Hofburg Audio Guide

Localada’s free The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum audio guide is part of the Vienna audio guide: the story of The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum, practical visiting tips and a route map, narrated in 15 languages. It opens in your browser, with no app download and no tour group.

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Opens the Vienna guide in Localada, where The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum is one of the stops. A free account takes a few seconds.

The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum: key facts

• Time to allow: 2–3 hours
• Hours: 09:00–17:30 (open daily)
• Address: Michaelerkuppel, 1010 Vienna
• Nearest transport: Herrengasse · U3 · 3 min walk (U3 · 1 · 2 · D)
• Localada perk: 5% OFF – Skip-the-line Sisi Museum and Hofburg tour — book below
• One ticket covers the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection on a fixed one-way route. The Treasury and the National Library are separate. Audio guide included. Last entry one hour before closing.

The story of The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum

Six hundred years of Habsburgs lived here, and the rooms still smell faintly of wax.

The palace grew the way a city grows — each emperor adding a wing, none of them demolishing. The result is not one building but eighteen, bolted together around courtyards, the oldest stones laid in the thirteenth century and the newest in 1913.

Most people come for Elisabeth. She was sixteen when she married Franz Joseph and spent the next forty years escaping. She exercised for hours, kept her weight down on a frame of 172 centimetres, washed her floor-length hair in eggs and cognac, and had a gymnasium installed in the imperial apartments, which scandalised the court. She refused to be photographed after her early thirties. Every image of her as an older woman is a painting or a guess.

In 1898 an anarchist stabbed her with a sharpened file on a lakeside in Geneva. Her corset was laced so tightly that she walked onto the boat before she collapsed.

The museum does not soften her. That is why it works.

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Tips for visiting The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum

• Enter under the dome from Michaelerplatz — the Josefsplatz side is a different ticket.
• Start with the Silver Collection; most people rush it and it is the most revealing part.
• Thursday evening is the quietest hour of the week.
• The Treasury, two courtyards away, holds the imperial crown and is worth its separate ticket.
• Leave through the Burggarten instead of going back the way you came.

More audio guides in Vienna

• Schönbrunn Palace & Gardens · 2–3 hours
• St Stephen's Cathedral · 1–2 hours
• The Belvedere · 2 hours

All stops in the Vienna audio guide →

The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum audio guide: frequently asked questions

Is the The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum audio guide free?

Yes. The The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum audio guide is part of Localada’s free Vienna guide: create a free account and open it in your browser, no app download needed. Tickets for The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum are bought separately; booking through Localada’s GetYourGuide links gives 5% off.

How long should I spend at The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum?

Allow 2–3 hours for The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum.

What are the opening hours of The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum?

09:00–17:30 (open daily). Hours can change on public and religious holidays, so check on the day.

Can I get a discount on The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum tickets?

Yes. Book The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum tickets and tours through Localada’s GetYourGuide links and GetYourGuide applies 5% off at checkout.

Which languages is the The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum audio guide available in?

Narration and text are available in 15 languages: English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Listen to the The Hofburg & the Sisi Museum audio guide, free →