Schonbrunn Palace

Schonbrunn is the palace that defines imperial Vienna, and the single sight that every first visit should build around. It began as a hunting lodge outside the city, was rebuilt on a grand scale for Empress Maria Theresa in the eighteenth century, and served as the Habsburg summer residence until the end of the monarchy in 1918, with Emperor Franz Joseph born here and dying here sixty-eight years into his reign. Inside, the visit follows a chain of state rooms and private apartments on the main floor: the Great Gallery where emperors held balls and where Kennedy and Khrushchev met in 1961, the Mirror Room where a six-year-old Mozart performed for the empress, the lacquered and porcelain-panelled cabinets of the Rococo age, and the strikingly plain study and iron bed of Franz Joseph, who rose before dawn to read files. There are two routes: a shorter route through the core state rooms, and a longer full-palace route that adds Maria Theresa's private chambers and the most elaborate eastern rooms, both with an audio guide. Expect roughly 30 to 40 euros for adults depending on the route, with reduced prices for children and students. Entry is by timed slot, and in summer and at weekends the slots sell out days or weeks ahead, which is why booking online is the first rule of Schonbrunn. The park, by contrast, is free and open from early morning: a formal Baroque garden of clipped avenues and statues that climbs to the Neptune Fountain and the Gloriette colonnade on the hill, with the best view of the palace and the city beyond. Paid extras include the maze and labyrinth, the Privy Garden, the Palm House and the Gloriette terrace, and the Tiergarten Schonbrunn, founded in 1752 and the oldest zoo still operating in the world, sits inside the grounds. Few places in Europe give you a monarchy this completely in a single morning.

The history makes the rooms come alive. Maria Theresa, the only woman to rule the Habsburg lands in her own right, turned Schonbrunn into the political and family heart of her empire, raising sixteen children here, among them Marie Antoinette, and the Rococo interiors carry her taste for East Asian lacquer, porcelain and delicate gilding. Her great-great-grandson Franz Joseph, who ruled from 1848 to 1916, gave the palace its second identity: the dutiful, austere emperor at his desk, and the restless Empress Elisabeth, Sisi, whose rooms and gymnastics equipment show a very different temperament. Napoleon stayed here twice as conqueror, his son died here as a young man, and in November 1918 the last emperor, Karl, signed away his role in government in the Blue Chinese Salon. The palace has been a museum since, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with its gardens since 1996.

How to visit well: book the earliest slot you can, either the shorter state-rooms route if you are combining Schonbrunn with the Hofburg the same day, or the full-palace route if this is your one palace. The audio guide is included and good; the rooms are roped corridors, so the pace is set by the crowd, and the early slots are calmer. Photography is not allowed inside. After the palace, walk straight up through the gardens to the Gloriette, which takes about twenty minutes uphill, for the classic view; the café inside is a pleasant stop. Families should head for the maze and the children's areas, then the zoo, which needs at least two or three hours on its own. In winter the park is quieter but the inside of the palace is just as rewarding, and from early November the Christmas market in the forecourt is one of the most atmospheric in the city.

Logistics: Schonbrunn lies in the 13th district, around 15 minutes from the centre on the U4 to Schonbrunn or Hietzing station. There is no need for a taxi. The ticket office queue is avoidable entirely with an online booking, but the security and entry queue at your slot time can still take a few minutes. Combination tickets with the Hofburg and the Imperial Furniture Collection exist for history fans who want the full Habsburg circuit. Allow at least half a day for palace and gardens, a full day with the zoo. Evening classical concerts in the Orangery, a Mozart and Strauss programme, are an elegant way to return after dark.