gallery and visited that, and skipped the windmill and kitchen. I also wish I didn’t have to spend an hour and a half milling around the Neues Palace waiting for a late afternoon tour. It’s not near an interesting part of the grounds. Early in the day visitors can get right in.

the salient events in the July Crisis of 1914 connected with German government took place in Neues Palais

I couldn’t believe that the audio guide (which the non-German speakers carry during the German language tours) didn’t mention historical events, it’s all about wallpaper silk and wildlife scenes.

I went on the guided tour of Potsdam

I am not a tour person generally but it’s all such a production with intricate strategizing that this may be the better way to go.

There’s no mention of any of this on the official website.

It is mentioned in a red-framed box on the ticket booking page before seeing the booking options; although the German text version is imo more clearly.

Tom_MN: Did you post / write your other feedback also to provider SPSG? I think they are willing to improve.

I remember that I had purchased my Sans Souci ticket for what turned out to be a less than optimal time for my visit. I asked if I could switch times, but was told "No", even though there were time slots available for when I wanted to tour. I could have purchased another ticket, but the inconvenience wasn't worth it for me. So, I also walked around the park a bit longer than I wanted after the Neues Palace. It is what it is!

I'm glad I misread you post, Tom. You did enjoy the visit? If the warning is re the RS guide, not the situation in Potsdam, I think my "rule of thumb" still stands. I wouldn't trust a guidebook, RS or others, even when updates are provided. I have similarly found errors in RS guides to various locations and many, many, many oversights of places of great interest to me and others. This is Rick's Europe, not a bad start, but not fully comprehensive.

Mark: Unfortunately there are dozens of connected pages and it’s not a simple start at A, click to B, buy on C. They oversee so many sites also, all around Potsdam and Berlin. One can’t just go the sanssouci.org site, I had to keep web searching to find the ticket page.

What really needs to be communicated is that all the spots may be gone by 3:30 and that is not in the red box. (Last summer tour starts at 5 ends at 6.)

My main gripe is that RS is so breezy about getting into the Neues Palace when it’s not that simple now. Also the windmill and kitchen are not that interesting, when the unmentioned by RS art gallery did look interesting.

Over the years I have taken guided tours of Potsdam given by different companies, which try to entice you as you go up the stairs into Potsdam Hbf. They don't all show the same places...good.

Still, Sans Souci and Neues Palais are always featured in these tours. One company's tour I took included seeing the former site of the Soviet KGB HQ in Potsdam, which I wasn't interested in seeing at all.

I find Rick too “breezy” about most places! To me, he seems stuck in the 1980s mode of thinking and traveling - back when he started. I’ve been traveling solo since the 1970s and find each year that I need more and more info, more detailed planning, and at least one contingency plan for most outings!

ORDtraveler: I completed agree.

Thinking about this more I think I made a cultural misstep.

In the US it often happens when there are 2 nearby sites that are say $15 each, a combination ticket priced at $25 covering both sites is frequently sold (pricing is approximate). In this sense a “combination ticket” guarantees access to both sites. That was my assumption.

But in this sense a combination ticket is really a day pass to all the Prussian royal sites, subject to the rules of each site. So looking at it as a day pass and not a combination pass the setup makes more sense, and the assumption of guaranteed access was not correct.

To me again it seems less a cultural topic than more a simple read-what-you-buy topic.

Original text from the booking webpage of SPSG:

"Combined ticket Sanssouci+ Online
Valid for a single visit to all* the SPSG palaces in Potsdam open to the public on one day, incl. a fixed admission time slot for Sanssouci Palace (not valid for Sacrow Palace and Stern Hunting Lodge, special exhibitions are excluded). In the Belvedere Pfingstberg, ticket owners are granted the reduced rate."

Nothing against statements about RS guidebook.

One thing I like about RS guidebooks is that they give you detailed strategies about how to visit certain sites (whether you need to reserve, what to visit first, where to buy tickets, etc.)

It sounds like the guidebook is not up to date. That’s frustrating. Unfortunately, it happens a lot, with all guidebooks, not just RS.

Hope you are enjoying your trip, despite the annoyances. I’m hoping to get to Potsdam soon, so thanks for the updates.

Here’s the usage of “combination ticket” I had assumed https://www.jyfmuseums.org/visit/tickets

What’s missing is website text that even though the closing time of the Neues Palace is listed as 5 or 6 pm the last tickets are given out by 3:30 or so.

Because I forgot to make screen captures of our tickets (no cellular service), I stopped by the Sans Souci visitor center to get a pdf printed and then received the warning to immediately go to the Neues Palace to get a ticket after our timed Sans Souci entry or we would miss it. Perhaps the only instance of NOT having cellular service saving the day. I entered Sans Souci 10 minutes early without issue to increase odds of getting NP tickets.

Maybe a good strategy:

Buy online Sans Souci ticket for 2 pm

Get to Neues Palace by 10 am, so a fairly early Berlin departure, S-Bahn by 8 or so. If you bring a picnic lunch you will have to use a locker here to store it. There is food at either palace.

After NP tour walk to Chinese Pavilion, then the gardens below Sans Souci. Fill time as necessary with the art gallery, kitchen, or the windmill.

A later start would be to go to NP by noon to get a 4-5 pm entry, proceed to the Sans Souci area then double back to NP to end the day there.

If one goes through the postcards available for purchase in the Potsdam Tourist Office (where I arranged the lovely boat ride on the Havel ie,. seeing Potsdam from the Havel), there is one specific card called Potsdamer Schloesser, with pictures of the various Schloesser in the Potsdam area, a very revealing historical and cultural activity. Admittedly , I've only been to 3, aside from the obvious, Sans Souci: Neues Palais, Paretz, and Babelsberg.