King Ludwig II wanted to build Versailles on an island, and for the most part he did. The New Palace on Herrenchiemsee, the largest island in the Chiemsee, is his answer to Louis XIV, a Bavarian homage to the French sun king that took years to build and was never finished. Ludwig spent barely ten days there in total. The money ran out, the king's reputation among his ministers fell, and in 1886 he was dead in Lake Starnberg under circumstances people still argue about.
You cannot ride to the palace. Boats from Prien am Chiemsee, about four kilometres from here, run across the water, and the island itself has no cars. So the day works like this: park or leave your bike in the Prien area, take the ferry and enjoy a walk through the lime-tree avenues to the front of the palace. The Hall of Mirrors is longer than the one in Versailles, which was not an accident, and the guided tour covers the rooms that Ludwig actually finished. The kitchens and staircase were left half done, and you can see the difference.
The riding around the Chiemsee is the Bavarian sort you plan a weekend around: gentle roads along the shore, big views south to the Chiemgau Alps, and a good chance of a sky that changes by the hour. The lake is nicknamed the Bavarian Sea, and the weather on it can turn quickly, with afternoon thunderstorms in summer. Traffic is heavy at weekends, especially on the road into Prien, so mornings on weekdays are the civilised hour. Prien am Chiemsee, with about 10,000 people, is the sensible place for fuel, food and a bed.
Nature fans should look at the lake in a wider sense. The Chiemsee is a basin gouged out by an Alpine glacier, and its shallow margins are good for reed birds. The lake is also known for its Chiemsee Renke, a whitefish served smoked or fried in the lakeside inns. Late afternoon from the shore, with the mountains going blue behind the island, is the picture most people remember.