Cecilienhof Palace

Every room exudes its own story and character. I especially loved the art collections and decorations that preserve the spirit of the 1920s. The gardens are perfect for relaxing after the tour, and the overall atmosphere of the place reminded me of how fascinating and real history is, not just something we read in books.

Relatively small palace but the architecture is beautiful and the history is really interesting. This is where the US, UK and former Soviet held the Potsdam conference. If you visit Potsdam I highly recommend to visit this palace! We were here after Sanssouci palace and had only 2 hours but we needed more time, learned so much from the audio guide too.

Blown away by the glorious beauty and the history of the place. Achingly gorgeous setting, sobering history. The gardens were in full bloom, an explosion of color that set off the Tudor-style mansion. Very surreal to imagine the events here that shaped the 20th century. Phenomenal woodwork - I could see the similarities with the James J. Hill mansion in St. Paul. Lots of fantastic books in every room. An absolute must-see.

Worth the short bus ride to get to. It’s a unique palace/country house with a lot of history behind it. Many of the rooms on the inside are set up how they were during the Potsdam Conference which is interesting to see.

A beautiful, calm place with splendid view of lake, river and lawns.

A must if you love architecture and WWII sites! The Tudor villa is amazing and its gardens immaculate. The outside is free but if you want to visit the inside downstairs where the Potsdam conference happened, you will need a ticket! I just purchased on site and they have free audio guide too! Cash and credit cards accepted! You need to use lockers for backpacks make sure you have euro coin and filming was not allowed. The beautiful red star garden is only seen from the inside! Highly recommend!

What an amazing place! So much history. No backpacks inside as the space is smaller than you'd think. Make sure to download the app to hear the navigation and information for each space!

At first glance, it seemed like a normal palace but it holds a dual history. One of the kings before the fall of the empires and other the after WW2 history. Many historical figures lived here who decided the aftermath of the world after WW2. It's the iconic conference venue of the conference. Around this you have an excellent beautiful garden. Wonderful lake. Nearby other palaces. Overall it's a must visit place. You can be part of WW2 history.

While called a castle, the facade of this historic landmark appears more like a country mansion than a castle in the traditional sense. It's built in a Tudor Revival style, started construction in 1914 and completed in 1917. It's not small with a total of 176 rooms, though only about 20 are open to the public. Tickets are available in person and in advance online and are recommended since they time the flow of people entering to not overcrowd the limited space inside. If you purchase the Sansoucci+ package, basic entry is also included. Aside from basic entry, separate tickets for tours are roughly once every 30 minutes, have limited language availability depending on the time, and book up quickly. I'd also suggest booking these in advance because when I arrived around 11:30am on a Saturday, times thru mid-afternoon were already full. Ticketing staff is able to assist in English if needed, though the attendants in individual rooms spoke German only. Inside in the viewable rooms, there were descriptions in both English and German, however info was limited to 1-2 placards per room. Like some other reviews have mentioned there's not too much in-depth info you'll get by viewing the rooms yourself unless you download the app which provides a guided tour in a language of your choice. WiFi is available and free. The path of the rooms can be completed in roughly 30 minutes, and the rooms themselves weren't super impressive aside from showcasing some period furnishings from the early-mid 20th century. I do agree it was poignant to see the meeting place where the end of WWII was discussed though. A cafe and small gift shop are set up on the premises. Bathrooms are available both inside after the exhibits and outside prior to entering. Parking lots or structures aren't really available close by, I saw some people parking on the street side along the residential streets about a 10 min walk away and walking over though. Surrounding the castle are green spaces with trails, suitable for a 30-40 minute stroll with man's best friend or a leisurely jog if you live in the neighborhood.

Currently, they closed until April 19th. For those who need a restroom, they have some located in the overhang pathway leading to a courtyard (where they sell food) that's just off to the side of the tourist entrance. This means you don't actually have to go through the museum or hotel if you need to go. Like a lot of the other local palace museums, you will need to pay for a permit/paper wristband to take pictures. It's only a few euros that you pay in the gift shop beforehand and only applies to this museum. Built in the style of an English Tudor Revival manor house, this palace isn't as photogenic inside compared to some of its counterparts and we ended up being glad we didn't get the permit. Not that it's not impressive, it's just that the exhibition areas are limited to only a few of the 176 rooms and it was enough to listen to our tour guide for us. The exhibition areas are wheelchair accessible, but they do not allow strollers or luggage to go through those areas for conservation purposes. Schloss Cecilienhof (Cecilienhof Palace) is a major historical spot to visit if you're a Cold War history enthusiast as it is the actual meeting place for the 1945 Potsdam Conference (or the Berlin Conference). Personally, I was more interested in it as the last palace built by Hohenzollern Royal Family, the rulers of Prussia and Germany. Built Neuer Garten (New Garden) Park, it was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II for his son (the last Crown Prince of the German Empire) Wilhelm and his wife, Duchess Cecilie, who Cecilienhof is named after. Part of it now serves as a hotel while the rooms used for the Conference are preserved for tourists to walk through. I just find it so interesting that this was something that was built right before World War I and the end of the German Empire and became a major meeting spot after World War II.

A small landmark in Potsdam, Germany, built between 1914 to 1917. I was shocked to hear that this was a palace, because seeing the exterior of this place reminded me of a house and the interior of this wasn't anything extremely special either. However, one thing I do appreciate, is hearing the history of how Cecile, the duchess, was the original owner of this home, until they decided to use this palace as the Potsdam Conference meeting place in 1945 for the Soviets. There is definitely a ton of historic background behind this palace - after all, it does currently remain as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I would recommend this place if you were ecstatic about history, but if you're here just to sightsee, this might not be a worthy place to visit.

A proper tour guide is needed to tour Schloss Cecilienhof. Otherwise, you're just visiting a vaguely historical and visually uninteresting landmark. It reminded me of nothing more than when they would take us to visit Philipse Manor Hall in elementary school. Without the historical background the space frankly isn't that interesting. The plaques do not provide a lot of historical context so a guide is really required. You may pay 3 euros at the gift shop for a paper wristband and the privilege of taking pictures inside the home but again, there is nothing worth photographing so you might as well save your money. Even those of you fascinated by architecture and furniture will find very little of interest.