Definitely worth a visit (Schloss Schönbrunn)

Member Name: jenniferjain

Product:	Schloss Schönbrunn
Date:	24/12/08 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful

Disadvantages: Busy, fairly expensive

My husband and I visited Schloss Schönbrunn in May 2008. The palace is in Vienna, slightly out of the centre but easily reached by public transport including U-Bahn and tram. We arrived fairly early in the morning, but it was already very busy as it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Vienna.

We were faced with what felt like a bewildering array of ticket options (see http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/plan-your-visit/ticke ts-tours.html for a summary of the options). We settled for the Classic Pass, which included the full tour of the palace plus four other attractions within the grounds - the Gloriette, Maze, Apple Strudel Show and Privy Garden. We felt that it was quite pricey, but then we found Vienna in general to be very expensive. There was quite a queue to purchase tickets, in fact there was quite a queue for everything.

We began with the palace tour. We visited forty richly decorated rooms - a mixture of private rooms, public rooms, a grand hall and many smaller halls. The Grand Tour includes all the rooms that are open to the public. The rooms really were beautiful. You could spend as long as you wanted in each, although it was busy and the tour groups sometimes took over a bit.

Then we went out into the gardens. Entry to the main gardens is free, but our ticket allowed us further access to some areas. We visited the Gloriette, a narrow arched building which you can climb for superb views over the palace and further out over the city. Then we went into the Maze. The maze was quite tricky, luckily we had ice-creams to keep us fortified! Next to it was a smaller labyrinth filled with fun little games like stepping stones and musical features.

In the bakery our ticket entitled us entry to the Apple Strudel Show. This is something that we probably would have skipped otherwise, so I'm very glad that we went along. We had a piece of the strudel to eat (very tasty!) alongside a full demonstration of how to make it and a recipe to take home. It was most impressive to watch how the dough is spread out into a large, very thin shape.

We finished our tour in the Privy Garden, a small, peaceful, landscaped garden with shady walkways down the sides.

We spent a lot longer at the palace than we had anticipated, but this was not a bad thing! We felt as though we'd had a good look around and explored various different aspects of the palace, both inside and out. It really is beautiful and the gardens are magnificent. I would fully recommend a visit as part of a trip to Vienna. Just be sure to arrive early, and suss out the ticket options in advance (buy tickets in advance on-line if you know for sure when you're visiting).

http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/home.html

Summary: Must-see attraction in Vienna