Booking open · free cancellation 24h
Hofburg Palace Tickets & Prices
Sisi Museum tickets from $38, plus Imperial Treasury and Hofburg Vienna tours.
4.4 · 89 reviews on GetYourGuide Price checked Sep 18
- Free cancellation 24h
- Reserve now, pay later
- Instant mobile e-ticket
Last admission 16:30, an hour before closing
Our top 3 Hofburg tickets
Palace ticket $38. The tour adds a licensed guide and skip-the-line entry; the Vienna PASS covers about 85 sights.
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Best value
Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments TicketAudio guide · free cancellation 24h
From $38 4.4
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With a guide
Hofburg Guided ToursSkip-the-line + 2h guide · free cancel 24h
From $60 4.8
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Whole-city pass
Vienna PASS: Is It Worth It for the Hofburg?Hofburg, Treasury and more · free cancel 24h
From $125 4.4
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Every way in, at a glance
Quick answer
A standard adult day ticket to the Hofburg costs EUR 20 and covers three things: the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection. It does not cover the Imperial Treasury, the State Hall, the Spanish Riding School, the Albertina or the Weltmuseum — all of which are inside the same complex and all of which are sold by different operators. That is the single thing most first-time visitors get wrong. The palace is open daily from 09:00 to 17:30 with last admission at 16:30, the nearest U-Bahn is Herrengasse at about 320 metres, and two hours is enough for the museum route on its own.
Cheapest palace ticket · from $38Start here
The three tickets that cover most visits
Almost everyone needs one of these, and the choice is genuinely simple once the overlap is clear. The palace day ticket is the one people mean by "Hofburg tickets". The Treasury is a separate operator and a separate building on the other side of the Swiss Court, and it is the one museum here that regular visitors say they would not skip. The guided tour is the same palace route with a live guide, five euros more than doing it yourself.
Entry ticket Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments Ticket
What the Hofburg entry ticket covers, what it costs at the official office and on the booking partner, and which one to buy for a first visit.
2 hours 4.4 (89)
Separate collection entry Imperial Treasury Tickets
The crown of the Holy Roman Empire is not on the palace ticket. What the Treasury costs, when it closes, and how long the Swiss Court takes.
About an hour 4.4 (1,972)
Guided tour Hofburg Guided Tours
What a guided tour of the Hofburg adds over the audio guide, what the partner's best-reviewed tour includes, and when the cheaper one is the better buy.
2 hours 4.8 (7,853)
Before you book
The questions that change what you buy
Four things are worth settling before you pay for anything. Whether you need a ticket at all — large parts of the complex are free. How long the visit really takes, because the answer decides whether a second museum fits. Whether to book ahead. And where to buy, because the operator sells directly and says so in writing.
Do You Need Tickets for the Hofburg?
You can walk through the Hofburg's courtyards and gardens for nothing. The museums inside need tickets, and the operator only guarantees a booked time slot.
How Long Do You Need at the Hofburg?
About two hours for the palace route, three to four with the Treasury, and a full day if you want the State Hall, the Lipizzaners and the Albertina too.
Do You Have to Book Hofburg Tickets in Advance?
The operator only guarantees admission with an online ticket for a booked time slot. When that matters, when it does not, and where to buy.
Where Should I Buy Hofburg Tickets?
The operator sells directly and says so in writing. Booking partners, the ticket office at Michaelerplatz, and the resale traps — in the operator's wording.
What is actually inside
The palace, room by room
The Hofburg is eighteen wings built over seven centuries, and the layout is the hardest part to grasp from outside. These are the guides to what is in each part of it: the overall plan, the rooms Franz Joseph worked in, the museum built to argue with the Sisi films, and the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.
Inside the Hofburg: Every Wing and Museum
The Hofburg is four operators and a dozen museums sharing one address. Which wing holds what, which parts are closed, and the order that works.
The Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg
The rooms Franz Joseph and Elisabeth actually lived in: where they are, what survives, and what the apartments tell you that the Sisi Museum does not.
The Sisi Museum: What It Actually Shows
A museum in Elisabeth's own apartments, designed around her poetry and built to argue with the 1950s films. What is on show, and what the ticket covers.
The Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg
The crown of the Holy Roman Empire, the Holy Lance and the Burgundian treasure, in the oldest part of the palace. What is there and how to see it.
Choosing between two
The comparisons people actually search for
Four decisions come up again and again, and each has a defensible answer rather than a diplomatic one. Whether the Sisi Pass beats a single ticket. Whether to do the Hofburg or Schönbrunn if you only have time for one. Which city pass, if any, is worth buying. And whether the Lipizzaner morning training is a cheaper version of the performance or a different thing entirely.
Sisi Ticket or Sisi Pass: Which to Buy
The day ticket is EUR 20 and the Sisi Pass EUR 60 for three imperial sites. The maths, and the trip each one suits.
Hofburg or Schoenbrunn: Which Palace to Visit
The winter residence in the centre or the summer palace with the gardens. What each shows, and which to pick with one day in Vienna.
Vienna PASS or Vienna City Card
One buys entry to 85 attractions, the other buys transport and discounts. Which suits a trip built around the Hofburg, with the maths.
Morning Exercise or Performance at the Spanish Riding School
EUR 17 for an hour of training or EUR 26 up for a finished performance. What differs, and why the training session carries the lower rating of the two.
Getting there and getting round
Arriving, and what is next door
The palace sits in the middle of the first district, which makes arriving easy and parking a bad idea. One thing to check before you travel: a rail closure runs until the end of October 2027, so the City Airport Train is currently a bus and the S7 no longer reaches the centre. Everything else here is within a fifteen-minute walk.
How to Get to the Hofburg
The nearest U-Bahn is Herrengasse, 320 m away. The trams on the Ring, the walk from St Stephen's, and which entrance to use for which museum.
4 to 8 minutes' walk from the nearest U-Bahn stations
Vienna Airport to the Hofburg
A rail closure runs to October 2027, so the CAT is a bus and the S7 no longer reaches the centre. The four routes that work, with times and fares.
About 45 to 60 minutes door to door
Parking Near the Hofburg
The first district is a short-stay zone with a two-hour maximum. A garage at Am Hof is EUR 5.50 an hour; Park and Ride costs EUR 4.60 a day.
A five to ten minute walk from the nearest garages
sights near the Hofburg Things to Do Near the Hofburg
What sits within five, ten and fifteen minutes of the palace gates, with straight-line distances from the Hofburg's own coordinates, and a half-day route.
When to come
Timing the visit
One dated warning first: from 6 October to 18 November 2026 the museum section of the Sisi Museum is closed for refurbishment, hours shorten to 10:00–16:30 and standard tickets are 25% cheaper. Beyond that, the season changes the palace less than it changes the gardens and the horses, and winter has a real argument in its favour.
Best Time to Visit the Hofburg
Which months work, what closes when, and why the autumn of 2026 is both the cheapest and the thinnest time to see the Sisi Museum.
The Hofburg in Winter
Short days, cold courtyards and the ball season. What changes between November and February, and why winter is the cheapest time to visit.
Hofburg Opening Hours
When each part of the Hofburg opens, when the ticket office closes, the Tuesday the Treasury shuts, and the autumn weeks on reduced hours.
Hofburg Ticket Prices
What a Hofburg visit costs in 2026: the palace ticket, the Treasury, the Albertina and the rest, with reductions and what you can see for nothing.
What the EUR 20 ticket gets you
Three rooms that justify the fare
The palace day ticket covers one route through three collections. These are the parts of it that visitors remember, and each is described in full on its own page.
The Imperial Apartments
The working rooms of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth, in the Reichskanzleitrakt and the Amalienburg — including his study, his iron bed and her gymnastic equipment, still in place rather than reconstructed.
The Sisi Museum
Open since 2004 in Elisabeth's own apartments, designed by Rolf Langenfass and built around her poetry. Its stated purpose is to argue with the 1950s films, and the objects are its evidence.
The Silver Collection
Around 135,000 objects from the imperial household — the table service, the kitchens and the logistics of feeding a court. It is included in the same ticket and most visitors walk through it too fast.
| Ticket | Adult price | What it covers | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palace day ticket | EUR 20 | Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum, Silver Collection | Open daily |
| Palace day ticket with guided tour | EUR 25 | The same route, with a live guide | Open daily |
| Sisi Pass | EUR 60 | The above plus Schönbrunn and the Imperial Furniture Collection | Open daily |
| Imperial Treasury | EUR 16 online, EUR 18 door | The crowns, the regalia and the Holy Lance | Tuesdays |
| Weltmuseum Wien | EUR 16 | Plus the Imperial Armoury and historic instruments | Mondays |
| The Albertina | EUR 20.90 | The state rooms and the collection; under-19s free | Open daily |
| State Hall | EUR 12 | The baroque library hall; under 19 free | Mondays, October to May |
| Spanish Riding School | From EUR 17 | Training, performance or a tour of the building | Varies |
Why the Hofburg confuses people
Because it is not a palace in the way Schönbrunn is a palace. It is eighteen wings, nineteen courtyards and roughly 2,600 rooms, built and rebuilt from the thirteenth century to 1913, and today it holds a museum route, a treasury, a national library reading hall, an art museum, an ethnographic museum, a riding school, a chapel, the office of the Austrian president and a conference centre. Seven different organisations sell tickets inside it. Nobody arriving for the first time has any way of knowing that from the outside, which is why the most common mistake here is buying one ticket and expecting it to open every door.
- Palace route — one operator — Imperial Apartments, Sisi Museum and Silver Collection, EUR 20 adult. Entrance under the dome at Michaelerplatz.
- Imperial Treasury — a different operator — The crowns, the regalia and the Holy Lance, EUR 16 online or EUR 18 at the door, closed Tuesdays. Entrance in the Schweizerhof.
- Neue Burg museums — a third — The Weltmuseum at EUR 16, with the Imperial Armoury and the historic instruments on the same ticket. Entrance on Heldenplatz, closed Mondays.
- Spanish Riding School — a fourth — Performance from EUR 26, morning training from EUR 17, guided tour from EUR 24. Visitor entrance on Michaelerplatz.
- The Albertina — a fifth — EUR 20.90, free for under-19s, open to 21:00 on Wednesdays and Fridays. Its own entrance above the Burggarten.
- The State Hall — a sixth — The baroque library hall on Josefsplatz, EUR 12, closed Mondays from October to May. Sold by the Austrian National Library and included in the Vienna PASS.
What is free
More than most visitors realise, and it is worth an hour before you buy anything. The courtyards are a public right of way, so you can walk from Michaelerplatz through the Swiss Court to Heldenplatz without a ticket. Heldenplatz itself, the Burggarten and the Volksgarten are open public space — the Volksgarten with over 3,000 rose bushes and a full-size reconstruction of a Greek temple. The Augustinerkirche on Josefsplatz, where Franz Joseph married Elisabeth in 1854, is a working church and free to enter. And the Sunday mass in the palace's own chapel, sung by the Vienna Boys' Choir from September to June, has free standing room released at 8:30 in the morning.
How this site is put together
Every price, opening time and closure on this site was read from the operator's own page on 18 September 2026, and each page says which page it came from. Where an operator does not publish something, we say so rather than filling the gap. Ratings are shown with the platform and the review count attached. This site is not the official ticket office and does not pretend to be; the operator's own shop is named on the page about where to buy.
The details in one place
- Adult day ticket
- EUR 20, palace route
- Open
- Daily 09:00–17:30
- Time needed
- 2 hours, or a day for it all
- Nearest U-Bahn
- Herrengasse (U3), 320 m
- Audio guide
- Free, in 14 languages
- Separate tickets
- Six, across the complex
Hofburg Palace: key facts
- Built
- 1279
- Opened
- 1913
- Architectural style
- Renaissance architecture
- Architect
- Filiberto Lucchese
- Located in
- Innere Stadt
Source: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-09-21.
Nearest stations to Hofburg Palace
| Station | Type | Distance | On foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| HerrengasseVOR | metro | 326 m | about 5 min |
| VolkstheaterVOR | metro | 467 m | about 8 min |
| StephansplatzVOR | metro | 499 m | about 8 min |
| MuseumsquartierVOR | metro | 508 m | about 8 min |
Within 3 km of Hofburg Palace. Walk time = straight line × 1.3 at 80 m/min. Station data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Frequently asked questions
How much are Hofburg tickets?
An adult day ticket is EUR 20 and covers the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection. Children aged 6 to 18 pay EUR 12, students 19 to 25 pay EUR 18. Adding a guided tour makes it EUR 25. Every other museum in the complex is a separate ticket.
What does the Hofburg ticket include?
Three collections on one route: the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection, with a free audio guide in fourteen languages. It does not include the Imperial Treasury, the State Hall, the Albertina, the Weltmuseum or the Spanish Riding School.
What are the Hofburg opening hours?
Daily and on public holidays from 09:00 to 17:30, with last admission and the ticket office closing at 16:30. The Sisi Museum clears at 17:00 and the Imperial Apartments at 17:30.
How long do you need at the Hofburg?
About two hours for the palace museum route. Adding the Imperial Treasury takes it to three or four hours. Seeing the whole complex, including the Lipizzaners and the Albertina, is a full day.
Do I need to book Hofburg tickets in advance?
Not usually, but a dated ticket protects you against a sold-out slot in high season and against the ticket office closing at 16:30. For the Imperial Treasury, booking online saves EUR 2 on the door price.
Is anything at the Hofburg free?
Yes. The courtyards are a public route, Heldenplatz, the Burggarten and the Volksgarten are free open space, the Augustinerkirche is free to enter, and the Sunday mass with the Vienna Boys' Choir has free standing room from 8:30 a.m.
Is the Hofburg closed at any point in 2026?
The museum section of the Sisi Museum is closed from 6 October to 18 November 2026 for the final phase of its refurbishment. During that window hours are 10:00 to 16:30 and standard tickets are 25% cheaper; the Imperial Apartments stay open.
Which U-Bahn station is closest to the Hofburg?
Herrengasse on the U3, about 320 metres from the Michaelerplatz entrance. Stephansplatz is about 500 metres, and Museumsquartier and Volkstheater on the U2 arrive from the Heldenplatz side.
Sources
Book the palace route, then decide on the rest
The EUR 20 day ticket is the one nearly every visitor needs. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before means you can hold a date now and add the Treasury or the Lipizzaners later.
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