All photos courtesy of Amazing Travel Photos
On you trip to Vienna, Austria, be sure to visit Schonbrunn Palace. It’s not too far from the city center. Here’s a google map view of the Schonbrunn Park
From West Bahnhof train station, take tram #58 and you’ll see the big palace on the left. Get off the tram, cross the street and walk to the palace entrance gate.
There’s a busy street in front of the gate, so push the button and wait for the light to change.
Once inside the gate, you’ll see a big empty square in front of the palace.
Schonbrunn Schloss (Schonbrunn Palace) dates from the 18th century during the time of Empress Maria Theresa. (Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina, the only female ruler of the Hapsburg Monarchy.) This was their summer palace. Their winter home was the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.
You can buy a ticket to take a tour inside the palace. It is rather expensive: 23 Euros for an Adult. It must cost a lot to maintain a palace of this size. But there are some deals that include other museums and palaces for one ticket. You should search for the best deal for you.
Around the sides of the palace are gardens.
The is an awesome backyard behind the house. The backyard extends for a couple of hundred yards to a pool with a sculpture. Walk all the way back to the sculpture, which has guys riding on water horses.
Behind the pool up on the hill is the Glorietta building with a reflecting pool.
The date on the building is written in a combination of Greek and Roman numerals. The Greek Letter Phi stands for 1,000 and half-phi stands for 500. The Hapsburgs wrote “Augustus”, after Augustus Caesar, because they considered their Holy Roman Empire to be a continuation of the Roman Empire.
Admire the wonderful view of the palace and all of Vienna from the top of the hill.
The are other cool things to see and do in Schonbrunn Park. There’s a zoo and also a labyrinth or hedge maze. Here’s the outside wall of the maze.
You can spend as much time as you like in Schonbrunn Park. Plan on at least an hour to walk around the gardens and up the hill to the Glorietta. Plan on spending more time if you take the interior palace tour. You could easily spend half a day at this elegant site. This is what we come to see in Europe, the grand palaces and castles, so take your time and enjoy the splendor from the 18th century.
Once you finish your tour of the Schonbrunn Palace and grounds, exit the front gate and turn right. Walk to the first traffic light and cross the street to find the U4 underground metro. Take U4 to Karlsplatz which is right in the center of old Vienna.
View all the Vienna travel photos in the Vienna Photo Gallery.
