Vienna Pass

Vienna has a lot to offer its visitors. Its palaces and museums are known all over the world, but visiting them requires an investment of time and money. To save waiting time and costs, there is the Vienna Pass.

Tourist card

Vienna Pass

Vienna's best attractions, at the best prices

If you want to get the most out of the city without worrying about your wallet, this tourist card will be your ally. Save time and money when accessing Vienna's most popular attractions.

From $94 at Hellotickets

Tourist passes are passes for which you pay a fixed amount to use them for a certain number of days and thus gain free access to the main tourist attractions of a city. In addition to free access to attractions, the Vienna Pass will give you unlimited access to Vienna Sightseeing buses.

When booking, select the number of days you want and choose to receive the card at home or pick it up on arrival in Vienna at any of the points of sale. If you have purchased the Vienna Pass, but have to cancel or change your travel plans and have not yet activated the card, you will be refunded. Once you have booked online you will receive an email with all the details and a contact person to write to if you have any questions.

With the first use of the card, it will be activated and you will be able to benefit from its advantages. The same will happen with the Travel card (if you have selected this option) and with the use of the tourist bus: you will enjoy them during the time that your tourist card is active.

If you add the Travel Card to your Vienna Pass you will have a surcharge in the price of 8 to 17 euros approximately depending on whether you want it for 24, 48 or 72 hours.

You can purchase the Vienna Pass for one, two, three or six days and there is also a lower-priced option for children over six years of age (children under six years of age will have free admission to attractions when accompanied by an adult Vienna Pass holder). If you are a regular user of Vienna's public transport you can upgrade any of these options with the Travel card.

If you are in doubt about whether or not to purchase the Travel card along with your Vienna Pass, remember that the sightseeing bus is already included and is one way to get around the city.

The Vienna Pass includes free admission to more than 60 monuments and museums in Vienna. Once you have the card in your possession you will be able to consult the complete list, but I can tell you that they are practically all the points of interest of the city (the most significant exclusion is perhaps the entrance to the Vienna State Opera). If you want a snack to plan your visit to the Austrian capital, these are the main ones:

Schönbrunn Palace

Maria Theresa, Emperor Franz Joseph I or his wife Elizabeth, better known as Sissi, lived in this magnificent complex of the seventeenth century. With stunning gardens and rooms that are as luxurious as they are historically significant, this is a must-see for anyone traveling to Vienna. There are several tickets to visit Schoenbrunn Palace and the Vienna Pass includes the Grand Tour, with which you can see the interior of the Palace in its entirety.

Hofburg Palace

Today it is the political center of Austria, but its historical value lies in having been the official residence of the Habsburgs until 1918. Inside are the Imperial Apartments, the Imperial Silver Collection and the famous and much visited Sissi Museum.

Schönbrunn Zoological Gardens

If you travel to Vienna with children is not crazy to take them to see the Schoenbrunn Zoo as it is one of the most important in Europe and its gardens and facilities will make the visit also worthwhile for adults.

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Also known as the Museum of Fine Arts of Vienna. The works of art housed in this museum are too numerous to list and many of them are world famous. Such a splendid collection owes its merit to the various monarchs of the Habsburg dynasty.

Albertina Museum

Artists like Rafael, Rembrandt, Dürer or Klimt have some of their works in this museum that also gathers periodically splendid temporary exhibitions.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

A Gothic church that stands out among the rest of baroque temples that dot the city. From each of its two towers you can contemplate a beautiful general view of Vienna.

Belvedere Palace

A huge palace converted into a museum that houses an extensive collection of paintings including the legendary work "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt as well as many works of art of French impressionism by authors such as Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir.

Prater

Vienna's amusement park par excellence. An iconic destination for the little ones that also delights the adults who visit it. It is necessary to emphasize its legendary Great Ferris Wheel.

Beethoven Museum

If the Empress Sissi is one of the legendary characters of this city, the other is undoubtedly the prestigious musician. In his museum you will discover his history and review the importance that his work has today for the Austrian capital and the world in general.

Regardless of its advantages, buying the Vienna Pass is a significant investment for the traveler and it is therefore logical to consider whether or not it is worth buying it and for how many days. Compared to the other existing tourist passes, there is no doubt that the Vienna Pass is one of the most advantageous.

To keep in mind

One of the main advantages of this pass, besides the free entrance to the main points of interest of the city, is the unlimited use of the tourist bus with free stops. This is something you should not pass up as it not only gives you the chance to tour the city enjoying panoramic views and audio commentary, but also allows you to move comfortably between the main points of interest of the city.

To find out if the Vienna Pass is worth it or not you can also make a plan of all the monuments and museums you want to see during your visit. Keep in mind that prices in the city are not exactly cheap and with more than three visits the price of the one-day tourist card, for example, would already be amortized.

Finally, I advise you to take into account your pace of travel; this does not only imply the number of museums or monuments you want to see but the fact of whether or not you are willing to concentrate all the visits in a few days. After reflecting on all these points you will have a much clearer idea of whether or not to buy the Vienna Pass.

My advice

In my opinion, you need several days to take advantage of them all, so my main advice is to invest in a pass for at least two days.

The Vienna Pass works by calendar days of use; activate it first thing in the morning to take advantage of the first full day.

Although the Vienna Pass covers most of the tourist attractions in the city of Vienna, there is one experience that in my opinion everyone has to have when visiting a city that is not included in the tourist card: a city tour.

Guided walking tours of the city are guided walks through a certain area where a local guide enlightens you and a small group about the mysteries and stories behind the main sights of the city. In Vienna you can take several of these guided tours regardless of your budget and I guarantee that they are all worthwhile. If you want to know more about it, I recommend you this article on Day Trips from Vienna.

If on the other hand you prefer to tour the city in the most comfortable way, the tourist bus is always a good option. I have written all the details about it in this article: Vienna Hop-On Hop-Off Buses.