The best advice I can give about anything in Europe is if you are planning on a destination, get there early. My second best advice is to make a reservation. I knew Schonnebrunn Palace was a very popular tourist destination, particularly in June. All the advice I read about making reservations in advance was absolutely correct. I reserved my ticket weeks before directly from their website. I’ve reserved from third party places before and luckily we’ve had no issues, but in my experience, ordering directly from the location itself gives the best information and the most accurate price.
You can read all about the history of the Schonbrunn Palace here, but is was basically the imperial residence since the 16th century. It was first part of the Hapsburg family in the late 1500’s when the land was deeded to Maximilian II. Eventually it was the favored residence of Maria Theresa, who managed multiple renovations and added tons glorious detail to many of the rooms. Sadly, they don’t allow photography of ANY kind and absolutely NO backpacks. I carried in my red Longchamp bag and I was just fine. We had a reservation at 10, but we arrived at 9 to get our tickets from the cafe. You need to pick up your tickets in a separate building (includes cafe and shop!) just through the entrance of the palace grounds, and then walk to the palace.
We opted for the Grand Tour which took about 40-60 minutes. It really was breathtaking inside and I was actually relieved that photography was not allowed. It would have slowed everything down and made the experience more frustrating. After the tour, we opted for a walk in the gardens and went directly behind the palace to the fountains and the Vienna Zoo! The cost of entrance to all of these places was included the Vienna Pass which was SO worth the price for us. You could spend and entire day exploring the area, but we only gave ourselves a few hours. It wasn’t enough, but we had more to see in Vienna!
Around 2:00 we headed back via subway into Vienna’s city center for lunch. We were able to walk right in to the most famous restaurant in Vienna without a reservation, lucky us! That’s what being two kind Texans at the right time will get you. We enjoyed the Figmueller’s famous schnitzel and hot potato salad. While there, be sure to order the Gruner Veltliner wine which is a delicious dry white wine specific to Austria. Prost!
