Hofburg Palace is a MUST-visit in Vienna. Chances are, if you're going to visit a museum as a…read moretourist, at least one of them will likely be at Hofburg Palace or within its vicinity. The Sisi Museum was one that I visited, and all day long, the palace grounds are teeming with tourists. Even if you don't enter the palace, you can walk through the grounds, enjoy the garden, people watch, and enjoy watching the horse-drawn carriages. Baroque architecture heaven!

The Hofburg is a giant complex of museums, government buildings, the Austrian president's home, and…read moreso much more. Much of it is open to the public and the grounds are free to walk around on. Everything else is either closed to the public or requires an entrance fee. There is something for everyone here: the Sisi Museum, the national Library, the Spanish Riding school (home to the famous Lipizzaner horses), a Butterfly house.....you couldn't possibly see everything in a day! It's quite possibly THE most visited spot in all of Vienna, and you will more than likely find yourself here at some point during your visit. Good luck choosing what to see first! 68/2025

St. Stephen's Cathedral is stunning. The location and the area around it (even if touristy) are…read morebeautiful and full of great vibes. We attended a weekday Mass, and even though we don't speak German, it was a special experience. That said, I didn't really care for the organized tour of the cathedral, especially the catacombs. Sorry to say, it's not worth it. St. Stephen's is a beautiful cathedral that's well worth visiting and learning about on your own. The only extra the tour offers is entrance to the catacombs. I've been to many catacombs, and there's nothing particularly special about these ones. It's not worth spending your time on this tour -- go to the Royal Crypt a few blocks away instead. It's much better.

The gothic interior of this cathedral is lovely and amazingly high vaulted ceiling archtecture. The…read moregreen tiled roof is stunning

One of the most lovely place perhaps in the world. On the Ringstraße you will find gorgeous…read morebuilding in various architectural styles - from Greek, to Roman, to Gothic, the aesthetic you are confronted with there will definitely spark the romantic fire in you.

Gorgeous building. We visited right after Christmas and the square is filled with Christmas…read moremarkets, drinks, food and Christmas items. Definitely worth a visit

Christmas market is so expensive you will not find anything to buy under €10 there there are so…read moremany cheaper alternatives that you can find in Vienna don't go here if you're not rich you will save much money

This is pretty much the main reason why I went to Vienna. I've been a fan of Pieter Bruegel since…read morehigh school and this museum has the largest collection of his art in the world. I pretty much spent an hour sitting and looking at their exhibition of his paintings. While most of the art here is Renaissance or just after (and mainly Dutch, German, Italian, and French), there's other good stuff as well. If you like Spanish paintings, there's a lot of Diego Velasquez. Many of the exhibits have German and English descriptions of the art, but there are some that just have German, especially the ancient Greek/Roman and Egyptian parts of the museum. Of course, there are exhibits on relics from the Austro-Hungarian empire. The second (or kinda third) floor of the museum does not have much in terms of exhibits but has an extensive coin collection from that former empire. I liked some of the model ships they had to entertain the royalty during their long dinner parties. Knowing that I would go to other museums, I opt-ed for the 7 Museums annual pass for 53 Euros (as of this writing). It's worth it only if you go to at least two other museums. Just going to the Neue Hofburg across the street and the Imperial Treasury further down will equal the price you paid. I went to those, along with going to Kunsthistorisches another time and Imperial Carriage Museum at Schoenbrunn Palace. You also get re-entry privileges in case you wanted to get some food, because the cafe seemed pretty "touristy" here. Note, this pass does not get you into the Sisi Museum (or related ones) There aren't a ton of restrooms at this museum, so plan accordingly. You could probably cover this museum in about 90 minutes.

We visited this museum in the afternoon of the same day when we had visited the Belvedere Museum in…read morethe morning. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd split up the two art museums on different days. This museum is adjacent to the Hofbrug palace. It was designed as a museum originally, and the Hapsburgs spared no expense on the interior decor. I think I bought tickets in advance, but they were not assigned a time (or even a date). It was just 'one entry'. I suppose that is thanks to the museum's interior size - rooms are generally huge so crowding probably isn't much of an issue. You enter from the front stairway and have your ticket checked. As at the Belvedere, you need to check large bags in lockers that cost 2 Euros but which return your coin at the end. The lobby is a circular tower. There is a hole up through several floors. The 2nd level is a cafe and you can take an elevator up to a 3rd level and have interesting views back down to part of the ground floor. The layout of the museum is on 2 floors. Most people ascend to the upper floor first as that is where the more famous works are located. Here you'll find paintings from the 1600s forward. You'll see works by Velazquez, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Reubens (among others). The audio guide here had the 'select a number' when you encounter a numbered work you wanted to learn more about. It was worthwhile. The rooms are large and the paintings are spread out enough to allow a good flow. I never felt claustrophobic in here. The main stairway up to this floor is breathtaking as well. The ground floor had Egyptian, Greek, and Roman stuff on one side. This also had the largest collection of Roman jewelry I've seen too (maybe the only large set of it). There was at least one room dedicated to all manner of rings, necklaces, etc.). On the other side / wing of this floor is an odd collection of small statues and other odds and ends from the Hapsburgs. This was my favorite art museum in Vienna. I would definitely recommend a visit.

The Schloss Schönbrunn Castle is as marvelous and breathtaking as the cruise director told us it…read morewas going to be. The castle itself and the grounds it sits on are HUGE. It's almost like there was a big castle in Central Park with the surrounding area being part of the castle. Walking the grounds was quite the workout. The main square area is massive, and the primary palace is so beautiful with the faded yellow color and brownish roof tiling. Home of the Hapsburg Monarchy. Walking through the castle (there is a total of 1441 rooms) is amazing. Each room forward is more stately and beautiful than what you come from. It is truly a site to behold. Once you finish that part of the tour, you get to walk outside and up to the amazing lookout. This took me about 20 minutes to walk up. Absolutely worth taking this walk as the view back to the castle amazing. There is also a restaurant up there. You see half of Vienna from up there, along with the palace and gardens below. The views were amazing and I took as many pictures going up and coming down. Along the main route are some refreshment stands with water and ice cream. The grounds are not just big but HUGE-big. You could easily spend an entire day here, especially if you view the palace as well. This place should be a mandatory part of any trip to the area. It's an amazing learning experience of the life and times of the royal families. As well as how they lived and interacted with other royals. There is an amazing group of people here who can answer questions as direct you. Everyone here is just so knowledgeable. KUDOs to the team at Schloss Schönbrunn.

The Palace sits on an amazing land with beautiful gardens. We took a Special tour at 5:30 after…read morehours with a group of around 25 people which included dinner and concert You are given a recorder that plays for each room giving you the history behind each room. It did seem a bit rushed as the workers follow the group to each room. However the palace was gorgeous and definitely worth a visit.

When people think about WWII bombings, Vienna isn't one of the cities that come to mind…read moreimmediately. It wasn't bombed heavily until relatively late in the war, and though the city sustained a good bit of damage (20% of housing stock lost) it didn't see the widespread devastation of places like Dresden or Berlin. The damage has been fixed - though there were some impressive bullet/shrapnel holes in a building near our apartment. The Flakturn is one of the few tangible remnants - it rises out of a lovely residential neighborhood, stern and forbidding. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live here back then, to see this scary tower being constructed and then see it be put into use firing at Allied bombers night after night. Absolutely terrifying. Today, the reality is much different - thank goodness. The tower sits in the middle of a cute little park where dogs and children play and couples walk hand-in-hand. The tower itself has been repurposed as the highest artificial climbing wall in Europe, which is pretty cool. Absolutely worth short trip out from the center, especially for WWII buffs.

One of the most chillingly beautiful churches in Vienna which always seems deserted as the hordes…read moreare apparently over at St. Stephen's Cathedral or Peterskirche. Augustinerkirche has a spare elegant Gothic interior, the very opposite of baroque. In doing my research, I learned that it was built in the 14th century and was the site of Emperor Franz Joseph's wedding in 1854 to Empress Sisi. Definitely worth coming inside for a quiet moment of peaceful contemplation.

Continuous with the Albertina and National Library near Hofburg Augustinerkirche is easy to…read moreoverlook, but dating back to the 14th century and the Habsburg monarchy's court church for almost 300 years there is a lot of history within these walls. Gothic on the exterior with updates in Revivalism inside plan to spend perhaps twenty minutes here exploring altars and chapels decorated in white and gold.

It's not a huge museum, but the Albertina packs a lot of world-class stuff. If you're into…read moreImpressionist art, you'll find a good amount here. The "Monet to Picasso" exhibit is well-curated and you'll definitely enjoy their collection. The special exhibit they had during my visit was a modern art one, which isn't much my interest but definitely a change from their regular exhibits. Additionally, the museum has staterooms from the old Habsburg days. If you only have time for one small museum in Vienna, this one would be a very good choice.

Cute museum in Vienna We enjoyed the art- it was enjoyable…read moreto see. Took a few pics- Enjoy!