Belvedere Palace and Klimt

The Belvedere is where Vienna's great art and its great Baroque architecture meet. Built in the early eighteenth century as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy, the general who saved the city from the Ottomans and became one of the richest men in Europe, it is two palaces linked by a long formal garden that falls in terraces, fountains and statues from the Upper Belvedere down to the Lower. The view from the top terrace, back over the garden to the domes and spires of the city, is one of the finest in Vienna. Today the palaces house the Austrian national collection of art from the Middle Ages to the present, and the reason most people come is the Upper Belvedere's collection of Gustav Klimt, the largest in the world: more than twenty paintings including The Kiss, the gold-leaf icon of Viennese art painted in 1908 and 1909, and Judith, the startling portrait of 1901, along with landscapes and portraits. Around them hang the other masters of Vienna around 1900, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, as well as Baroque, Biedermeier and French Impressionist works by Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh in quieter rooms. The Lower Belvedere, with its marble halls and orangery, hosts temporary exhibitions, and a separate contemporary site, Belvedere 21, sits across the park near the main station. Tickets for the Upper Belvedere run around 20 to 25 euros for adults, with combined tickets for both palaces; visitors under 19 enter free. Pricing is dynamic, so the price varies by day, and booking a timed slot online lets you skip the ticket queue. The Klimt room is calm at the first morning slot and crowded from late morning to early afternoon; plan for that, and you will have The Kiss almost to yourself.

The Kiss in context: Klimt painted it at the height of his golden period, when he was using real gold leaf influenced by the Byzantine mosaics he had seen in Ravenna, and the Austrian state bought it from the artist's 1908 exhibition, before it was even finished, which is why it has never left Vienna. Seeing it in person surprises most people with its size, nearly square and close to two metres across, and with how the gold changes as you move. Nearby, Judith shows a very different Klimt, and the Schiele rooms upstairs, with Death and the Maiden, show the next generation's raw, nervous answer to his decoration. The rest of the collection is underrated: Messerschmidt's bizarre character heads, the Biedermeier painters' Vienna, and the Impressionists are all worth an extra hour.

Planning the visit: book the Upper Belvedere for opening time if you can, go straight to the Klimt room first, then work back through the rest of the collection. Allow two hours for the Upper Belvedere alone. If the Lower Belvedere's temporary exhibition appeals, take the combined ticket and walk down through the garden, which is free and open to everyone from early morning, with shorter hours in winter. Photography without flash is generally allowed in the permanent collection, but the crush in front of The Kiss means patience is needed.

Getting there and around: the Upper Belvedere entrance on Prinz-Eugen-Strasse is a short walk from the main railway station, Wien Hauptbahnhof, or tram D from the Ring, which stops right by the gate. The Lower Belvedere sits on Rennweg, closer to the centre. In late November and December the forecourt of the Upper Belvedere hosts a Christmas market, with the lit-up palace as its backdrop, and summer evenings in the garden are one of the city's quiet pleasures. The Belvedere pairs naturally with an evening concert or a walk down to the Ringstrasse and Karlsplatz.