Vienna sightseeing · Make the day your own
A palace morning, a ride above the Prater, an immersive journey through Vienna’s history: the best sightseeing route starts with the experiences you want to remember.
This Vienna attractions map and planner helps you connect those experiences without criss-crossing the city. Choose from ten paid and free stops, try four ready-made walking routes and compare your selected admissions with Vienna E-pass. You can adjust the prices and time allowances before deciding what belongs in your trip.
Start with a palace, then build the rest of the day around the same sightseeing area.
10 stops
Palaces, views, wildlife and immersive experiences
4 routes
Google Maps walks grouped by area
Your budget
An editable adult ticket comparison
Build Your Vienna Attraction Shortlist
Start with the two-day highlights or load one area. Then use the selection boxes beside the attractions below to add or remove stops. Your totals update here, so you can see whether another experience adds value or simply makes the day too full.
Visit blocks are editorial planning allowances, including some entry and waiting time. Add a separate daily allowance for meals, walking and transfers. The planner does not check opening hours, availability, accessibility or timed-ticket clashes.
1. Choose a starting point
Loading a preset replaces your selections and day count. Your edited admission prices stay in place.
2. Set your pace
The default 90 minutes per day is a starting allowance. Increase it for a long lunch, slower walking, hotel journeys or visits across several areas. Changing the day count loads that duration’s reference Day E-pass price.
3. Review your plan
8
selected stops
14h
visits + daily allowances
€158.40
selected individual admissions
€134.00
2-day E-pass quote
About 2h remains within your total time allowance. Now check each day's opening hours, travel and reservations; this is not a confirmed schedule.
On these inputs, the Day E-pass costs €24.40 less than the selected individual references. Confirm inclusions and make sure the visits fit your dates.
Totals are per adult and cover the admissions selected here. Meals, public transport, airport transfers and optional upgrades are excluded from both ticket totals. Free stops add no pass savings.
Update individual ticket prices and your E-pass quote
These are public adult reference prices checked on 29 October 2026, rather than a live quote. Enter the prices offered for your dates, age and exact ticket products. The bus field starts at the advertised “from” price for one 24-hour Discover ticket; E-pass bus validity can be longer. It is not a comparison of identical bus packages.
See, copy or print my selected attractions
This list is grouped by area, not a booking schedule. Use the two-day example below to arrange the highlights.
- Schönbrunn: Schönbrunn State Apartments · 1h 15m · €30.00 individual reference
- Schönbrunn: Schönbrunn Zoo · 3h · €29.00 individual reference
- Schönbrunn: Schönbrunn Palace Park · 45m · free outdoor stop
- Old Town: Old Town exterior walk · 45m · free outdoor stop
- Old Town: Time Travel Vienna · 1h 15m · €24.90 individual reference
- Old Town: Mythos Mozart · 1h · €23.00 individual reference
- Prater: Giant Ferris Wheel · 1h · €14.50 individual reference
- City overview: Big Bus panoramic circuit · 2h · €37.00 individual reference
Blank or invalid fields pause the affected total until corrected. Nothing is booked by using this planner.
You can also plan without the live tool: follow one of the four walking routes below and use the worked two-day ticket comparison to assess your shortlist.
Where Are Vienna’s Main Attractions?
The Old Town is the easiest place to combine several short visits on foot. Schönbrunn is a separate sightseeing area to the southwest. Prater sits northeast of the center; the Danube Tower is farther out, across the Danube. Belvedere’s gardens make a useful outdoor route south of the Old Town.
The four Google Maps routes farther down are walking routes. They do not represent Big Bus lines or a live public-transport itinerary.
Schönbrunn: Palace Rooms, Open Space and Wildlife
Give Schönbrunn a proper block of time. The palace entrance, garden paths and zoo belong to one large estate, but walking between them still takes time. U4 serves the area via Schönbrunn and Hietzing; choose the station that suits your first visit.
Included with E-pass
1. Schönbrunn Palace State Apartments
Plan: 75 minutes · Adult reference: €30
Choose this for a focused look inside the imperial palace. The State Apartments tour takes around 40 minutes; this planner adds time for arrival and entry. Pair the interiors with a park walk to appreciate the scale of the estate.
E-pass detail: the inclusion is the State Apartments with audio guide, rather than every palace tour. Your E-pass instructions currently require a printed voucher. Confirm the admission procedure and entry time before arriving.
Included with E-pass
2. Schönbrunn Zoo
Plan: 3 hours · Adult reference: €29
Make the zoo the main event if animals are a priority. Three hours leaves room for several habitats and a pause; an enthusiastic family may want considerably longer. Choose a few animals to find first and let the rest of the visit unfold around them.
Timing detail: winter closing can be as early as 16:30. Start early enough to enjoy the visit before animal houses and entrances close.
Free outdoor stop
3. Schönbrunn Palace Park
Plan: 45 minutes · General park: €0
Enjoy the palace façade, formal layout and broad garden paths without adding another admission. A short walk fits neatly between the palace and zoo. Add more time if you want the uphill walk toward the Gloriette.
The general park has seasonal opening hours. The Gloriette viewing terrace, Maze, Privy Garden and other special attractions have separate access rules; they are not included in this free-stop estimate.
Leave generous time for the zoo, especially when visiting Vienna with children.
Make the day easier: combine the palace, park and zoo before returning to the center. On a short winter day, protect the zoo’s daylight hours and arrange the palace around your confirmed entry slot.
The Old Town: Vienna’s Streets, Stories and Music
This is the most compact part of the shortlist. Historic squares and pedestrian streets connect the two immersive experiences, making it easy to alternate a paid visit with fresh air, coffee or a few photographs.
Mythos Mozart adds a music-led indoor experience to an Old Town walking route.
Free outdoor stop
4. An Old Town Landmark Walk
Plan: 45 minutes · Exteriors: €0
Start at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, continue along Graben and follow Kohlmarkt toward Michaelerplatz. Pause for the cathedral’s patterned roof and the Hofburg’s monumental setting. This is an introduction to the streets and exteriors, without paid tower or interior visits.
The walking allowance is a short orientation. Extend it for shopping, refreshments or a longer Hofburg courtyard wander.
Included with E-pass
5. Time Travel Vienna
Plan: 75 minutes · Adult reference: €24.90
At Habsburgergasse 10A, staged scenes, projections and effects turn the city’s history into an immersive experience. The visit itself lasts around 50 minutes. It is a useful indoor anchor in an Old Town day.
E-pass detail: reserve through your customer panel. Allow time to arrive before the booked start. Some scenes include war, darkness and strong effects; consider the experience’s suitability for your group.
Included with E-pass
6. Mythos Mozart
Plan: 60 minutes · Adult reference: €23
Under the STEFFL department store at Kärntner Straße 19, sound and room-scale projections create a different encounter with Mozart’s world. Choose it for a music-led experience that fits naturally between Stephansplatz and the State Opera area.
E-pass detail: generate the required QR code in your customer panel. Check the current entry instructions and daily last admission before fitting it between other bookings.
Prater: See Vienna From the Giant Ferris Wheel
The Giant Ferris Wheel is an included E-pass attraction; nearby rides have their own admission arrangements.
Included with E-pass
7. Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel
Plan: 60 minutes · Adult reference: €14.50
The Wiener Riesenrad offers a slow, memorable change of perspective above the Prater. A rotation takes around 12–15 minutes, while the planner leaves a larger block for entry, boarding and a possible queue. Use Praterstern station as a convenient starting point for the surrounding walk.
E-pass detail: the listed inclusion is the standard ride. Private cabins, dining and special experiences are separate products. Other Prater rides are not automatically included with a Ferris Wheel visit.
Combine the ride with a relaxed park walk rather than a rush back to the center. A late-afternoon visit can be appealing, but check the wheel’s date-specific opening times and allow extra flexibility around popular sunset periods.
Danube Tower: Make Room for a Separate Viewpoint
Included with E-pass
8. Danube Tower
Plan: 90 minutes on site · Adult online reference: €18
The Danube Tower is the choice for wide views across the river, parkland and city. Keep it for a day with good visibility if your dates allow. It is farther from the Old Town than the Ferris Wheel, so add the journey to and from Donaupark to your daily transfer allowance.
E-pass detail: check the entry QR-code instructions. Admission does not mean a restaurant reservation, food or a slide ride. Confirm current accessibility arrangements if anyone in your group needs step-free access.
Do not plan around an old bus map: the published E-pass Big Bus information lists the Danube Tower stop as closed. Plan a separate public-transport or taxi journey rather than assuming a sightseeing bus will leave you at the entrance.
Belvedere: Add a Free Garden Walk
The main Belvedere gardens offer palace views without an indoor collection visit.
Free outdoor stop
9. Belvedere Palace Gardens
Plan: 45 minutes · Main palace gardens: €0
Walk between the Upper and Lower Belvedere through the main terraced gardens, stopping for the façades, formal views and photographs. This outdoor choice gives your itinerary breathing room without adding an art-gallery visit.
Main garden access is free during opening hours. Indoor collections and certain separate garden areas have different access rules. In November–February, the published main garden closing time is 17:30.
Use Big Bus for a Panoramic Introduction
Included with E-pass
10. Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing
Plan: 2 hours · 24-hour Discover reference: from €37
Choose the bus when the journey is part of the sightseeing. The published Red Route circuit takes around 100 minutes, so a two-hour block allows a modest boarding margin for one circuit. Hopping off for attractions, waiting for another bus or riding both lines requires extra time.
E-pass detail: the published Day E-pass offer gives bus access during the pass duration. The individual reference here is a shorter, 24-hour Discover product; replace it with the ticket you would actually buy. Evening tours and ticket-package extras should not be assumed included.
The bus is useful for an overview, while public transport may suit a direct journey better. Check the day’s stop locations and last departures. A first-stop departure time is not the same as the last boarding time at every attraction.
Four Vienna Attraction Routes to Open in Google Maps
Each map groups nearby stops into a walk. Route durations below are editorial estimates with short pauses and the stated visits. Your own walking speed, queues and chosen entry slots can change them. Maps may adjust the path; keep the written stop order as your reference.
Route 1 · History and immersive experiences
Old Town Discoveries
Allow 4–5 hours with both paid experiences.
Stephansplatz → Time Travel Vienna → Michaelerplatz → Mythos Mozart → Vienna State Opera exterior.
Reserve Time Travel first, then arrange the other stops around it. Add a coffee pause between experiences instead of placing two tight entry times back to back.
Route 2 · One estate, several experiences
Schönbrunn Palace and Zoo
Allow 6–7 hours including a meal.
Schönbrunn Palace main entrance → Neptune Fountain → Schönbrunn Zoo → Hietzing station.
Visit the State Apartments at your confirmed time, then use the gardens to connect with the zoo. Reverse the order when it better protects winter zoo hours and your palace slot.
Route 3 · A ride and a slower afternoon
Prater and the Giant Ferris Wheel
Allow 2–3 hours with the wheel and a short walk.
Praterstern → Wiener Riesenrad → Planetarium exterior at Oswald-Thomas-Platz → Praterstern.
Take the ride and pause around Riesenradplatz. For extra greenery, add a short out-and-back walk along the Hauptallee from its Praterstern end. That optional extension is not included in the map; the full avenue is around 4.5 km long.
Route 4 · Free outdoor sightseeing
Opera, Karlskirche and Belvedere Gardens
Allow 2–3 hours for the outdoor walk.
Vienna State Opera exterior → Karlskirche exterior → Upper Belvedere → Lower Belvedere → Stadtpark.
This is a free-stop route when you remain outside ticketed interiors. Walk it in daylight and reach Belvedere before the main garden gates close.
A Two-Day Attraction Plan With Vienna E-pass
The highlights preset combines six paid experiences with two free outdoor stops. It is an active two-day plan for visitors who enjoy a full sightseeing day. Use the planner to remove anything that does not appeal to you.
Day 1: Schönbrunn Together
- State Apartments: arrive for your confirmed palace entry and allow the full planning block.
- Palace park: enjoy the main paths and exterior views while moving toward the zoo.
- Lunch and Schönbrunn Zoo: protect a generous zoo visit, especially with children.
The order depends on your palace slot and seasonal zoo hours. Return to the center afterward without adding another distant attraction.
Day 2: Old Town, Bus and Prater
- Old Town walk and Time Travel: arrange the morning around your reservation.
- Mythos Mozart: continue along Kärntner Straße, allowing a break before the next experience.
- Big Bus and the Giant Ferris Wheel: fit the panoramic circuit within bus operating hours, then reach Prater with time for the ride.
The bus block is one circuit, not unlimited sightseeing time. Check actual departures before fixing the order, and move the wheel to another available slot if needed.
Turn Your Shortlist Into a Vienna E-pass Plan
Choose the attractions you want first. Then compare the pass duration and current inclusions against that shortlist, keeping enough time to enjoy each visit.
Adjust the Route Before You Book
For Rain or Short Winter Days
Keep an indoor experience in the Old Town and shorten optional outdoor walks. Give gardens and the zoo their daylight window. Save the Danube Tower for better visibility when your schedule allows.
For Families or a Slower Pace
Let the zoo fill more of the day, or pair the wheel with a simple Prater outing. Increase the planner’s daily allowance and compare child, family and concession tickets separately; its default figures are for one adult.
For Fixed Reservations
Anchor the route around the least flexible entry time. Check opening hours, last admission and the route between stops before making the next booking. Leave room for lunch and an unhurried arrival.
Return to your attraction shortlist, remove one stop if the day feels crowded and keep the experiences you most want to remember.