The Fasanenschlösschen, the Little Pheasant Castle
Coming out from Dresden?The castle sells its own admission at its own counter, so what is worth booking ahead is the ride: a guided day that carries the ticket for you, or a car from Prague. Every one of them cancels free up to 24 hours before, and one of the six is Moritzburg and nothing else.
See the ways out thereThirty places a day
Three tours, ten people each. That is the whole capacity of the building on any day it opens, and it is the fact that decides whether you see it. On a warm Sunday in August the park outside holds a few hundred people and the Little Pheasant Castle holds thirty of them. Plan it as the fixed point of the day and put the big castle around it, rather than the other way round.
The season is shorter than the castle’s
It opens a month and a half after the baroque exhibition does and shuts on the same day, 1 November. Through the entire Cinderella season it is closed. A visitor who comes for the film in January and wants to add the pheasant castle is out of luck, and so is anyone who arrives on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in any month. The calendar for both buildings.
The lighthouse and the harbour
Beside the building there is a miniature harbour and a brick lighthouse, painted, 21.8 metres high, standing at the edge of a lake in the flattest part of Saxony. It was built for mock naval spectacles, and it is one of the strangest objects in the state. Whether you can go up inside it I do not know — I have never seen the castle publish anything about interior access, and I would rather leave that blank than fill it in. The park it stands in.
The ticket
It has its own admission, cheaper than the castle’s, and there is a combined ticket for the two that costs less than buying them separately. Both figures are on the rate card. The castle sells its own admission at its own counter and on schloss-moritzburg.de. There is no Moritzburg entry ticket on GetYourGuide, so nothing on this site is a substitute for that counter. What the platform sells is the journey, and two of the six listings that reach Moritzburg carry a castle ticket inside the day: the guided day from Dresden and the private Prague car that pairs Moritzburg with the Zwinger.
If the Fasanenschlösschen matters to you, check the tour times on schloss-moritzburg.de the week before you travel and build the day around the slot, not around the bus. Ten places is ten places.
Getting to the park in the first place
The guided day from Dresden runs about eight hours with Meißen in it, carries the castle admission in its inclusions and covers the day’s public transport. It does not include the Fasanenschlösschen, which is a separate building with its own guided tours. Per group of up to ten, around four hundred and twenty euros, 4.6 from 3 reviews.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Fasanenschlösschen at Moritzburg?
A small separate palace in the park, built between 1770 and 1776, with its own season, its own ticket and guided tours only.
When is the Fasanenschlösschen open?
30 April to 1 November, Thursday to Sunday, 10:30 to 15:30, with guided tours at 11:00, 12:15 and 14:00. It is closed all through the Cinderella season.
Can you walk into the Fasanenschlösschen without a tour?
No. Entry is by guided tour only, three a day, ten people each, so the building takes thirty visitors on any day it opens.
Can you go up the Moritzburg lighthouse?
I do not know. The lighthouse beside the miniature harbour is 21.8 metres high and painted brick, and I have not seen the castle publish anything about going inside it, so I am not going to claim either way.