Bestseller
Vienna: Skip-the-Line Sisi Museum, Hofburg and Gardens Tour
From 58,14 €
Buy the ticket
Vienna’s top attraction is Hofburg, the Imperial Palace, the winter residence of the Habsburgs who divided their residence and official receptions between this exceptional palace and a no less sumptuous summer residence, Schönbrunn Palace.
For six centuries, until the end of World War I, Hofburg was the centre of power of the Habsburgs, one of the most powerful and long-lived dynasties in Europe.
Perhaps in order to emphasise their grandeur or perhaps just out of vanity, the Habsburgs spared no expense on the opulence of the palace, inside which priceless riches are preserved. Its rooms are a riot of brocades, crystal chandeliers, paintings, sculptures, gilded stucco, silverware and other marvels that only an emperor could afford.
Despite its name, you should not think that the Hofburg is a single palace: it is one of the largest residential complexes in the world, comprising buildings, squares, courtyards and gardens.
The complex currently houses the office of the Federal President of Austria, numerous government offices, ministries, museums, the Spanish Riding School, a conference centre and the historic Heroes’ Square (Heldenplatz).
Among the palace wings open to the public are the imperial flats of Franz Joseph and Sissi, the most famous guests of this luxurious palace. You can see where they ate, slept, worked, bathed, read, played sports and more.
An unmissable museum is dedicated to the beautiful empress that will give you a better insight into this complex character enveloped in a romantic and libertarian aura. True or false this image? Find out at the Sissi Museum!
According to court ceremonial, each member of the family could have his own personal flat or suite in one of the palace’s many wings: each emperor had a suite built for his family according to his personal taste, which explains the number of rooms as well as the gigantic size of the Hofburg.
Of these imperial suites, two are today open to the public and can be visited: the Imperial Chancellery and the Amalia Residence, which contains the public and private rooms of Franz Joseph and Sisi, who lived here with their children and court.
A visit to the imperial flats will take you through 24 rooms, almost all in Rococo style, embellished with gilded stucco work, Brussels tapestries from the 17th and 19th centuries, Louis XV and Empire style furniture, glittering Bohemian crystal chandeliers and characteristic tiled stoves.
For many visitors, the most interesting part of the tour are Empress Elisabeth’s private rooms. Of all of them, the one that most impresses tourists is her dressing room and personal gymnasium.
Here the empress began her day in the early hours of the morning with the ritual of hairdressing, a time she used to study foreign languages (she would learn seven). You can admire the original exercise equipment used by the empress, such as the Swedish painting, horse and rings, as well as a collection of portraits of people she was particularly fond of.
The room that arouses the most curiosity is certainly the bathroom, which reveals the empress’s most intimate secret, namely where she peed: you can admire a very elegant… Dolphin-shaped toilet.
You can also see the rooms used by Sissi to receive her guests, the Small Salon and the Great Salon, and the Alexandrian flats and the Red Salon for more formal dinners and receptions. The works of art decorating these rooms testify to Sissi’s taste for Greece and the Mediterranean.
No less interesting is the figure of Emperor Franz Joseph, known to audiences of the Sissi film saga as Franz. You can see his private rooms for rest and work as well as those for official receptions, including:
Despite the fact that the imperial flats achieve a splendour that is hard to match, many tourists confess to paying the entrance fee just for the opportunity to visit the Sisi Museum. This is the largest collection dedicated to the figure of Elisabeth, Europe’s most famous, loved and at the same time misunderstood empress.
The credit and blame for Sissi’s fame, but also for ignorance about the true events of her life, lies above all with a highly successful film saga that has sought to render only the most romantic and idealistic aspects of this strong woman with a complex personality. Long before she had the cinematic face of the beautiful Romy Schneider, however, Elisabeth was a myth used by the Austrian monarchy for propaganda purposes.
This must-see museum for all Sissi fans, housed in the first six rooms of the imperial flats, reconstructs her story from her birth in Bavaria to her tragic assassination in Geneva, between reality and myth.
More than 300 of the empress’s personal items are on display, including fans, gloves, parasols, cosmetics and travel necessaries. There are also, of course, the magnificent 19th-century dresses worn by the empress, including a reconstruction of the dress she wore on the eve of her wedding and the one she wore on the day of her coronation as queen of Hungary in 1867.
Two more macabre relics are the empress’s original death certificate and the funeral mask created after her assassination.
During a visit to the imperial flats, you can admire a sumptuous dining room decorated with the set of a formal dinner in the era of Franz Joseph. The layout of the room, as well as the dinner menu, varied very rigidly depending on the type of dinner and the guests.
The extremely rich trousseau of plates, cutlery, glasses, tablecloths, napkins and all the linen used for imperial dinners are on display at the original Silverware Museum: opened in 1995, it bears witness to the opulence of the Habsburgs not through paintings or sculptures but through everyday objects.
Naturally, since it was an emperor’s lunch and dinner, these objects could only be precious, made of the finest materials by the most skilled craftsmen.
You can admire more than 7,000 of them in an area of more than 1,300 square metres: they are a tiny part of the Habsburg trousseau, which includes 150,000 objects.
The Imperial Treasury holds the most precious insignia of Habsburg power, including the crown of the Holy Roman Empire made in the 10th century, the imperial sceptre, the cruciger globe and numerous crown jewels. The collection also includes the Austrian imperial crown, the sacred spear that according to tradition belonged to the centurion Longinus, and the personal jewellery of Empress Elisabeth.
The entrance ticket to the Hofburg gives access to the imperial flats, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Museum, while the other museums housed within the imperial palace require a separate ticket. Discounts are available for children, senior citizens and students with an international student card.
It is compulsory to reserve an entry time slot and online purchase is strongly recommended, especially during the peak tourist season, to avoid long queues and ensure entry at the desired time. You can choose to visit the palace on your own with an audio guide or, for a small extra charge, join a guided tour.
The Sisi Ticket is a particularly advantageous combination ticket that offers savings of 25% and includes three imperial attractions: the Sisi Museum with the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg, the Grand Tour of Schönbrunn Palace and the Vienna Museum of Furniture with the exhibition “Sissi, Myth of the Cinema”.
The most popular ticket includes the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments and is available with free audioguide in 13 languages.
Alternatively, you can book a guided tour of the Hofburg, which includes admission to the Sisi Museum.
If you only wish to visit the Imperial Treasury, you need to purchase a ticket
It is then possible to purchase a combination ticket that includes: Imperial Treasury, New Hofburg Palace with audio guide, Weltmuseum, Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments, Imperial Armoury.
The Hofburg Imperial Palace is one of the discounted admission attractions included with the Vienna City Card, while it is included free of charge if you purchase the Vienna Pass.
The Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments are open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., including weekends and public holidays. Last admission is at 16:30, and the ticket office also closes at 16:30. Visitors can stay in the Sisi Museum until 17:00 and in the Imperial Apartments until 17:30.
The other attractions in the Hofburg have different timetables: the Spanish Riding School offers shows and guided tours with varying times depending on the season, while the Imperial Treasury has its own timetable. It is advisable to check the specific times on the official website of each attraction before your visit.
A full visit to the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments is recommended to take 60-90 minutes, although history buffs may spend up to 2 hours to appreciate all the details and explanations of the audio guides. A complete tour of the entire Hofburg complex, including several attractions, can take a whole day.
The Hofburg Palace is located in the heart of Vienna’s 1st district and is easily accessible by public transport. The nearest underground station is Herrengasse on the U3 line (orange), which takes you directly to the palace entrance in a 2-minute walk. The main entrance is on Michaelerplatz, featuring the imposing Michaelertrakt with its distinctive green dome.
Alternatively, you can use tram lines 1, 2, D and 71 that stop at the Burgring station, located along the Ringstraße about a 5-minute walk from the palace. Bus lines 1A and 2A also stop directly at the Hofburg, making access extremely convenient from any part of the city.
Those arriving from the main station can take the U1 line to Stephansplatz, then change to the U3 towards Ottakring and get off at the next stop, Herrengasse. From St. Stephen’s Cathedral it is a pleasant 7-minute walk through the old town via Graben and Kohlmarkt.
The Hofburg Palace is located at Michaelerplatz 1 in the heart of Vienna's historic centre, surrounded by the Ringstraße and the Heldenplatz.
City Card allow you to save on public transport and / or on the entrances to the main tourist attractions.
Hotel 
Budget accommodations 
Apartments 
Family Hotel 
Luxury Hotel