Official review: This is THE palace you'd visit in Vienna… "Schonbrunn Palace"

HERITAGE. This is the summer palace for the Austrian monarchs. At other times they’d rather stay at the more centrally-located, Hofburg.

Built in Rococo style; façade later updated to fit neoclassical tastes that were to come.

See: "Schonbrunn Palace"

GETTING TICKETS. Don’t be as dumb as me – the ticket counter is at the park’s main entrance (enter the park, turn left, walk inside the café) not in the palace.

Otherwise when you go straight into it you will be left with a lonely ticketing machine. It offers only some of the basic packages – many of the combo or reduced tickets can only be bought over the counter.

Clip: "Schonbrunn Palace"

WHAT TO SEE. While any ticket will admit you to less than 1/20 of all the 1,441 rooms in the palace, each of the rooms tells a little story on its own. You’'ll find youself in the very room in which Mozart performed for the monarchs, the dining room that served traditional Austrian meals (and French if with visitors), and many more rooms with thematic designs.

At least get the “Grand Tour” ticket for it unlocks the final wing, many of which have bizarre exotic designs – the Chinese room (with its colours unfortunately now fading into history), the Brussels tapestries room, and an epic room that surrounds you with historic scenes cut up into elaborate frames.

Your free audio guide will give you random stories depending on the portraits shown in each room. Confusing and requires extra attention.

Time is asset: save it for better with 25-min museum tours. Or find yourself in my novel, check out the photo of the day and finish it off with a secret prize.

Tags - in_depth_tourism; museum; London_writer; London_travel; indie_writer; independent_blogger