Vienna Pass

Vienna has a lot to offer its visitors. Its palaces and museums are world famous, but visiting them requires an investment of time and money. To save time and money, there is the Vienna Pass.

Tourist card

Vienna Pass

Vienna's best attractions at the best prices

If you want to get the most out of the city without worrying about your wallet, this sightseeing card will be your ally. Save time and money on access to Vienna's most popular attractions.

From £75 at Hellotickets

Tourist passes are passes for which you pay a fixed amount to use them for a certain number of days, giving you free access to a city's main tourist attractions. In addition to free entry to attractions, the Vienna Pass will give you unlimited access to Vienna Sightseeing buses.

When booking, select the number of days you want and choose to have the card delivered to your home address or collect it on arrival in Vienna from any of the sales outlets. If you have purchased the Vienna Pass, but have to cancel or change your travel plans and have not yet activated the card, you will be refunded. Once you have booked online you will receive an email with all the details and a contact person to write to if you have any queries.

When you use the card for the first time, it will be activated and you will be able to benefit from its advantages. The same will happen with the Travel Card (if you have selected this option) and with the use of the tourist bus: you will enjoy them during the time that your tourist card is active.

If you add the Travel Card to your Vienna Pass you will have a surcharge in the price of 8 to 17 euros approximately depending on whether you want it for 24, 48 or 72 hours.

You can buy the Vienna Pass for one, two, three or six days and there is also a lower-priced option for children over the age of six (children under the age of six get free entry to attractions when accompanied by a Vienna Pass holder). If you are a regular user of Vienna's public transport you can upgrade any of these options with the Travel card.

If you are in doubt about whether or not to purchase the Travel card along with your Vienna Pass, remember that the sightseeing bus is already included and is a great way to get around the city.

The Vienna Pass includes free admission to more than 60 monuments and museums in the city of Vienna. Once you have the card in your possession you can check the full list, but I can tell you that it includes almost all of the city's attractions (the most significant exclusion is perhaps the entrance to the Vienna State Opera). If you want an appetizer with which to plan your visit to the Austrian capital, these are the main ones:

Schönbrunn Palace

Maria Theresa, Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth, better known as Sissi, lived in this magnificent 17th-century complex. With stunning gardens and rooms that are as luxurious as they are historically significant, this is a must-see for anyone travelling to Vienna. There are several tickets to visit Schoenbrunn Palace and the Vienna Pass includes the Grand Tour, which allows you to see the entire interior of the Palace.

Hofburg Palace

Nowadays it is the political centre of Austria, but its historical value lies in the fact that it was the official residence of the Habsburgs until 1918. Inside are the Imperial Apartments, the Imperial Silver Collection and the famous and much-visited Sissi Museum.

Schönbrunn Zoological Gardens

If you're travelling to Vienna with children, it's a no brainer to take them to see Schoenbrunn Zoo as it's one of the most important zoos in Europe and its gardens and facilities will make the visit worthwhile for adults too.

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Also known as the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna. The works of art housed in this museum are too numerous to list and many of them are world famous. Such a splendid collection owes its merit to the various monarchs of the Habsburg dynasty.

Albertina Museum

Artists such as Raphael, Rembrandt, Dürer and Klimt have some of their works in this museum, which also holds splendid temporary exhibitions on a regular basis.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

A Gothic church that stands out among the rest of the Baroque temples that dot the city. From each of its two towers you will be able to contemplate a beautiful general view of Vienna.

Belvedere Palace

An enormous palace converted into a museum that houses an extensive collection of paintings including the mythical work "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt as well as a multitude of French impressionist works of art by artists such as Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir.

Prater

Vienna's amusement park par excellence. An iconic destination for children but also a delight for adults who visit it. Its legendary Great Ferris Wheel is a highlight.

Beethoven Museum

If the Empress Sissi is one of the legendary figures of this city, the other is undoubtedly the prestigious musician. In his museum you will discover his history and review the importance that his work has today for the Austrian capital and for the world in general.

Regardless of its benefits, buying the Vienna Pass is a significant investment for the traveller and it makes sense to consider whether or not it is worth buying and for how many days. Compared to the other existing tourist passes, there is no doubt that the Vienna Tourist Pass is one of the most advantageous.

Things to consider

One of the main advantages of this pass, apart from the free entrance to the main points of interest of the city, is the unlimited use of the tourist bus with free stops. This is something you should not miss out on as it not only gives you the chance to tour the city enjoying panoramic views and audio commentary, but also allows you to move comfortably between the city's main points of interest.

To find out whether or not the Vienna Pass is worth your while, you can also make a plan of all the monuments and museums you want to see during your visit. Keep in mind that prices in the city are not exactly cheap and with more than three visits the price of the one-day tourist card, for example, would already be amortised.

Finally, I advise you to take into account your pace of travel; this does not only involve the number of museums or monuments you want to see, but also whether or not you are willing to concentrate all your visits in a few days. After thinking about all these points, you will have a much clearer idea of whether or not you should buy the Vienna Pass.

My advice

In my opinion it takes several days to see them all, so my main advice is to invest in a pass for at least two days.

The Vienna Pass works on a calendar day basis; activate it first thing in the morning to take advantage of the first full day.

Although the Vienna Pass covers most of the tourist attractions in the city of Vienna, there is one experience that in my opinion everyone has to have when visiting a city that is not included in the Vienna Pass: a city tour.

Guided walking tours of the city are guided walks through a certain area where a local guide enlightens you and a small group about the mysteries and stories behind the main sights of the city. In Vienna you can do several of these guided tours regardless of your budget and I guarantee that they are all worthwhile. If you want to know more about it, I recommend you this article on Day Trips from Vienna.

If, on the other hand, you prefer to tour the city in the most comfortable way, the tourist bus is always a good option. I have written all the details about it in this article: Vienna Hop-On Hop-Off Buses.