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Three days is enough to see the big sights of Vienna without rushing. Day 1 covers the Hofburg and St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Day 2 goes to Schönbrunn Palace and the Belvedere, and Day 3 takes in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Naschmarkt and an evening at the opera. Book the palace slots before you fly, because both the Hofburg and Schönbrunn sell fixed admission times.
We have done big-city days with nieces and nephews along. The plan that holds up is one paid headliner per half day and a free stretch in between. Vienna suits that plan, and I would book the Schönbrunn slot first and build everything else around it. I would also pack the carry-on lighter than feels sensible, because the museum days are long walks on stone floors.
3 Days in Vienna
Every price below was read off the operator’s own page on October 2, 2026, and each is in euros (€). Prices and hours move, so check the page the week you go.
| Day | Plan | Ticket | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Hofburg Imperial Apartments and Sisi Museum, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a coffee house | Sisi Day Ticket, cathedral tower | €20 and €8 for adults |
| Day 2 | Schönbrunn Palace and gardens, then the Belvedere | Palace Ticket, Upper Belvedere | €42 and €23 for adults |
| Day 3 | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Naschmarkt, Prater, opera standing room | Museum online, standing room | €22 and from €4 |
Vienna Hofburg
Start Day 1 at the Hofburg, the former imperial palace. One Day Ticket covers the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments, and the Sisi Museum’s ticket page lists €20 for adults and €12 for children aged 6 to 18. Entry is by fixed time slot, so book online ahead.
The page gives daily hours of 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with last admission at 4:30 p.m. In early October 2026 it also carried a notice for the final phase of the museum’s refurbishment, listed as October 6 to November 18, with hours of 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 25% off the standard ticket. Read that notice before you book an October or early November Day 1.
Allow about an hour for the visit. The bigger ticket is the Sisi Pass at €60 for adults, valid for one year, which covers Schönbrunn, the Sisi Museum with the Imperial Apartments and the Vienna Furniture Museum. It only makes sense if you want all three sites.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
St. Stephen’s Cathedral is a short walk from the Hofburg. The cathedral’s own site says the nave is free to enter, and the paid extras are the towers and the catacombs. The South Tower is 343 steps and costs €8 for adults and €3 for children aged 6 to 14, open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with the last climb at 6:15 p.m.
The North Tower has a lift up to the Pummerin bell, also €8 for adults, with the last ride at 6:30 p.m. Public catacomb tours cost €8 for adults as well and start at set times from 10 a.m., Monday to Saturday. If your legs are tired from the Hofburg, take the lift.
Coffee house
Pick a coffee house for the gap between the cathedral and lunch. Order one drink and the table is yours for as long as you want it. A coffee comes with a glass of water, and a slice of cake is the usual second order.
Schönbrunn Palace
Day 2 starts at Schönbrunn Palace, and the timed slot is the rule that matters. The palace’s ticket page says admission has fixed times, and booking online ahead secures the slot you want. The Palace Ticket, a 75-minute tour of the whole piano nobile with an audio guide, is €42 for adults and €30 for children aged 6 to 18.
The shorter State Apartments tour runs 40 minutes and costs €30 for adults and €20 for children. The Classic Pass is €49 for adults and adds the Privy Garden, the Orangery Garden, the Maze and the Gloriette viewing terrace. That is €7 more than the Palace Ticket, and the Gloriette terrace is the reason to pay it on a clear day.
The palace is open daily from 8:30 a.m., closing at 5:30 p.m. from September 1 to November 2 and at 5:00 p.m. from November 3 to March 31. Last admission is 45 minutes before closing. The park is free during opening hours, opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. depending on the month.
Dogs cannot go into the palace or the park, which matters if one is travelling with you.
Belvedere
Spend the afternoon at the Belvedere for Klimt’s The Kiss, which is part of the Upper Belvedere collection. I would book the first slot of the day, because The Kiss is the painting most people in the building came to see. The Upper Belvedere is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Belvedere’s ticket page lists the Upper Belvedere at €23, the Lower Belvedere at €20 and Belvedere 21 at €12. A 2-in-1 day ticket for the Upper and Lower is €32 instead of €43. Time slots are mandatory, and visitors under 19 go free.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Open Day 3 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the big art-history museum on the Ringstrasse. An adult ticket is €22 online and €24 on site, and visitors under 19 are free. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., stays open to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, and is closed on Mondays.
If you can, make Day 3 a Thursday. The late hours leave room for the museum, the market and a long evening. A Monday is the one day this museum is closed.
Naschmarkt
The Naschmarkt is the lunch stop, and its own hours page sets the rules. Stalls open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the latest and Saturday to 6 p.m. at the latest. They are closed on Sundays, though the restaurants and cafés open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the latest. A flea market runs every Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Vienna Prater
The Prater is the amusement park with the Wiener Riesenrad, the giant Ferris wheel. An adult ticket is €14.00 on the wheel’s own ticket page. Vienna’s tourist board gives its hours as daily from 9 a.m. to 11:45 p.m., so it works as a late finish to the day.
Vienna State Opera standing room
A night at the opera does not need an expensive seat. The State Opera’s ticket page says its 435 standing places are sold only on the day of the performance, from 10 a.m., and that standing tickets start at €4. Check the ticket shop for the night you want.
Each standing place has its own screen for subtitles in up to eight languages, including English. Wear shoes you can stand in for the whole performance. That is the practical reason to put this at the end of Day 3 rather than the start.
Spanish Riding School
If opera is not your night, the Spanish Riding School is the alternative. Its site lists performances from €26 and morning exercise from €17, and the morning exercise lasts about 60 minutes. The visitor centre on Michaelerplatz is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and children under 3 are not admitted.
Vienna City Card
The city’s tourist board lists the Vienna City Card at €19 for 24 hours, €31 for 48 hours and €37 for 72 hours. It covers public transport and gives discounts at museums and attractions, not free entry. One child under 15 or one dog travels free with each card.
The sights in this plan sell by timed slot at a fixed price, so the card only pays if you ride a lot and the discounts add up. A 3-day plan like this one is mostly walking between the Hofburg, the cathedral and the museums. I would skip the card and buy the transit ticket separately.
Vienna public transport tickets
Wiener Linien’s ticket overview lists 24-hour, 7-day and 31-day tickets. Its 24 Hours VIENNA ticket is €9.70 on its own page, while the tourist board lists a 24-hour ticket at €10.20, so confirm at the machine or in the app.
The tourist board lists a single ticket at €3.20 and a 7-day ticket at €28.90 on paper or €25.20 digital. That 7-day digital ticket is about €12 less than the 72-hour City Card. Paper tickets must be validated before your first journey, in the blue machines at subway and S-Bahn entrances or onboard trams and buses.
Vienna airport to city center
The fastest way in is the City Airport Train, which takes 21 minutes nonstop to Wien Mitte, with tickets from €7.00. In early October 2026 the CAT page said premium coaches were running instead of trains during rail maintenance, so check it before you fly. Wien Mitte is a 12-minute walk from Stephansplatz.
The airport’s own page also lists the S7 regional line to Wien St. Marx, railjet trains from the main station and a bus shuttle. An airport journey on the regular network needs a supplementary one-way ticket into the core zone, and the airport train and bus sell their own tickets.
Vienna to Prague train
Vienna and Prague pair well on one trip. Czech Railways lists seven direct railjet trains a day between the two, taking about 3 hours 57 minutes at roughly two-hour intervals. Our Prague itinerary covers the other end.
Going on to Italy instead? Our Venice itinerary uses the same one-ticket-per-half-day plan.
What to pack for Vienna
Pack broken-in shoes for stone floors and cobbles, and layers for cool palace rooms. Our carry-on-only packing list covers the rest. Check GeoSphere Austria’s forecast the week you go.
The EU’s Home Affairs site announced that the Entry/Exit System would be fully operational on April 10, 2026. It replaces passport stamps with a digital record that includes a facial image and fingerprints, so leave time at passport control.
Vienna Christmas markets
The city’s tourist board lists the 2026 Rathausplatz market as November 13 to December 26. It lists the Schönbrunn market as November 6 to January 6, 2027, and the Stephansplatz market as November 6 to December 26. Expect more people at the palace on those dates.
Questions about Vienna
Is 3 days in Vienna enough?
Yes, for the headline sights. Three days covers the Hofburg, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Schönbrunn, the Belvedere, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and one evening at the opera. It leaves out day trips beyond the city.
Do you need to book Schönbrunn Palace in advance?
Yes. The palace says admission has fixed times, and booking online ahead secures the slot you want.
Is the Vienna City Card worth it?
For this plan, probably not. The card is €37 for 72 hours and gives discounts rather than free entry, while a 7-day digital transit ticket is €25.20 on the tourist board’s page.
What currency is used in Vienna?
The euro, written €. Every price quoted from the operator pages here is in euros.
How do you get from Vienna airport to the city?
The City Airport Train takes 21 minutes nonstop to Wien Mitte, with tickets from €7.00, though in early October 2026 its page said coaches were running in place of trains. The S7 regional line, railjet trains and a bus shuttle are the alternatives.
Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.
Published October 20, 2026.
Photo credits: (1) Summer view of the Belvedere palace and its… — Ignaz Wiradi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; (2) Facade of the Vienna State Opera on the… — P e z i, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, via Wikimedia Commons.