Visit SCHONBRUNN PALACE

Sch?nbrunn Palace – one of the best-known sights in Vienna
Famous from the Sissi movies, Sch?nbrunn Palace and itsBaroque park as they appear today were built and remodelled during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa from 1743.
Today this palatial complex, which was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1996, is one of Vienna’s finest attractions.

1. The top tourist attraction in Vienna
The largest palace in Austria, Sch?nbrunn was visited by 2.7 million people in 2011, making it the most-visited attraction in Vienna.
Up until 2010 the Vienna tourist authority published official visitor numbers showing that Sch?nbrunn Palace had consistently topped the list of the most-visited attractions in Vienna since 2003.
As the park can be entered free of charge and is popular with joggers and walkers, the number of visitors here is considerably higher, making the whole complex one of Vienna’s best-loved attractions.

2. Exploring the park
The attractions in the park include the Maze and the Labyrinth, just waiting to be explored by young and old alike. A walk in the park should always include the Gloriette on the crest of the hill. Its viewing platform affords a glorious view over the park and a panoramic view of Vienna. Many other attractions such as theCrown Prince Garden can be explored on a tour of the park. There’s always something new to discover, making the park at Sch?nbrunn endlessly interesting.

3. On the trail of Maria Theresa
The palace can be viewed on various different tours. The Imperial Tour is a short tour of the rooms in the palace which will acquaint the visitor with the stylistic epochs of the imperial age and the lives of the people who lived in the palace. The Grand Tour also includes the precious eighteenth-century rooms from the time of Maria Theresa.

4. The fascinating world of the Habsburgs
An additional magnet for visitors is the annual Midsummer Night’s Concert which has been performed by the Vienna Philharmonic in the park every year since 2008. In addition to the crowds of visitors listening in the park (around 140,000 every year), this highlight is followed by millions of viewers online.

Anybody visiting the palace and its park generally has an interest in the history of the Habsburgs and the imperial family. If you want to learn more about this important part of Austrian history a good tip is to visit the online history portal ‘The World of the Habsburgs’. History can also be explored in depth in the hands-on Children’s Museum at Sch?nbrunn or in the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Silver Collection at the Vienna Hofburg. Anybody interested in furniture from the Habsburg epoch is recommended to visit one of the largest furniture museums in the world at the Imperial Furniture Collection Vienna, where visitors will find a collection of approximately 165,000 objects dating from the past three hundred years.
Source: schoenbrunn.at