Castle Favorite in Rastatt - exclusive German summer palace

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: August 2026 | Favorite Palace in Rastatt is an exclusive 18th-century summer palace located in western Germany. Although the owners only spent a few summer weeks here, no expense was spared when furnishing it …

Favorite Castle in Rastatt

The Favorite Castle in Rastatt is a beautiful castle that is open to visitors. You can stroll through the beautiful castle park, but also take a guided tour inside the castle.

Castle Favorite is located just outside the town of Rastatt, in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in western Germany, near the border with France.

History of the Favorite castle in Rastatt

Margrave Sibylla Augusta of Baden (1675-1733) had Favorite Castle built in Rastatt as a summer residence and hunting lodge between 1710 and 1720, after the death of her husband, Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm (1655-1707). The castle was located just under an hour by horse and carriage from the countess's main castle in Rastatt, and was only used for a few weeks each year.

The palace had a garden and orangeries, which were built in the French style and later partly transformed into the English style. Inside, the Countess had the castle decorated according to the latest and most exclusive trends.

Visiting the Favorite castle in Rastatt

Visiting the Favorite Castle in Rastatt is both interesting and fascinating. To begin with, you can stroll through the beautiful castle garden, which includes avenues, a waterfall, a fish pond, a hermitage, a fountain and a castle café. But the most interesting thing is to take a guided tour inside the castle.

Guided tour of the castle

The only way to see the inside of Favorite Castle in Rastatt is to take a guided tour. When we visited the castle, the tour was in German, but we were given written information in English so that we could read about the rooms ourselves during the tour.

We started in the 'Sala Terena', the central ceremonial hall. Here you can see, among other things, the blue and white tiles, which were ordered from Nuremberg. Sibylla Augusta was most likely influenced by the 'Trianon de Porcelaine' building that existed at the Palace of Versailles at the time.

We could also see the beautiful tiles on several of the castle's fine tiled stoves.

The kitchen was also exciting to look into. Here the servants worked to prepare meals for the castle's owners.

The various rooms of the castle, which have names like ”The Flower Room”, ”The Lace Room” and ”The Hall of Mirrors”, are all wonderfully decorated. You can stand there for a long time and look around, and you will constantly find new fascinating details. There is not a millimeter that is not decorated.

The castle also houses large collections of Chinese porcelain, black lacquer and other Asian objects. Favorite is the oldest and only largely intact German ”porcelain castle”. It also houses the world’s largest collection of Meissen porcelain from the early years of porcelain production.

Overall, it is very interesting to visit the castle!

Where can you stay or park your motorhome?

There are hotels both in Förch, where the castle is located, and inside Rastatt. If you are traveling by motorhome, there are various parking lots and campsites in and around Rastatt. The former parking lot at Familienbad Alohra, where we stayed overnight during our visit, is now permanently closed.

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

After visiting Favorite Castle in Rastatt, you will of course also want to visit Rastatt Castle, and perhaps also discover Baden-Baden. Read more here:

• Rastatt Castle
• Things to do in Baden Baden