As our trip to Vienna was slowly coming to an end, after a day full of last-minute visits before having our flight early the next morning, we decided to finish this trip in a chill way. A way more relaxing pace than what I along with my friends are usually following on the constant chase of seeing as much as possible since you can never be too sure if you’ll ever return to that place ever again.
So after a folder filled with hundreds of pictures and memories, we finished our adventure at Schönbrunn Palace. And honestly, I don’t know if I could end that trip better than at the palace.
I keep writing this article as ‘we’ because as you might have already figured out, I wasn’t alone. In fact, I never travel alone because of all the mixed thoughts in my head even though I would definitely see a lot more of this world if I wouldn’t be constantly depending on either my family or friends to hit the road again.
But while the trips in my country, Romania, are mostly taken in the company of my family, when it comes to city breaks and a trip on board, it sort of became an unwritten tradition to happen with my friends.
This is still an early thing, seeing just two countries together so far, but I have a feeling that I’m not too far away from my constant dream of getting to see at least 1-2 different countries with each passing year. And even if there are no trips booked yet for 2024 and we are pretty close to the middle of the year already, I still keep the flame of my hope lighting, because you can never know what occasion the next day will bring.
Anyway, back to today’s subject of the post. 😊
Schönbrunn Palace was located a bit far from the parts of Vienna we explored the most, which seemed like a good idea as we always seek for less crowded locations, far from the traffic noise. And if it happens to also belong to a forest or natural environment, then it’s definitely a go-to for us!
So while we could always opt for a taxi or public transportation method, we decided to have a long walk until reaching the palace, which gave us a new perspective on the city that we mostly explored through tourist attractions or behind the window of a bus or tram.
This long walk offered us more moments of sharing stories, stopping by the shops to look for souvenirs, but also to plan the next day when we were heading home.
However, once we reached the palace, all the thoughts we had so far were spread in a blink and we started running all over the place like kids.
But even if the palace could be noticed far from the distance as it’s a fairly large building, we decided to still approach it but not before enjoying the whole walk until there, starting with a large fountain with plenty of cool details on the sculptures part of it.
If I have to be honest, I’m not 100% convinced this fountain is still part of the palace courtyard but since it was on the same level and right at the beginning of the path making our way there, I thought I’d include it as well in my post. I also read somewhere recently that Schönbrunn can be translated into something that includes a fountain within, so might as well be another proof that the fountain behind me was part of the palace garden.
And if we are at the part of speaking of the impressive courtyard of the palace, then keep in mind that all the way to our destination is a 5-10 minute walk through minimalism, where the simple decorations assisting your walk are the tens of sculptures placed on sides, having some green spaces interrupting the path from time to time.
As we were travelling to Vienna in December, the scenery was pretty grumpy with not much colour around, but I bet the view is a lot warmer and welcoming during the Spring and Summer seasons.
I know I said that we were looking for a chill place where to mark the end of our trip, away from crowded locations and traffic noise and there are already plenty of people spotted in my pictures, so you might ask whether Schönbrunn Palace is a crowded location or not.
The truth is, that it represents one of the most stunning palaces in Europe with an impressive history dating back to 1569, and also one of Vienna’s landmarks, so it was definitely hard to keep the whole experience just for us.
But the thing that both the palace and its garden cover a large surface, makes it a lot easier to go around without running into a group of tourists or hearing others’ conversations being way too close to you, if that makes sense. So from this point of view, I still consider it a great location to visit no matter what the season is, as it will definitely give you a bit of freedom that you can’t really feel in all the tourist attractions of Vienna.
The story behind the Schönbrunn Palace begins centuries ago when it was raised with the main purpose of representing an imperial summer residence with over 1440 rooms.
The actual land where the palace was built was the first interest as it was bought and surrounded with trees and fences, to sum up a region where hunting could happen for the important people of that time, where the victims were exotic birds of all kinds.
But as the activity of hunting represented a very relaxing atmosphere for the owners of the place, they were craving for more so they started building the palace pretty quick after the purchase of the land, which sadly was mostly destroyed in 1683 after a Turkish invasion.
Since the owners of the palace didn’t intend to give up too easily, they asked to have the whole building raised again, which took 21 years in total.
Just think how much time it takes you to count to 1441 which is the actual number of the rooms inside the palace, and taking 21 years to have the building raised won’t seem that much anymore.
Actually, even if the palace was initially ruined by the Turks, the king had the ambition to create a new building that would create competition for the famous Palace of Versailles from France, which you’ll notice that both buildings are quite similar in terms of architectural styles used.
However, the size of the palace and its architectural design are now what impresses people the most, as with such a large surface owned the king did not stop there but asked for a big garden to be constantly maintained, where tens of sculptures of gods are surrounding it, along with a cafe, maze and zoological garden located fairly close, but which I’ll cover under separate posts in the future.
There is also a theatre that become more famous after popular names got up on stage like Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but also Napoleon.
After mentioning so many big names, perhaps you already figured out that this is now under the UNESCO World Heritage site which makes it a very important building for Vienna, but also for the whole Europe as Schönbrunn Palace was placed as Europe’s most beautiful Baroque complexes currently out there.
We went by the palace during the Christmas Markets euphoria, so once we made it to the front side of the building where all the stalls were placed, the view became a lot more crowded than what we had enjoyed so far.
We actually thought about visiting the inside of the palace which is a unique experience for anyone doing so, but since the night was slowly setting by, we were away from the place we called home for a couple of days, and were slowly running out of the budget we’ve set for
that trip, we decided to only enjoy the palace and the garden as best as we could, which can happen at no cost.
The price of one ticket is 32€ for adults and 23€ for kids, but you better check the prices here as I expect the price to be different depending on the period of the year you are visiting Vienna.
An important thing to mention though, is that you won’t be able to see every single room of the palace as one would expect, but only 45 rooms which are open for tourists.
However, walking into 45 separate rooms each with its story, history and art details that are very impressive, is already a lot to offer for the price you will pay, so do make sure to visit Schönbrunn Palace when you have some free hours in your schedule so you won’t rush the overall experience as we did.
After one cup of wine drunk, some local sweets and lots of Christmasy vibes felt deep in our hearts, we slowly followed the way back home, with huge smiles on our faces and definitely more memories to keep our minds busy when missing a new adventure.
But as I always say when writing about my trip to Vienna, Austria, I really want to return there one day when, perhaps, when the Christmas Markets are not there, as they definitely capture a lot of attention that otherwise might be better used to explore what this city has to offer. So who knows, maybe one day this post will be re-written but under a complete experience as I always chase from every destination I reach in this world.
Schönbrunn Palace is located in the Hietzing district of Vienna and even though it’s a bit far from the center of the city, there are numerous ways to reach it in case you don’t want to walk all the way there as we did.
Some of the public transportation that could make your access easier are: 57A (Bus), U4 (Subway/metro), U3 60 (Tram) or Taxi, which always seems the most common option for the tourists.
Other places I’ve seen during my stay in Vienna:
- The Austrian Parliament Building
- Capuchin Church (Katholische Kapuzinerkirche “Hl. Maria von den Engeln”)
- The tour of the Christmas Markets from Vienna, Austria
- Stadtpark
- Shop Windows of Vienna, Austria
- Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus)
- The Imperial Crypt
- Column of Pest (The Plague Column, Vienna, Austria)
- St. Charles’s Church (Karlskirche)
- Schönbrunn Palace
more coming soon…
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Gabriela Travels 