Dachau — memorial site, old town and palace

A place of remembrance, not tourism

Dachau is two places. One is the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau) — a preserved and extensively documented site on the grounds of the first Nazi concentration camp, open daily and visited by over one million people a year. The other is the historic old town of Dachau, a Bavarian market town with a 16th-century palace and a long history as an artists’ colony, almost entirely unknown to international visitors.

A note on tone: The memorial site is a place of remembrance for over 200,000 people imprisoned there between 1933 and 1945 and the more than 41,000 who died. This guide treats it accordingly — as a place of memory and education, not as an attraction to be scored or rated. If you visit, the expectation is engagement with what happened, not consumption of an experience.

Quick answer: The Dachau memorial site is reached in 21 minutes by S2 S-Bahn from Munich, followed by a short bus ride. Entry is free. A serious visit — reading the exhibitions, walking the grounds, and allowing time for reflection — takes 3–4 hours. It is one of the most important historical sites in Germany within easy reach of Munich. The separate old town and palace, 10 minutes away by bus, can extend the day for those who want to see more of Dachau as a living town.

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Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

Dachau was the first concentration camp established by the Nazi regime. It opened on 22 March 1933, less than two months after Hitler became chancellor — before the formal legal framework of the Nazi state was fully in place. It was explicitly designed as a model for all subsequent camps and its administration, under SS-Obersturmbannführer Hilmar Wäckerle and then the notorious Theodor Eicke, established the operational patterns replicated across the camp system.

Between 1933 and its liberation by US Army troops on 29 April 1945, over 200,000 prisoners from across occupied Europe were held at Dachau — Jews, political prisoners, clergy, Roma, gay men, Soviet prisoners of war, and others defined as enemies or subhumans by the Nazi state. Approximately 41,500 deaths are documented at the camp; the actual number is believed to be higher given the records destroyed before liberation. The camp was also the site of medical experiments on prisoners conducted by SS doctors.

The memorial site preserves the original camp grounds, including the perimeter walls, guard towers, the restored roll-call square, the barracks foundations, two reconstructed barracks buildings that show the living conditions of prisoners, the SS service building (now the main museum), the crematoria and gas chamber complex, and four religious memorials (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Russian Orthodox) erected in the 1960s and 1970s.

The permanent exhibition in the main museum was comprehensively updated in 2003 and is considered one of the most thorough documentation of a concentration camp in Europe. It covers the political context of the camp’s opening, the progressive escalation of brutality, the specific experiences of different prisoner groups, the operations of the SS, and the post-war history of the site (which served briefly as a displaced persons camp and later as a US Army barracks before becoming a memorial in 1965).

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Getting to Dachau

By S-Bahn and bus: Take the S2 (direction Dachau or Petershausen) from Munich Hauptbahnhof to Dachau station. Journey time: 21 minutes. From Dachau station, bus 726 (direction KZ-Gedenkstätte) runs to the memorial site entrance — journey approximately 9 minutes. Buses run roughly every 20 minutes during the day. Total travel time from Munich city centre to the memorial entrance: under 35 minutes.

Ticket: The S2 journey is within the MVV tarifzone — an MVV Tageskarte (day ticket) covers the S-Bahn and the connecting bus. Standard fare for a single journey from Munich to Dachau (zone M+1): approximately €5.80. An MVV Streifenkarte or day ticket is more economical for a return journey.

By car: The B304 road northwest from Munich reaches Dachau in approximately 30 minutes in light traffic. The memorial site has a dedicated car park (free).

Key fact: The memorial site is not in Dachau town centre — it is 2 km north of the station, at the original camp location. Bus 726 is the efficient connection; walking from the station is approximately 25 minutes on foot.

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What to expect at the memorial

Arrival: The entrance is through the original SS service building, which now houses the visitor centre, the permanent exhibition, and a documentation archive. An introductory film (22 minutes, English/German) provides historical context and is recommended before entering the exhibition. The film runs every 30 minutes.

The permanent exhibition: Chronological documentation across multiple rooms covering the full period 1933–1945. Allow 90–120 minutes to read the exhibition thoroughly. It does not sanitise what happened — photographs, documents, and survivor testimony are presented directly. This is as it should be. Some sections are disturbing; the site makes no effort to soften this, which is appropriate.

The grounds: After the exhibition, most visitors walk the camp grounds. The roll-call square (Appellplatz), where prisoners were assembled for up to hours daily in all weather, is a large open gravel space whose scale communicates the prisoner population in a way photographs cannot. The two reconstructed barracks (numbers 1 and 2 out of an original 34) show the overcrowded sleeping arrangements of the later war years when the camp, designed for 6,000 prisoners, held over 30,000.

The crematoria and gas chamber building (Baracke X) is at the far end of the grounds, a 10-minute walk from the main museum. The gas chamber at Dachau was not used for mass killing on the industrial scale of Auschwitz-Birkenau — it was built but the evidence for its systematic use is disputed among historians. The crematoria were extensively used and are preserved. The space requires quiet and time.

Religious memorials: Four memorial chapels stand at the southern end of the camp grounds — the Carmelite Convent Chapel, the Catholic Memorial Chapel, the Protestant Church of Atonement, and the Jewish Memorial. All are open; all are places for reflection.

Duration: Allow 3–4 hours for a thorough self-guided visit. Shorter visits (2 hours) are possible but allow engagement only with part of the exhibition or the grounds.

Photography: Photography is permitted in the museum and on the grounds. The memorial asks visitors to use judgment about what is appropriate — photographing exhibits for research or documentation is different from selfie-taking at the crematorium.

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Guided visits to the memorial

The memorial offers several guided visit options. These are educational guided visits — contextualised historical tours led by guides trained in concentration camp history — not tourist experiences. English-language guided tours of the grounds and museum run on set days (check the official schedule at kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de — schedules change seasonally).

For visitors who want a guided visit from Munich, several reputable Munich-based tour operators run Dachau visits that include transport, historical context from a guide, and time at the memorial: From Munich: Dachau Memorial Site guided day tour From Munich: Dachau Memorial Site small-group guided tour

These guided tours typically cover the history of the Nazi regime’s rise, the role of Dachau in the camp system, and the specific history of the site — giving context that enriches the visit beyond what even a thorough self-guided walk conveys. They are not combined with other Munich attractions; they focus on Dachau.

Note: The memorial site itself does not upsell anything at the exit. There is a bookshop selling historical documentation, academic works, and survivor memoirs (no merchandise). The audio guide (€4, available at the entrance, German/English/other languages) is useful for visitors who prefer to go at their own pace without a group.

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Dachau old town and palace

Nine kilometres and 700 years separate the concentration camp memorial from the Dachau most of its residents live in. The old town (Altstadt) on the ridge above the Amper river valley has a completely distinct character and history that has been overshadowed by the memorial to the point of invisibility for international visitors.

Dachau Palace (Schloss Dachau): A 16th-century hunting and summer residence of the Wittelsbach dukes, originally a four-wing complex that was partly demolished in the 18th century. The surviving wing, a substantial Renaissance building, stands at the top of the old town and houses a small museum and event venue. The palace grounds include a formal garden with views across the river plain to Munich — on a clear day, the towers of the Frauenkirche are visible 17 km south. Entry to the palace grounds is free; museum entry approximately €3.50.

The Dachau painters’ colony: Between approximately 1870 and 1930, Dachau was one of the most important centres of plein-air landscape painting in the German-speaking world. The Dachauer Malerschule (Dachau school of painting) attracted artists from across Europe who came to paint the flat, luminous landscape of the Amper valley and the surrounding farmland. Works from this school are in major German collections. The Gemäldegalerie Dachau (Town Gallery, Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse, Tuesday–Sunday, €8) holds the most important collection of these paintings and provides an unexpected cultural footnote to a town most visitors approach entirely through its 20th-century history.

The old town market square (Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse): The Dachau Altstadt has a genuine Bavarian market-town character — older than the concentration camp by centuries, and very much alive. Several cafes and restaurants serve straightforward Bavarian food at local (not tourist) prices. The Thursday weekly market sells local produce.

Getting between the memorial and old town: Bus 724 or 726 connects the KZ-Gedenkstätte with the Dachau Rathaus (town hall), the centre of the old town. Journey approximately 10 minutes. Alternatively, a taxi from the memorial to the old town costs approximately €10.

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Preparing for the visit

Practical considerations: The memorial grounds are a significant site that requires walking (approximately 1.5 km from the entrance to the crematoria and back). Comfortable shoes are necessary. There is no dress code but the site asks for appropriate demeanour — this is not a place for loud conversation, group games, or behaviour inconsistent with a place of mass death.

Emotional preparation: A serious engagement with Dachau is genuinely affecting. This is not a warning to discourage visiting — it is the opposite: the effect is one reason why the visit matters. Allow time for reflection, take breaks in the grounds if needed. Many visitors find the experience of standing in the actual spaces where these events occurred qualitatively different from reading about them.

Children: The memorial does not recommend the visit for children under 12, not because they are excluded but because the exhibition content is not calibrated for young children and the emotional weight is significant. Older teenagers, particularly those studying the period at school, often engage with the site more deeply than adults. The memorial staff are experienced in working with school groups.

Language: All exhibitions, signs, and official materials are in German and English. The audio guide is available in multiple languages. The introductory film has English subtitles.

After the visit: There are no cafes or restaurants at or immediately adjacent to the memorial site. The old town, 10 minutes away by bus, has food options. Some visitors prefer to return to Munich directly after the memorial, without extending the day to the old town, which is a legitimate choice.

For the broader Munich history context — including the Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi documentation centre, and the role of Munich as the “capital of the movement” — see the guide to Munich’s WWII history and the Nuremberg destination which covers the trials.

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Frequently asked questions about Dachau

Is entry to the Dachau Memorial Site free?

Yes. Entry to the site, the permanent exhibition, the grounds, and the religious memorials is free. The audio guide costs €4. Official guided tours from the memorial’s own guide programme cost €4 per person. Third-party guided tours from Munich (which include transport) are separate commercial products.

How long should I spend at the Dachau Memorial Site?

A thorough visit — including the introductory film, the permanent exhibition, and a walk of the camp grounds including the crematoria — takes 3–4 hours. A focused visit covering the main exhibition only is feasible in 2 hours. Budget at least half a day. Do not attempt to combine the memorial with several other major Munich attractions in a single day — the site requires engaged attention and emotional energy.

Can I visit Dachau Memorial Site independently without a guide?

Yes. The permanent exhibition is self-explanatory and extremely well documented. An audio guide (€4) provides additional context at key points on the grounds. Many visitors find the self-guided approach allows them to spend more time with specific sections of the exhibition. The official website (kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de) provides preparatory reading in English.

How do I get from Munich to Dachau Memorial Site by public transport?

Take the S2 S-Bahn from Munich Hauptbahnhof to Dachau station (21 minutes), then bus 726 to the KZ-Gedenkstätte (9 minutes). Total journey time from Munich centre to the memorial entrance is approximately 35 minutes. The service runs daily; check MVV timetables (mvv-muenchen.de) for current bus schedules.

What is the connection between Dachau town and the concentration camp?

The concentration camp was built on the grounds of a former ammunition factory on the northern edge of the town of Dachau. The town and the camp share a name and a proximity but not a character — Dachau has been a Bavarian market town for over 700 years and was a significant centre for German landscape painting between 1870 and 1930. The vast majority of Dachau residents during the Nazi period were not party members or SS personnel; the relationship between the town and the camp, including what local people knew and when, is itself a complex historical question documented in the exhibition.

Is it appropriate to take photographs at Dachau Memorial Site?

Photography is permitted throughout the site. The memorial asks visitors to reflect on the purpose of any photograph taken, particularly in the crematoria and memorial areas. Documentary photography, recording exhibits for study purposes, or quiet landscape photography of the grounds are all reasonable. Photographs for social media entertainment or selfie-taking in the crematoria are inconsistent with the purpose of the place.

What else is there to see in Dachau beyond the memorial?

The Dachau Altstadt (old town) is 10 minutes from the memorial by bus and is worth an hour or two. The Renaissance palace with its garden and views, the Gemäldegalerie Dachau with its collection of 19th-century landscape paintings, and the old market square with its cafes give a completely different perspective on the town. The Dachau painters’ colony (1870–1930) was one of the most significant plein-air painting movements in Germany — a context the town carries quietly alongside its 20th-century history.