So how do you get tickets to see the famous Lipizzaner horses in action at Vienna’s Spanish Riding School?
Relatively easily it turns out, especially if you attend something other than a fully-fledged gala performance.
- Range of experiences with tickets for:
- Training sessions in the arena
- English guided tours
- Regular full and gala performances
- Spot the horses outside, too (tips below)
- Book tickets* for tours, trainings & more
- See also:
Ticketed options
Your best options for seeing the Lipizzaners and the riding school are…
Public training to music
(The performance arena also hosts the public training. Photo taken with permission on a press visit)
Most of the year, the stallions train in the winter riding arena in the central Hofburg complex during the morning, and these one-hour sessions are open to the public.
You do need a ticket to see the training. Although you miss the full pomp, glamour and scale of the galas, the horses still perform moves and exercises with their uniformed riders.
As such, public training offers an excellent way to enjoy the Lipizzaner experience without committing time and money to a rarer full-blown performance.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
I thoroughly enjoyed watching a training session and wrote about the experience here in detail.
The horses don’t appear every day and not all year round, either: they may be on a deserved summer holiday.
In a typical year, for example, the standard training takes a break for about five weeks from the end of June to early August.
If you buy a ticket on the day from the Spanish Riding School, note that some periods get rather busy and the school has limits on the maximum number of people who can watch. So advance booking* makes sense.
Spanish Riding School tours
(Get a bit closer to the horses; photo also taken with kind permission of the SRS during a press tour)
An English-language tour offers another chance for a suitably equestrian Viennese experience. At the time of writing, the school offers two main alternatives:
- The near-daily guided tour: this takes you inside the actual Stallburg stables (where you can get up close to the horses) as well as the riding school arena. The two locations are neighbours in the very centre of Vienna
(I took this tour and seeing the stallions at arm’s length proved a remarkable experience. They make quite an impression. And they seem to know it!)
- The guided architectural tour: a less-frequent tour on most Saturdays where you also visit the Stallburg, but take a more detailed look at the winter riding school arena. This includes, for example, a climb up into the latter’s Baroque roof with views over Vienna
(I also took this tour. Wandering around the roof has a curious fascination to it. Everything up there remains much as it was at the time of construction in 1735.)
Occasional tours specifically for children also take place many Fridays.
Spanish Riding School performances
(Entrance of the horses at a Lipizzaner Special; press photo © Rene van Bakel)
The 18th-century winter riding school hosts formal 45-minute and 70-minute performance and gala shows, where the stallions show off the full extent of their skills.
The shows take place regularly, usually on a weekend. Expect periods, though, where the stars of the stable enjoy a well-earned break.
These count as one of Vienna’s flagship events for tourists and locals alike, so tickets can go quite fast. Both formal seating and (comparatively inexpensive) standing room tickets* should be available.
(Public entrance to the riding school)
The institution has also introduced rare alternative display programmes alongside the more regular full performances in recent years. None are scheduled for 2024 at the time of writing, though.
See the horses outside
Another option is to see the stallions for free, though you normally need time, patience and luck.
Stallburg
(The vaulted corridor outside the stables)
You can wait outside the stable areas for the horses to transfer from their accommodation on days with a morning training or a performance, for example.
Go to Reitschulgasse 2 just outside the central Hofburg complex and face the wall. To your right down the vaulted walkway is the entrance to the Stallburg stable courtyard.
If you stand near there before, during and after the times of a training or performance, you might see some stallions walked past by their riders or grooms as they head to and from the horse’s private entrance to the winter riding school (on the other side of the road).
(The Stallburg renaissance stable building)
The bits of straw and the signs of cleaned up horse dung you sometimes see outside the Stallburg entrance prove the validity of this tactic. And I’ve spotted the horses this way several times on walks through town.
Equally, from the road you can look into the courtyard of the stables and maybe catch a glimpse of a Lipizzaner poking his head out to catch sight of onlookers. But you really can’t beat a proper tour for eye-to-eye contact.
Burggarten
(Park paddocks)
The riding school also has outdoor paddocks in the nearby (public) Burggarten park, where horses have the opportunity to enjoy some space and fresh air.
It’s a matter of chance, though, whether the paddocks are in use at any particular time. I’ve never spotted a horse there in the paddock, but got lucky twice when horses and riders walked past me as I crossed the park.
As expected, the stallions conveyed their usual magnificent impression: the park visitors (me included) just stopped and stood in absolute awe.
(A stroke of luck: spotting an early-morning autumnal ride through the Burggarten)
How to get to the riding school
The visitor centre and entrance to the Spanish Riding School form part of the Hofburg Palace complex.
Look for the signs under the giant dome (Michaelerkuppel) that marks the entrance to the Hofburg area from historical Michaelerplatz square.
If you aren’t walking past on your travels around the sights, anyway, then you can best reach the visitor centre on bus 1A or 2A using the Michaelerplatz or Habsburgergasse stops.
Alternatively, take a short(ish) walk from the U1 (Stephansplatz), U2 (Volkstheater or Museumsquartier) and U3 (Herrengasse or Stephansplatz) subways, and from any stop on the trams 1, 2, 71, and D between Ring/Volkstheater and Oper/Karlsplatz.
Address: Spanish Riding School (visitor center and entrance), Michaelerplatz 1, 1010 Vienna | Website