Since I saw “Sissi” for the very first time at the age of six, I’ve wanted to visit Schönbrunn Palace (find the official website here) in Vienna. Now my dream came true. As I promised in my Vienna Travel Diary I will tell you everything about our day at Schönbrunn in this blog post.
First I was little bit shocked when I saw my ticket at the crowded counter, because our waiting time was more than two hours to get inside the palace. Then we found out that it isn’t neccessary to wait at the entrance. So we decided to walk through the beautiful palace park during the waiting time.
Now I will show you ten things you can do while you are waiting:
1. Enjoying the beauty of the palace
First of all let your eyes wander over the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace and the huge garden with the Neptune Fountaine and Gloriette. And don’t forget to check out the map to see what you want to do afterwards.
2.Having a break
My first break was on the royal stairs of the palace. A perfect place to think about what you want to do or see next.
3. Striding down the stairs like Sisi
After my break I tried to stride the stairs down as gracefully and royally as possible and dreamed that I was Romy Schneider in the movie “Sissi”. (I didn’t look as elegant as Romy but at least I can dream – right?)
4. Dancing
On such a beautiful spring day I just had to dance and twirl. I think this point is optional, but the other visitors found my performance very amusing. 😉
5. Observing ducks at the Neptune Fountain
After so much excitement I needed another break at the second-nicest place in Schönbrunn – the Neptune Fountain (I will tell you later where the nicest place is). There you can look at the ducks and listen to water splashes – I don’t need more to relax.
6. Becoming lost in the maze
I’ve never been in a maze before so I was very excited while wandering through the one at Schönbrunn. For that you have to pay some Euros (including the labyrinth) but that was okay for me.
7. Having fun in the labyrinth
Beside the maze with high hedges is the labyrinth with smaller hedges. There you can have a lot of fun and try to climb the climbing pole e. g. where I totally failed – or just take a mirror selfie ;).
8. Hiking to the Gloriette
To reach the Gloriette you have to walk up a quite steep hill. But from there you have the most amazing view over whole Vienna and this is also the nicest to place to have another little break I think. The Gloriette was inter alia a dining and breakfast room as well as a ballroom during the monarchy. Breakfast with a view as we would say today. 😉
9. Having another break
After our very exhausting hike we had another look at the palace and definitely needed some food. Beside the zoo you can find a café with a beautiful terrace to rest and have lunch or drink coffee.
10. Heading back to the palace entrance
The time has flown by really fast and we almost had to hurry to get to the palace entrance in time. If we had more time, I would have loved to visit the zoo. Hopefully we will do that next time.
I highly recommend to do the tour of the palace to see all the beautiful and pompous rooms. You will get an audio guide with 16 different languages to hear all the important informations about the different rooms.
The most interesting place for me was Empress Elisabeth’s dressing room where she styled her amazingly long hair. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures inside Schönbrunn Palace but you can see some photos on the official website.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour through the palace grounds and like the photos as much as I do. 😉
Bye bye Schönbrunn – hope to see you again very soon!
