Schonbrunn Palace

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited either, but even after you’ve seen the grandeur of the buildings and grounds of Versailles, visiting the center of the once-great Austrian empire (including Maria-Theresa’s touches and Franz Josephs’s then-state-of-the-art new toilet) will give you an appreciation of that aspect of European history.

If you’ve seen one famous painting in one museum, go to another museum to see more art. Same for palaces, and it takes more than two to get palaced-out.

With the caveat that I haven’t been there since the late 90’s, I liked Schönbrunn more than Versailles. At least at that time, there was a really fun audio guide that wasn’t dry and was very interesting about the lives lived there.

Last year I spent the whole day at the Schonbrunn Palace and loved it. I have also been to Versailles and loved that too. I enjoy palaces and extensive gardens both Palaces are massive and beautiful. At the Schonbrunn palace I covered some of the beautiful grounds but they are massive. I also went to an outdoor cafe and had a drink and cake, lovely. I went to the coach musuem which houses a number of coaches and clothes that they wore in the day. It was beatuiful. At the Schonbrunn Palace I had a timed ticket but you walk through it on your own and listen to an audio guide.

Schonburunn Palace is a palace and it has furitnure and paintings and is large and tons of different rooms to see, I bought the ticket to see the whole palace. Is Schonbrunn and Versailles the same, no, but they are the same as far as they are palaces with beautiful grounds to see. I like seeing that but if you do not get a thrill from that then just see Versailles. And if you do see Schonbrunn, make sure it is a nice day and not rainy or too cold.

If you have only three days to visit Vienna, you may want to skip Schonbrunn and see the city which has tons of museums, cafes, shops and a butterfly house and the palace in the city to see. I have been to Vienna twice and saw Schonbrunn on my second visit after seeing the city.

I hope this helps. Have a great trip.

The gardens at Versailles beat Schoenbrunn, but its the revrse for the palaces.

There are two metro stops. The one closest to the central city was originally the private station for the Emperor.

Frankly I prefer Schonbrunn.

I've not been to Versailles but Schonbrunn is well worth a visit. A long time ago, and I don't remember any ticket options, but we spent quite some time there.

It all depends on what interests you, but Vienna is so chock full of fabulous sights, that 3 days is only enough to scratch the surface, without going out to Schobrunn. We visited Schonbrunn on our 2nd trip, and got the least expensive tour. It was enough for me. Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of Baroque or Rococco periods, and gossipy information about the often vile Hapsburgs repels me. But then, I’m also not a fan of Versailles, either.

First, a trivial linguistic technicality. The name of the palace does not include the letter o in German. It has an o with two dots above it, which is best rendered in English as oe -- Schoenbrunn.

If you had but one day in Vienna, I would advise take the metro to Schoenbrunn. There are two tours. The long tour, State Rooms and Imperial Apartments-- is best. We also like the carriage museum and some time in the gardens behind the palace is also a must. You can easily spend a day there, but at least half a day.

I think that it is important to visit both Palaces.It gives you the oppulance of both countries at the Apex of their power.France and the Habsburg Empire were the Most powerful of European dynasties and These buildings Exhibit this.
Mike

Hi,

I suggest seeing both for the basic historical reason. What was represented and portrayed at Versailles and that at Schönbrunn were the two dynastic rivals in Europe for 250 years, until the "reversal of the alliances" ie, the Diplomatic Revolution, took place.

I too would do the Grand tour and consider the Sisi ticket which includes the often-overlooked Imperial Furniture Depository. I did the tour last week (not for the first time) and noticed that the audio guide has been considerably slimmed down, but it's still good enough and preferable to a tour with a guide in my opinion.

Not that this is quite like being there, and there may not be much of the palace shown, except for the exterior as a backdrop, but our PBS station is showing a classical Summer Concert being broadcast tomorrow (Friday, August 9), at 9 PM, outside of Schönbrunn palace.

I've [now] been to both Versailles and Schonbrunn Palace. In terms of sheer spectacle, I think Versailles beats Schonbrunn both palace and garden-wise. But I'll admit to some bias as France is my favorite country and French history is fascinating to me.

That all being said, I found Schonbrunn well worth the visit. The audio guide was very informative and there are some beautiful rooms in there. I don't think you need to do a guided tour. The audio guide has all you need. Definitely book the Grand Tour and try for as early of an entry time as possible. In the gardens, make sure to go up to the Gloriette and at least seen the Roman Ruins and Egyptian Obelisk fountain. We stopped in the Carriage Museum as well and found it quite worthwhile.

I think we bought the Classic Pass, which includes anything you'd really want to wander in to. Our Vienna Pass covered the Carriage Museum. [The Vienna Pass would have also covered the palace/gardens but you can't reserve a time with it, so I bought tickets for Schonbrunn separately. Some would consider this a waste of money but I didn't want to risk having to wait hours to get in or everything being booked and having to come back another day]

TV follow-up: The concert was fantastic, with 85,000 spectators in attendance, shots of fountains and roses and other parts of the grounds. Wiener Philharmonic, guest pianist and guest conductor Dudamel from L.A. Lots of American compositions, with European, too. And what a great setting!

This concert - end of May ervery year - is the only one the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra plays without charging the audience for tickets.

For me it doesn't matter whether you visited Versailles these two are two different palaces. I have visited Schonbrunn this year after I had viisited it 2 times previously. There are no tickets for visiting gardens which at least for me are more interesting than palace which tends to be crowded. Here is a short film which covers almost all parts of gardens so you may decide for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0gfIjKcqqQ

For those who want to explore the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace, here is a map:
https://www.schoenbrunn.at/fileadmin/user_upload/Schoenbrunn/Images/Schlosspark/Arealplan_Schloss_Schoenbrunn.pdf