The court amused itself with theater, ballet, celebrations and hunts, which also included the "Bären-Schlößle", admired fireworks and undertook outings into the surrounding forests. Despite all the courtly representation, Carl Eugen used the Solitude complex as a retreat, and here he also arranged meetings with his mistress Catharina Bonafini.
Around 1770 Carl Eugen lost interest in Solitude Palace in favor of Hohenheim. Under Johann Caspar Schiller the garden was converted to tree nurseries, and the gardens and most of the buildings were leveled around 1810. Under King Wilhelm I (ruled 1816-1864) the "Bärenschlößle" was restored. Solitude Palace has been open to the public since 1830.
In 1990 the "Akademie Schloss Solitude" was housed in the Administrative and Housekeeping Tract. Its scholarship holders work and live in the restored rooms. The Palace Catering Service (Schlossgastronomie) in the High Noblemen's Building and the information center for palace history (open since 1995) have enlivened the seclusion of the Solitude complex. The location was already appreciated by contemporaries and attracts many visitors every year, "The view from there is one of the most splendid in the world," judged Gottfried von Rosenstein in 1784.