Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna

Today we decided to visit the most popular tourist site in Vienna, the Schonbrunn Palace. Having seen all the beautiful images of the palace and its stunning gardens, I couldn’t wait. And add in their well known Easter Markets, it was a day I was looking forward to.

What I realised today was that I have got my timings wrong on when is the right season to visit Vienna. Thinking Spring would be when their gardens would be at their most glorious, it has been a big disappointment realising how wrong I was. The gardens at the palace were in a state of maintenance and what had been cut back for Winter had not yet started sprouting. I was very underwhelmed but can imagine how impressive they could be at the right time of the year.

Schönbrunn Palace was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, and the name Schönbrunn means “beautiful spring". The history of the 1441 room Palace and it vast gardens spans over 300 years, reflecting the changing tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs. It has been a major tourist attraction since the mid-1950s. Considering it’s importance in history we were surprised by the exterior, expecting a more ornate building, and a more maintained building. We can only imagine the costs to keep the property to high standards and with the interior being the main tourist attraction it is only right that most of the maintenance be invested there.

After a stroll around the palace grounds we ventured into the Easter Markets set in front of the palace. These were a collection of food and drink stalls (the warm mulled apple cider and the Viennese version of macaroni and cheese was delicious), handcrafted wares and lots of Easter themed products. I loved the intricately decorated eggs but there was no way they would survive the journey home.

Once we had finished exploring the grounds and market, and with Brad not feeling the best, we called it a day so Brad could get some well needed rest.Read more