Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens: How to Visit

Schönbrunn was the summer residence of the Habsburgs from the reign of Maria Theresa in the 18th century until Emperor Karl I stepped down in 1918. The yellow Baroque palace has 1,441 rooms, 40 of which are open to the public, set inside 160 hectares of formal gardens, woodland paths, glasshouses and the world's oldest surviving zoo. Because it is Austria's most visited sight, the order in which you tackle the estate makes all the difference.

Walk up to the Gloriette first

The palace gates and main park open well before the state rooms. Arrive early, walk straight past the palace into the Great Parterre garden, and climb the zigzag path past the Neptune Fountain up the hill to the Gloriette, the arcaded neoclassical crest built in 1775. From here you look straight back over the palace roof to the Vienna skyline and St Stephen's spire in morning light, with only joggers for company. There is a café inside the central arch and a roof terrace on top. Walk back down in time for an early timed slot inside the palace.

Grand Tour or Imperial Tour?

You cannot wander the state rooms without a timed ticket, which includes an audio guide or mobile guide. There are two main routes:

• The Imperial Tour: covers 22 rooms in the west wing in around 35 minutes, focussing on the 19th-century apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph (who slept on a simple iron camp bed) and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi), plus the Great Gallery where Mozart played as a six-year-old and where Kennedy and Khrushchev met in 1961.
• The Grand Tour: covers all 40 state rooms in about 50 to 60 minutes, adding Maria Theresa's 18th-century Rococo apartments, the Millions Room panelled in rosewood and Indo-Persian miniatures, and the Blue Chinese Salon.

If you are also visiting the Hofburg and Sisi Museum in the centre, the Imperial Tour can feel repetitive; either pick the Grand Tour for the 18th-century rooms or do the Hofburg for the interiors and keep Schönbrunn for its gardens.

Beyond the main palace

• The Privy Garden and Orangery: small ticketed gardens flanking the palace, along with a maze that suits families.
• The Palm House (Palmenhaus): an iron-and-glass pavilion from 1882 in the western park, divided into three climate zones.
• Tiergarten Schönbrunn: founded by Maria Theresa's husband Francis Stephen in 1752 as an imperial menagerie, with Baroque pavilions still standing at its centre.
• The Imperial Carriage Museum (Wagenburg): ceremonial coaches, sleighs and state cars used by the court.

Getting there and tickets

Take U-Bahn line U4 from Karlsplatz or Landstraße to the Schönbrunn station for the main courtyard entrance, or one stop further to Hietzing if you are heading first to the Palm House or the zoo. Book your timed palace slot online on the official Schönbrunn site several days ahead in spring and summer, and note that photography is not permitted inside the state rooms.