Each summer, the Habsburg royal family would leave the hotchpotch Hofburg behind and escape to their sumptuous palace on the edge of the Vienna Woods; and no trip to Vienna would be complete without visiting Schonbrunn, the city’s answer to Versailles.

Over a 350 year period, the estate was transformed from a relatively simple hunting ground to a magnificent palace with landscaped gardens that would require any self-respecting visitor at least a couple of days of their time to do it real justice. I’ve been here twice and still haven’t seen it all.

As regards this post, I’ve decided to split it into two sections: The first describes some of Schonbrunn’s history and how it evolved, and in the second part I’m going to take you on a tour around the gardens and estate. The main reason for doing it this way is because, not unexpectedly, photography isn’t allowed inside the palace, and so picture taking was restricted to the outdoors. That said, the Schonbrunn Group (who manage the estate on behalf of the Austrian Republic) have provided a few short videos of some of the rooms which I’m able to share with you.

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Originally posted 2022-10-07 17:03:45.