Skip-the-Line Schonbrunn Palace Guided Tour and Vienna Historical City Tour

Great tour!

This tour helped us find other places we wanted to go visit while in Vienna. The drive around the city provided good views and information. The palace tour was perfect thanks to the information the guide provided (we like to hear the history of places). The time for enjoying the palace was just right.

Good half day trip covering major attractions in Vienna.

Good half day trip covering main attractions in Vienna. Especially, if you limited time in Vienna, this trip is definitely advisable. The guide was helpful, and speaking in both Spanish and English. Despite huge crowd on our day of visit due to Sunday, we didnt have to wait in queue at Schonbrunn palace due to the skip the line tickets provided by the operator. Overall, a good experience in the limited time we had in Vienna. Thanks.

Compared to everything...

Compared to everything else in Vienna, this palace didn’t live up to the hype. There were too many in the group and unless you were close to the guide, there was too much static in the headphones. Most of the tour I wasn’t able to hear the guide and the rest of the time, I found myself trying to get around people to get close to the guide so I would be able to understand what she was saying

Worth it if you love palaces.

The organization was great, on time and as noted. Our guide (Stephen) and driver were wonderful. Lots of good information with fun thrown in. The palace itself was underwhelming in a long slog room to room. If you love palaces and castles then go, if not skip it. Wish I had.

Good but short

Complete tour of Viena and the palace. Although it is a too short free time in the palace. Thanks for everything

Massive Disappointment

Very disappointed. Tour guide spoke in both English and Spanish as we did the historical city tour which was impossible to follow along in real time and actually see what she was talking about. Ironic that the tour is called skip the line as we waited in line for tickets and then audio and then were crammed into a very short abbreviated tour of the castle and not given any time to really see anything or even go to bathroom- tour of gardens was less than a few minutes and not adequate. Save your money and go on your own- it is definitely something you want to see and choose how long you stay.

Palace was beautiful and...

Palace was beautiful and is well maintained Tour guide was amazing, He had great historical knowledge and was very friendly which added to the experience.

Take the time to visit!

The royal rooms are stunning and to see how the Habsburgs family lived was jawdropping. Worth a visit. See the gardens and the carriage house too!

Great Palace

We got tickets in advance - the palace itslef is stunning and the self guided tour was excellent value. The grounds are equally stunning. A highlight from our trip.

Excellent tour and tour guide!

Excellent and informative tour guide! We had a wonderful time! I would really recommend the tour! Tour guide went over and above with offering educational information. Thank you!

Get the most of the amazing Palace

Never been to Vienna before so just picked up a few things to do in a short break to just get the gist of the place. First on the list was the Palace and Garden tour. Wanted to make it as pain free as possible and despite struggling to find out we should meet under a green umbrella (?) we got going. A fabulous, professional, informative, entertaining and funny guide in (Mona)Lisa. A pure delight! The headsets worked absolutely perfectly, meaning we could hear everything at all times. Not wanting a University lecture, the information given was pitched absolutely spot on. Would highly recommend.

The Grand Tour is soooo worth it!!

My wife and I had a fantastic experience at Schonbrunn Palace. We purchased the Grand Tour. Purchasing tickets in advance was a great idea, and the audio guide devices were helpful, easy to use, informative, and absolutely worth it. The incredible wealth of the Habsburgs is on full display, and it was amazing to think that we were standing in rooms that were witness to so much history. Remember that the "skip the line" refers to the line at the ticket booth. Once you pass the ticket booths, you will be in line with all the other people who bought tickets on the web, and you should allow 20-30 minutes from your arrival to make it through the line in time for your reservation time.

Great tour guide!

Our tour guide Charles was one of the best I have ever had on a tour. His knowledge of history in Vienna was incredible and I learned a lot ! ☺️

Visit time

The knowledge of the gide was exceptional but felt the whole trip was too rushed and not enough time to explore especially outside

Tour for the history buff

The palace is beautiful! Our tour focused on lots of history on the palace and the historical occupants. For myself and my daughter we did not care to have a deep dive into history. We would prefer to see more of the art and architecture of the palace with historical notations given.

Learn about the tragic beauty of Vienna royal life

The bus tour around the city first was great. I enjoyed learning about the city history and beautiful architecture. This gave me a greater appreciation of the Schonnbrun palace when we arrived. The inside tour was phenomenal because our guide explained the true life not “fairytale” of royal girls who were married so young and had 16 children like Marie Therese.

great city tour

We went to the assigned meeting point 15 minutes prior to the departure of the tour and were immediately checked in by an assistant. The tour guides were fabulous providing tons of information on Vienna. At Schönbrunn, we were split up in two groups for the tour which worked out marvellously, allowing us to bypass the long lines and get into the palace right away. This is a great way to get an overview of Vienna in a short time, absolutely worth it!

Not half what you expect. Disappointing waste of time, $, energy.

Very disappointing, not nearly as much seen as same tour taken July 2021. On my previous tour, numerous rooms with exquisite, breathtaking frescoes by Chinese (and other) painters, floor mosaics consisting of many different woods that were works of art, a room of antiquities and historical objects -- NONE of these were on this tour, which was primarily being shown paintings of the Habsburgs, especially Maria Theresa, and being given the background history thereto. The guide was BORING, a voice that grated, also, less information than the previous tour guide, who had explained re the Red Army memorial "after they had destroyed 30% of Vienna," the best wurst stand in Vienna (one block from pickup / dropoff point), the building where Stalin lived, the café frequented by Freud, Zweig, etc. -- NONE of this info coming from this guide.

Skip this Tour Company

I was not a fan of this tour. First, after boarding our bus, the tour guide was speaking in both English and German. There was constant intermingling between the two languages and it was very confusing especially when the first part of the tour was driving around the city while the guide pointed out buildings outside. On many occasions what was being said was not what was being seen. And there was no continuity with the information given. It would have been more enjoyable in all English along with some historical information about what we were seeing. I did sign up for an English tour afterall. Second, upon arriving to the Schonbrunn Palace our guide kept pointing out two meeting times to be back at the bus and where to meet in an hour. I was confused as I was under the impression that we were going into the palace upon arrival. Instead we were to walk around the gardens and the Christmas Market before entering the palace. So here we are freezing cold outside and having to buy things at the market to then carry them around while in the palace. It would have been more efficient to go straight into the palace do the tour and then have the opportunity to check out the gardens, go to the Christmas Market or simply return to the bus and be warm. Third, the headsets that were provided did not work for my mother. Once the tour started the headset died and the guide did not have a spare handy for use, so mom went through most of the tour without guide explanation. I would recommend skipping this tour all together and find another tour group.

Excellent…highly recommended

It was a great experience and a wonderful time. The commentary was exceptional and the guide was very helpful

One of Vienna’s Must-Do’s

A must-see in Vienna, although a bit disappointed with how little of the building is accessible and the resultant crowds. Bus tour was good, but because the narration switched between English and Spanish you can’t help feeling that you’re missing out on all that could have been added as you’re driving by sites

The guides were fantastic!

Our guides were fantastic! One on the bus and a different person, Gabi, in the palace. The palace was very crowded. Thirty minutes is not enough time explore the gardens, store a backpack and go to the bathroom. The bus tour of the city was too long. Shorten that tour and give more time to explore the gardens.

Wonderful tour!

The guide was excellent. She was funny and so informative. The palace and gardens were beautiful and well worth the visit.

short visit to Schonbrunn Palace

time is very limited for such a big group, we only have 45 min in the garden so we have to run by the end (the garden is huge). It is not a bad way to visit the place if you only have limited time, otherwise, you could go by yourself.

Room for Improvement

Our tour guide needs to stop with the ethnic jokes like "You'll find Japanese crowds at the Strauss Monument at Stadtpark or at Louis Vuitton". He also made some female gender comments that made him sound like a boor.

Schönbrunn Palace

Have to say, I did not know what to expect when booking this tour but boy was I impressed. The entire palace site, it's gardens on a grand scale just magnificent! Inside the palace, I was treated to some wonderful exhibitions and pieces on all things related to Austrian history - colourful to say the least ! Our guide and bus driver was fantastic (sadly I forget there names except one was Anna and the lady in red jacket :) both excellent story tellers and witty and kept the group together despite the large volume of people in other tour groups as well Vienna city history. Would recommend these folks as they are organised and good at what they do and will leave you with an experice to remember.

Enjoyed this tour!

Great way to see the city and get an overview of the main sights. The visit to the palace was really nice. We learned so much about the family! Highly recommended.

Beautiful experience

Palace was beautiful and gardens were amazing. Our guide was knowledgeable but tended to ramble. Bus tour was well organized, easy to find.

Slow and painful

Guide made it almost unbearable. The city tour was Half in German half in English which was not what was promised. And his tour of the palace was excruciating slow and at times pointless. Do it on your own.

Wonderful way to see Vienna

Had a great half day tour of Vienna with Angela and her colleagues. It was our first day in Vienna so saw a series of great establishing scenes in a wonderful historical city. The Schonbrunn Palace really is a magnificent palace and gardens, a busy place so it was great that we could hear our guide in our personal earpieces as he spoke clearly on his microphone in each of the rooms. Worth a visit !

Don’t Bother

The guides were cliched and ill informed - their content was dull. The palace guide made sneering references to Maria Theresa- very snide, glib and historically illiterate. In fact I found him rather sexist and puerile.

Overall very good tour experience; timing could be optimized

Started with an interesting, brief bus tour around the Ringstrasse of Vienna with lots of good history. Arrived at Schonbrunn with about 30 minutes until our tour begain, and about 30 minutes after. The palace tour itself (Wednesday morning in July) felt fairly crowded; our group was not large but the place was busy. Guide provided great history. Would have preferred the exploration time be either an hour before or after vs. 30 minutes on both sides.

A wonderful morning

Our guide Stefan was funny, helpful and knowledgeable. Really made the tour a high quality experience.

Lost at the castle…

Trip provided a good tour of the city via a bus prior to arrival at the castle. Upon arrival at the castle, our group of 40 were given 10 minutes to use bathroom. We returned to the meeting place in 7 minutes only to find the tour guide left without us. It took us 30 minutes of searching the grounds to find our group. When we asked the tour guide why he left early without taking a physical count of the group - he said “I asked the group if everyone was here, and no one responded you were missing”. I asked him how people we don’t know would know if we were missing, he laughed and said I’ll give you a chocolate. I guess you get what you pay for….

Hmmm

Tour guide was great. Viator was not. I was double booked, charged twice. They will mot refund or assist me. I have used and recommended them for years. Never again.

Meh

Definitely not value for money .. coach ride was fine but at the palace it was chaotic .. the process of giving headphones took longer than the audio tour

Super tour in Vienna

We had a super day thanks mainly to the most professional and knowledgeable guide - sadly I forget his name but he made the day for us. Was he Roberto?

Mediocre at best.

Not the best experience. Tour starts with a bus tour around the historic centre of the city. The guide was supposed to be in both German and English but unfortunately we were severely shortchanged as English speakers. There was too much mixing of both languages to follow the stories. Also, the tour moved so quickly through the route it was impossible to follow what the guide was describing. The experience at the Palace was no better. Eventhough the guide now spoke only English, his content was disappointing & often seemed unprepared. Also dwelling on the insignificant. He didn’t appear to be as informed as necessary. Getting to the Palace on your own & taking an audioguide would be far better & cheaper.

Great way to see the palace and get an overview of Vienna

The guide Christopher was well spoke and informative. We had to divide into English and German once at the palace. We knew going in that the guide on the bus would speak in two languages...not ideal but understandable. Well done--Hubert the bus driver is the best!

Don’t be late for Gods sake

Don’t be late. They are disciplinarians and ruthless. No excuses no nonsense. No fun at all. Don’t do it.

Great!

It was all very good. Excellent! The guide was very well versed in the subject matter. She knowledgeable and new every thing about the history of the city. The tour was worth the money spent.

Schonbrunn Palace Guided Tour

Everything was well organized. The guide was amazing, the driver was a real professional. I strongly recommend this experience.

Great experience

Beautiful palace and interesting and informative guides, who provided enough information to make the experience memorable.

Awesome! Must do!

This tour was incredible! The tour guide was so knowledgeable and the tour around the city was comprehensive and great! The palace was busy but we made it work and you got time to go through the gardens and the gift shop!

Stay for the Palace Garden

Great tour with personal stories about Vienna and Hapsburgs. Highly recommend staying after the formal tour to view the gardens. The palace gardens take at least two additional hours to see it all. We used the U-Bahn to return to our hotel, Vienna has great urban transportation.

Enjoyable visit to Schonbrunn

Michael was very knowledgeable about Schonbrunn and Austrian history, giving us a lot of insights. Franz gave us a very good commentary on the Ringstrasse

Recommend booking private or small group

This tour was very disjointed. The tour guide was in a conflict with another guide. I have video of the one being curt with the other guide. Our guide was nice but seemed frustrated. The tour through the city was hard to follow. Had better success with private or small group tours.

Bilingual tour guide is not a plus.

The tour and guides were excellent. However, mixing two languages on the same coach/bus was maddening. I would not have booked the tour if I had known every piece I’d information was going to be communicated in two languages. I just joined a tour this morning and we have the same situation. Will not book again through Viator.

Very good, not great

Tour guide was great, but I didn’t love the city tour because it was in two languages. Our palace tour broke into a smaller group, but it was 27 and just too big. The guide was outstanding though

English/German tour

Our tour was half English speakers and half German speakers. On the bus part of the tour, our guide, Anna, had to describe everything in both languages. She did a great job, but I wondered how much more we could have learned if she only had to speak in 1 language. At the palace, each language had their own guide so that there was no issue. The guides were helpful with a question we had about a place to watch a soccer match. We felt badly at the end because we did not have cash to tip Anna. We were glad we took this tour that described parts of Vienna as we drove to Schonbrunn. The tour at Schonbrunn was nice too. The only downside to me was the fact that it was in 2 languages, and we had a little trouble finding the bus in Vienna. Other guides on the street pointed out where to go though.