Vienna’s most popular tourist attraction is Schönbrunn, with its palace, museums, the zoo and huge park (and Christmas and Easter markets).
The complex lies a little outside the city centre, so you might like to stay nearby. Which is why I have hotel suggestions for you, followed by information about the local area, travel options, and a map with wider accommodation choices.
- Book a Schönbrunn concert, tour & more*
- See also:
- Where to stay in Vienna (with hotel and location tips)
- Evening concerts at Schönbrunn Palace
Top-rated local hotels
(The main entrance to Schönbrunn Palace)
The hotels listed below are all within a few minutes walk of Schönbrunn Palace itself or an entrance to the palace park and gardens. When I last checked (early April, 2025), all rated at least 8 out of 10 according to booking.com user reviews…with most rating higher.
In no particular order…
Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn Wien
(Imperial elegance for modern times)
A well-known landmark as it sits practically opposite a Schönbrunn park entrance that takes you through to the palace and past the Lindt chocolate shop (a deal clincher if ever there was one).
The hotel’s also a short walk away from Hietzing subway station on the U4 line that takes you into the centre in just a few minutes.
The location has a colourful history dating back to the late 18th century. For example, Emperor Franz Joseph used to house his guests there.
Shortly after its construction in 1907, the owner placed newspaper adverts for “the most elegant hotel in Vienna.” They highlighted, for example, the French and Viennese cuisine as well as the daily military concerts.
- Hietzinger Hauptstraße 10
- Hotel & booking details*
Austria Trend Hotel Maximilian
(Maximilian was once Emperor of Mexico; his statue sits opposite the hotel)
The Parkhotel’s immediate neighbour, named for Emperor Franz Joseph’s brother, Maximilian.
This location blends in a little more modernity with the imperial elegance that characterises its elder sibling next door. Again, well positioned to access the Schönbrunn complex via the Hietzing Tor park entrance.
The area around the square opposite has plenty of places to eat, including one of our favourite chains: Akakiko for Japanese fusion. My wife also enjoyed her Tafelspitz at the nearby Brandauer Schlossbräu, which occupies a former dance hall from the (I think) early 19th century.
- Hietzinger Hauptstraße 16
- Hotel & booking details*
Doubletree by Hilton Vienna Schonbrunn
(Set in its own small park, the hotel features striking modern architecture)
A tram stops right outside the hotel, which first opened as a Radisson Blu property. The location’s not far from the main Schönbrunn entrance: you can see the palace at the bottom of the Schloßallee road outside.
As a bonus, next door is Vienna’s excellent Museum of Science and Technology in the original historical building constructed in the dying days of empire.
- Schloßallee 8
- Hotel & booking details*
Seminarhotel Springer Schlössl
(Another historical location)
This resides in a park of its own, which is quite a rarity for a city hotel. Nice if you want to get away from the urban environment now and then.
The hotel forms part of a wider seminar and meeting complex which includes the historic Springer villa built in 1887.
Once owned by Baroness Rothschild, the villa suffered confiscation by the Nazis and the deprivations of allied bombers, plunderers and soviet tanks in WWII. The state returned it to its lawful owners sometime after the war.
- Tivoligasse 73
- Hotel & booking details*
Hotel Viktoria Schönbrunn
(Close to a lovely café-confectionery, too)
A smaller, family-run hotel. Like the Austria Trend hotels, very close to Hietzing subway station and the west side of the palace park.
This also puts it near a small shopping mall as well as the restaurants that line the Hietzinger Hauptstraße.
A walk around the corner from the hotel brings you to the Hietzing branch of Kurkonditorei Oberlaa: one of Vienna’s better chains of café confectioneries with notably friendly staff every time I have visited. Think, particularly, cakes and coffee.
- Eduard-Klein-Gasse 9
- Hotel & booking details*
Hotel alternatives
The map below has more suggestions (including apartments) if you want to widen your search:
(Map provided by booking.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
The Schönbrunn area
(Schönbrunn at Christmas)
This city district (Hietzing) counts as one of Vienna’s more upmarket and less strictly urban locations. So, as noted in the hotel descriptions, expect plenty of good restaurants nearby.
The rather obvious attraction is the baroque Schönbrunn palace and park complex. Visit the staterooms on a tour. If you choose the self-guided option, then take the longer tour: it offers much more for little extra cost.
Other paid attractions within the Schönbrunn complex include the Orangery (good for evening concerts), the Privy Garden, the Maze, the Imperial Carriage Museum (with bonus Empress Elisabeth exhibition), the Gloriette viewing platform, the Children’s Museum, and one of the world’s best zoos.
It costs nothing to wander around the surrounding landscaped palace gardens and wider grounds, and these contain various highlights, such as (fake) Roman ruins or an obelisk.
Outside Schönbrunn
(Look out for the special exhibitions at the Technisches Museum)
All the above could keep you busy for a couple of days, but Schönbrunn also adjoins one or two bonus attractions.
The Technisches Museum, for example is up the road from the main entrance and, as mentioned, next to the Doubletree hotel.
This Museum of Science and Technology complements Schönbrunn Zoo as an excellent place to take the kids, thanks to plenty of interactive displays and more buttons to press than a lift in the Empire State Building. The special exhibitions always offer good value, too.
Those of an artistic bent might want to make a pilgrimage to Hietzing Cemetery, which borders the southwest of Schönbrunn park. Here you find Gustav Klimt’s grave (and Otto Wagner’s). The Klimt villa’s close, too.
Finally, Vienna has plenty of chocolate goodies for sale, but make your own at the public chocolate workshops at the Chocolate Museum Vienna “BO-YO”, which is not far away.
Getting there
(The Wagner pavilion: a royals-only entrance for the local railway)
The hotels mentioned are handy for Schönbrunn, but you can easily reach other attractions from the area thanks to Vienna’s excellent transport system.
The complex adjoins two stops on the U4 subway line: Hietzing and Schönbrunn. The U4 takes you direct to stations bordering the old town, such as Karlsplatz, Schottenring and Schwedenplatz. Schönbrunn to Karlsplatz takes around 9 minutes, for example.
See here for more Schönbrunn travel tips.
If at Hietzing station, look down the tracks toward the centre to see the Otto Wagner-designed railway pavilion hanging over the line (reserved for the Emperor’s use only and now part of the Wien Museum).
As such, getting to Schönbrunn is not such a big deal if you have accommodation in the centre, for example.