It can only be reached via a 10 km forest road, or a three-hour hike, ascending 1000m either from Schloss Elmau or Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which provides a view of Zugspitze amongst others.

[2] The King's House on Schachen was built between 1869 and 1872 for Ludwig II of Bavaria and designed by architect Georg von Dollmann.

[6] Adjacent to the house itself is the Alpengarten auf dem Schachen on about one hectare, an alpine botanical garden at about 2000m altitude, which contains over 1,000 plant species from the Alps to the Himalayas.

It is maintained by the Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg, open during the summer months daily from 8 am to 5 pm, admission cost 2.50 euros as of 2018.

[7] Altogether 42 plant beds are assigned to different geographical regions, the flora of the Bavarian forest, the Alps, Carpathians, Patagonia, the Rocky Mountains - and the Himalayas.