7 best museums in Vienna

Museums in Vienna

Gallery · Landstraße

1.Belvedere

Two baroque palaces built for Prince Eugene of Savoy face each other across formal gardens.

Time needed

2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Iconic
• Art
• Architecture
• Rainy day

Museum · Innere Stadt

2.Kunsthistorisches Museum

The Habsburg art collection fills a palatial building of 1891 on the Ring, with the world's largest group of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, including Hunters in the Snow and The Tower of Babel, Vermeer's The Art of Painting, Caravaggio, Titian and Rubens, plus an Egyptian collection and the Kunstkammer of curiosities.

Time needed

3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Iconic
• Art
• Rainy day
• History

Gallery · Innere Stadt

3.Albertina

Housed in a Habsburg palace behind the State Opera, the Albertina combines restored imperial state rooms with a permanent collection running from Monet and Degas to Picasso, and one of the world's great collections of prints and drawings, including Dürer's Young Hare, shown only occasionally.

Time needed

2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Rainy day
• Architecture

Museum · Neubau

4.MuseumsQuartier and Leopold Museum

The former imperial stables now form one of the largest cultural complexes in the world.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Art
• Rainy day
• After dark

Gallery · Wieden

5.Secession Building

Built in 1898 for the Vienna Secession artists' group, this white exhibition hall is crowned by a dome of gilded laurel leaves, nicknamed the golden cabbage.

Time needed

1 hour

Cost

Low cost

• Art
• Architecture
• Rainy day
• Off the beaten path

Museum · Innere Stadt

6.Natural History Museum

The twin of the Kunsthistorisches Museum across Maria-Theresien-Platz displays the Venus of Willendorf, a limestone figurine about 30,000 years old, a dinosaur hall, one of the world's largest meteorite collections and halls of minerals and animals in their original 19th-century cabinets.

Time needed

2–3 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day
• History
• Nature

Museum · Innere Stadt

7.Haus der Musik

An interactive museum of sound and music in a palace near the State Opera, with rooms on the Vienna Philharmonic and the city's great composers, sound experiments and a virtual podium where you conduct the orchestra yourself.

Time needed

2 hours

Cost

Mid-priced

• Kids
• Rainy day

Grouped by area

Booking and timing

Of these 7, 1 low cost, 6 mid-priced. Book ahead for Belvedere. The longest visit is Kunsthistorisches Museum; group the rest by area to save travel time.

• Belvedere: Timed tickets are recommended in summer and around holidays.

How to fit them into 5 half-days

Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.

• Half-day 1 (Landstraße): Belvedere, at least 2 hours.
• Half-day 2 (Innere Stadt): Kunsthistorisches Museum, at least 3 hours.
• Half-day 3 (Innere Stadt): Albertina → Natural History Museum, at least 4 hours.
• Half-day 4 (Innere Stadt and Neubau): Haus der Musik → MuseumsQuartier and Leopold Museum, at least 4 hours.
• Half-day 5 (Wieden): Secession Building, at least 1 hour.

The quietest months for queues

• February: highs of 5°C (41°F), about 6 rainy days, quiet crowds. Cold with occasional snow; carnival-season balls peak, culminating in the Opera Ball.
• January: highs of 3°C (37°F), about 7 rainy days, quiet crowds. Cold and often grey, but the ball season is in full swing and museums and coffee houses are cosy and quiet.
• March: highs of 10°C (50°F), about 7 rainy days, quiet crowds. Changeable early spring weather, with the first café terraces and Easter markets appearing.

The neighbourhoods they are in

• Innere Stadt — The historic 1st district inside the Ring: cathedral, Hofburg and classic coffee houses
• Landstraße — The Belvedere palaces, the Hundertwasserhaus and the airport train terminus
• Wieden — Karlskirche, the Naschmarkt and the galleries and bistros of the Freihausviertel
• Neubau — MuseumsQuartier, Spittelberg's Biedermeier lanes and independent designers

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