Schonbrunn Palace

Schonbrunn: Vienna’s Most Visited Attraction and Actually Worth It

Schonbrunn Palace receives over 4 million visitors a year, which sounds like an argument to skip it. It isn’t. Unlike Versailles, where the queue for the main building extends 90 minutes on summer weekends and the rooms disappoint after the wait, Schonbrunn is structured to distribute visitors. The gardens are free, the palace offers tiered ticket options, and the crowds spread across 1,441 rooms and a kilometre of formal French garden. On a weekday morning in spring, you can walk the grounds with almost no one around.

The Habsburgs used this as their summer residence for 300 years. Franz Joseph I lived and worked here from his accession in 1848 until his death in 1916, 68 years, which makes Schonbrunn as much a functioning imperial office as a ceremonial palace. The palace gardens are free to enter all day, the palace interior has multiple ticket tiers, and the crowds distribute themselves reasonably across the grounds.

The building has 1,441 rooms, of which 45 are open to visitors in two tour configurations. The Grand Tour covers all 45 rooms and takes 50-60 minutes with the included audio guide. The Imperial Tour covers 22 rooms and takes 30-40 minutes. Both enter through the state apartments where Franz Joseph I lived and worked until his death in 1916; his bathroom (a tin tub) and writing desk are preserved as he left them.

Inside the Palace

The Hall of Mirrors (Spiegelsaal) is where the 6-year-old Mozart performed for Empress Maria Theresa in 1762 and allegedly proposed to her daughter Marie Antoinette on the spot. The Great Gallery, 40 metres long with ceiling frescoes celebrating Habsburg military victories, was used for diplomatic functions; it is where John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev met for their 1961 summit.

Entry for the Imperial Tour costs EUR 22.90 for adults; the Grand Tour is EUR 27.90. Book timed entry online at schoenbrunn.at to avoid the ticket queue. Hours are daily 9am to 5pm (November to March) and 9am to 5:30pm (April to October).

The Gardens

The formal French garden extends 1km from the palace to the Gloriette colonnade on the hill above. The hill climb takes 15 minutes and the Gloriette cafe at the top serves coffee with a view down over the palace and the Vienna skyline behind it. Entry to the Gloriette’s observation area is EUR 4.50.

The Neptune Fountain, the Obelisk Fountain, and the Roman Ruin (a 18th-century fake ruin built as a picturesque garden feature) are scattered through the grounds. The Privy Garden on the west side of the palace is a formal parterre designed to be viewed from the palace windows; it is generally quieter than the central axis.

Zoo Vienna

The zoo in the palace grounds opened in 1752, making it the oldest continuously operating zoo in the world. Entry costs EUR 24.90 for adults. Giant pandas have been at Schonbrunn since 2003 and remain the main draw. The Mazoyer pavilion at the zoo’s centre is the original imperial menagerie building from 1752 and now operates as a restaurant.

Getting There

The U4 subway line (Schonbrunn station) delivers you 5 minutes walk from the main gate on Schonbrunner Schlossstrasse. A single metro journey from central Vienna costs EUR 2.40; a 24-hour travel pass covering all U-Bahn lines and trams costs EUR 8. From the Innere Stadt (first district) the walk takes about 30 minutes through Mariahilfer Strasse, Vienna’s main shopping street.

Practical Notes

The palace and gardens host a Christmas market from late November through December; the combination of Baroque architecture, snow, and mulled wine is reliable. The Palace Orchestra runs Strauss and Mozart concert evenings in the Orangery from March to October; tickets start at EUR 49. These are tourist-facing productions rather than serious concerts, but the Orangery is a beautiful room and the programme is competently performed.