Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna is on the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites and is one of the most important cultural monuments in Austria.

Since the sixties it has also been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna and no wonder, it’s such a marvelous place. Of course we just had to go there when we were in Vienna.

The history of Schönbrunn and the previous buildings that stood there goes back as far as to the Middle Ages and the park was opened to the public already around 1779. Since then it has been a popular recreational area for both locals and tourists.

When we were going there, I had no idea how huge the Schönbrunn garden really was: about 1200 m from east to west and 1000 m from north to south. With the wonderful Baroque layout of the gardens it’s truly worth seeing and one can not be anything than impressed.

In the photo below you can see the Gloriette up on the hill with the famous Neptune fountain in the foreground.

The hill doesn’t look that high, but you can feel it in your legs walking up, I promise – especially when it’s 32 degrees Celsius like it was when we were there and you comes from the cold Sweden.

Before we went up there, we had a closer look at the Neptune fountain, which really is much taller than you think when seeing it on a distance.

Neptune is in a chariot of shells, surrounded by a nymph, the seagoddess Thetis and Tritons (half man, half fish creatures) on seahorses.

It’s possible to walk behind the fountain where there’s a small grotto to peek through and that’s when you realize how huge it and the sculptures really are. Truly impressive.

Yes, it’s hubby standing there taking a photo of the palace through the hole. I amused myself by taking a photo of him while waiting for him to move so I could take my photo. The photographers dilemma – always people in the way.

The Gloriette really showed the glory of Schönbrunn, there is a magnificent view from up there that almost felt unreal to me, so it was well worth it.

The inscription of the middle part of the building says: “JOSEPHO II. AUGUSTO ET MARIA THERESIA IMPERANTIB. MDCCLXXV” (Erected 1775 under the reign of Emperor Joseph and Empress Maria Theresia).

The 20-meter-high observation terrace on the top is accessible only via a spiral staircase and you can see people up there to the left. That also gives you a perspective of how tall the Gloriette is.

When we had gone uphills, we found out there were a little tourist train which we could have taken there, but that’s no sport, right? *giggles*

In the train route map above you can also get a feeling for how big the whole area is and understand why one should have plenty of time to explore it.

Inside the Gloriette is the Cafe Gloriette situated, the most beautiful and perfect situated cafe I must say. I didn’t mind staying there for a while…

Of course a hot day like this, nobody sat inside, all of us did choose to sit outdoors on the back trying to get some shadow under the parasols. At this time, my mouth were dry as a desert and my tongue hanging to my knees, despite the water bottles we had emptied on the way.

Because of the heat, we only had salads as lunch for €6,70 pp. Afterwards hubby had an ice cream and fruit drink, I had a San Marco: Campari, orange juice and sorbet for €5,30.

Never, ever have a drink tasted that well!

There is also a wonderful columbary in the gardens, which is from 1750-55. Situated in the centre of the columbary bosket is the voliere for pigeons, though there were no pigeons there when we were there. I’d have loved to see them.

The pigeons that’s use to be there comes from the Schönbrunn Zoo , which is the oldest of it’s kind in the world. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the zoo that day, my back and feet were killing me.

Yes, it takes a lot of time to walk around there, so I recommend at least 1 whole day to do a proper sightseeing of this place and preferably even more, because it can be quite exhausting to see it all one one day.

If you’re not at a budget trip like we were and you don’t mind to spend some money: go for a ride in one of their horse carriages, the true way of being transported around in this ancient environment!

There is more to see there than we cover in this post, so check Schönbrunn Palace Info webpage for more – which I must say is a very beautiful website.

Don’t miss the 360° Views over Schönbrunn Palace rooms – such an elegance!

There is other things I regret that we missed and that is the Carriage Museum (I really love old carriages) and the Schönbrunn Palace Palmhouse.

I can just imagine how beautiful Schönbrunn Palace must be now in the winter. It would be an excellent reason to go there now in December for the Schönbrunn Christmas Fair.

Maybe another year, because I wouldn’t mind going to Vienna once more, there is so much more to explore. If you have the opportunity: just go there!

If you do: to get there take the U4 in Vienna in the direction of Hütteldorf to the Schönbrunn station. Just follow the signs – or the stream line of people going there…

See all Lifecruiser Schönbrunn Palace photos slideshow.

There are some really awesome photos if I may say so myself, especially the one where I’ve closed my eyes, totally exhausted after the climb uphills…

Lifecruiser ♥ Vienna