Vienna Palace Tickets and Guided Tours
Two palaces, 37 listings and nine minutes of underground between them and the centre: 30 EUR at one door, 23 at the other, and two opposite rules about being late.
Vienna is the only base in this catalogue where no palace asks you to leave the city. Karlsplatz to Schönbrunn is nine minutes on the U4, running every two to seven minutes on a normal weekday, and the Belvedere is a tram ride from the Ring. Travel time, the thing that decides a castle day almost everywhere else, decides nothing here. What decides a Vienna day is that the two palaces put opposite clocks on their tickets. Schönbrunn sells a fifteen minute slot and says in writing that a late ticket is no longer valid. The Belvedere sets the hour you walk in and then stops counting: the stay is unlimited. Plan the day around that difference and it works. Ignore it and one of the two visits gets cut in half.
The catalogue splits almost in half and the two halves do not cost the same. Twenty listings belong to Schönbrunn, 17 to the Belvedere, and the median price is 73.50 EUR on one side and 150 on the other. That is not a quality gap between the buildings. It is what happens when people buy a palace to see a house and a museum to see a painting: the expensive Belvedere listings are private tours with an art historian attached, priced at 150, 165 and 195 EUR, while the Schönbrunn listings that sell in volume are guided visits at 55 to 63 EUR.
One more thing shapes the choice, and it catches people who did their homework. The Vienna PASS behaves in opposite ways at the two palaces. At the Belvedere it is a real fast track: no time slot at all, straight past the ticket counter to the exhibition entrance. At Schönbrunn the same card gives nothing of the kind. The operator says in as many words that priority admission does not exist there, a fifteen minute reservation is required of pass holders too, and what gets scanned at the gate is that reservation. The card also covers only the 30 EUR route through the palace, with about 10 EUR more to upgrade at the moment you pick the slot.
One number is worth carrying into the booking. Eleven of the 37 Vienna listings confirm immediately; the other 26 wait for the operator to come back to you. When the thing being reserved is a fifteen minute window at a fixed hour, a confirmation that arrives tomorrow is a different product from one that arrives now. Thirty four of the 37 can be cancelled free of charge, which is the safety net underneath that wait.
Choose a destination in Vienna
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Schönbrunn Palace
Imperial Tour and Grand Tour were withdrawn. The palace sells the State Apartments at 30 EUR for about 40 minutes and the Palace Ticket at 42 for about 75…
20 experiences -
Belvedere Palace
Two baroque palaces and a garden between them. The Upper is 23 EUR, the Lower 17, both together 32, and the time on the ticket fixes only the hour you walk in.
17 experiences
Castles Experiences in Vienna
Tram D to the Black Gate, and The Kiss Is Painted in Real Gold Leaf
The largest Klimt collection anywhere, plus van Gogh, Monet, Rodin and the Gothic winged altars, with a live guide. One minute from the tram stop.
Thirty Million Bricks in the Rathaus, and the Walking Done by Car
Three lengths, 3, 7 or 8 hours, with the transfers by car: Schönbrunn on the longer two, and Klimt's The Kiss at the Upper Belvedere on the longest.
A Great Gallery Forty Metres Long, the Blue China and Breakfast Rooms
Over twenty rooms in Rococo, among them the Blue China Room and the Breakfast Room, and a gallery 40 metres long. Two to two and a half hours.
Carlone Finished the Marble Hall Ceiling in 1723; Austria Signed Below It in 1955
An hour and a half to two hours taking in the gardens, Klimt's Sonja Knips beside The Kiss, and the Marble Hall where the State Treaty was signed.
The Room Where Mozart and Salieri Were Set Against Each Other
An hour and three quarters with a 15-minute interval, four ticket grades from C to VIP, and the Orangery garden open while the orchestra rests.
Figaro, Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni, Played Here Every Day
Overtures, arias and duets from Figaro, Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni, with waltzes and polkas, played daily. Cancel free up to the time slot.
Straight to the Door, No Guide: the Kiss and What Hangs Around It
Admission alone, walk straight in: Klimt's The Kiss, Schiele and Kokoschka, and the permanent collection that runs from Cranach to Lassnig.
The Hour That Never Goes Inside: Gardens, Angel Fountain, Gloriette
One hour in the Schlosspark with the palace seen only from outside, or two with 22 rooms added. Private guide, meeting in front of the Museum Shop.
One Mug, One Hot Drink and One Dish, Then the Orangery at 8:30
The voucher covers a mug, a hot drink and a dish at any food stand of the market, open 8 November to 6 January. Concert times shift over the holidays.
The Concert Ticket on Its Own, With Nothing Bundled Around It
The plain seat at the concert, without the palace tour or the market voucher other tickets attach. Booked for a fixed date and not cancellable.
Finished in 1716 to Hildebrandt's Plan, and Lived In, Not Displayed
The half Prince Eugene actually lived in, finished 1716 to Hildebrandt's design, with state rooms and the contemporary shows in the Orangery.
Temporary Shows, the Orangery and the Stables, and No Klimt Here
Temporary shows rather than the Klimt rooms, with the Orangery and the Palace Stables included, and a garden on three terraces between the two palaces.
The Palace After Closing Time, then Mozart Where He Played in 1786
Audio guide in 16 languages through a palace already shut to day visitors, meeting 6:45 pm, then the Orangery concert from 8:30 and out by 10:15.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor, Civitatis and Tiqets