New York - July 22, 2025: The King's House at Schachen, located 5,900 feet above sea level in the Bavarian Alps' Wetterstein mountain range, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with three of King Ludwig II's other 19th-century Bavarian castles, last week. The site is accessible only from the 300-acre nature reserve that is home to Schloss Elmau, the luxury spa retreat and hideaway that has twice hosted world leaders at meetings of the G7. 

“The 'Schachenhaus' and its garden exceed the bounds of imagination,” says Schloss Elmau's owner, Dietmar Müller-Elmau, and grandson of its founder, “and is reached in just 60 minutes by our e-mountain bikes, or after a 3.5-hour hike.”

King Ludwig II of Bavaria – who also created the fairy-tale Neuschwanstein castle – had Schachen built in 1872 to celebrate his 26th birthday. “His dream,” Müller-Elmau continued, “was to create a realm of contradiction and freedom—juxtaposing the worlds of Bavaria, the Orient and India within a single structure, surrounded by pristine nature.” Ludwig also designed a cosmopolitan garden featuring rare mountain flowers from around the world.  

To learn more about the addition of Schachen and King Ludwig II's other Bavarian castles to the UNESCO World Heritage list, visit: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1726. For more about Schloss Elmau, go to: https://www.schloss-elmau.de/en.