Schönbrunn Zoo Tickets: Prices, Combo Deals & Tips

Inside Schönbrunn Zoo: what you’re paying for

Tiergarten Schönbrunn opened in 1752 as the imperial menagerie of the Habsburg court, which makes it the oldest zoo in the world still in operation. It sits inside the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, so a day here mixes baroque architecture with modern habitats. The centrepiece is the octagonal Emperor’s Pavilion from 1752, with the original menagerie enclosures fanning out from it like slices of a cake.

Your Schönbrunn Zoo tickets cover every animal house and outdoor enclosure on site. The headliners:

• Giant pandas — Lan Yun and He Feng arrived as a new pair under a renewed agreement with China. Each has its own indoor and outdoor area, redesigned with ponds and climbing frames.
• ORANG.erie — the orangutan house, one of the zoo’s newer buildings.
• Rainforest House — a humid tropical hall you walk through rather than look into. A good place to warm up in winter.
• Elephant House and the hippo house — the large mammals most children ask for first.
• Aquarium-Terrarium House — fish, reptiles and amphibians, and one of only two houses that stay open right up to closing time.
• Tirolerhof — a historic Tyrolean farmhouse at the top of the slope with traditional farm breeds and a café.

The zoo suits almost everyone: toddlers (flat paths in the historic core, lots of short walks between animals), primary-school kids, couples, and anyone interested in imperial Vienna. There are no rides apart from the Panorama Train, which runs between the Elephant House and Tirolerhof and through the palace park from mid-March to the end of October.

What sets Schönbrunn apart from a standard city zoo is the setting. You are walking through a Habsburg garden, and the Gloriette, the palace and the Palm House are all within a few minutes’ walk of the zoo gates. Plan accordingly — many visitors find that the zoo is only half of their Schönbrunn day.

Timing is everything

Schönbrunn is one of Vienna’s most visited sights, and the zoo gets its own crowds on top of the palace tour groups. Expect it to be busiest on sunny weekends, on Austrian public holidays and throughout the summer school break in July and August. Weekday mornings in April, May, June and September are the sweet spot.

Arrive at 09:00. The zoo itself advises the morning: many species are early risers and are noticeably more active before midday. Head to the pandas and the ORANG.erie first, then work outwards. Late morning is when school groups and palace visitors start to spill in.

Mind the seasonal closing times. The zoo shuts at 16:30 from November to January and at 18:30 from April to September. Animal houses close earlier than the gates — the Bird House an hour before, most others half an hour before — so do the indoor houses before mid-afternoon in winter.

Insider tip: Get your day ticket stamped at a ticket office before you step out for lunch or a palace tour. Only a stamped ticket gets you back in the same day, and it turns one zoo ticket into a flexible whole-day Schönbrunn plan.

The insider entry

The zoo has three entrances. The Hietzing main entrance is the one most people use, reached through the Hietzinger Tor gate of the palace park from the U4 station. The Neptun entrance opens from the palace park, handy if you are combining the zoo with the palace and gardens. The Tirolergarten entrance at the top of the hill is the closest to the car park and the Tirolerhof, but the path down into the zoo is steep and unsuitable for wheelchairs.

If you arrive with a pushchair or limited mobility, use Hietzing. If you are fit and arriving by car, start at Tirolergarten and walk downhill all day.

How to save on tickets

• Know the age bands. Under 6 is free; 6–18 pay €17 instead of €29. Bring photo ID for teenagers, as the reduced rate is checked.
• Reduced tickets are on-site only. The official online shop sells adult day passes; reduced tickets for children and visitors with disabilities are bought at the zoo.
• Family block ticket. €96 buys five day tickets (two adults, three children) that you can use separately within a year — cheaper than paying individually if you have three kids or plan to return.
• Annual pass maths. At €69 for adults (now including the Desert House), it pays for itself on the third visit.
• Vienna City Card. Card holders pay €25 for a day ticket at the ticket offices (not online).
• Combo tickets. The zoo sells combinations with the Desert House, Palm House, the Giant Ferris Wheel at the Prater and the Danube Tower, each priced below the separate tickets. Pick one only if you’ll actually visit both attractions — most are valid for a year.

On GetYourGuide, the skip-the-line Schönbrunn Zoo ticket was listed from €29 at the time of checking, rated 4.8★ from 5,130 reviews. That is the same as the official adult price, so the choice comes down to which booking flow you prefer.

Getting there without the hassle

Schönbrunn is in Hietzing, Vienna’s 13th district, a few stops from the city centre on the U4 underground. Get off at Hietzing station and walk through the Hietzinger Tor to the main entrance. Trams 10, 49, 52 and 60 and buses 51A, 56A, 56B, 58A and 58B also stop nearby.

Driving is not worth it unless you have children and lots of gear. The public car park at Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg (enter via Elisabeth-Allee) has limited spaces, disabled bays and an EV charger. On weekdays, Vienna’s short-stay parking rules apply on the street. A better option is to park at the Hütteldorf (U4) or Siebenhirten (U6) park-and-ride and finish by underground.

Vienna International Airport is about 45 minutes away by train and U-Bahn.

Make it a trip

The zoo is one piece of a Schönbrunn day. Combine it with:

• Schönbrunn Palace — book a timed tour, or take the Classic Pass Plus if you want the palace, maze, Gloriette and zoo on one ticket.
• The Desert House and Palm House — both next to the zoo and on combo tickets, good for a cold or wet afternoon.
• The Prater — take the U4/U1 across town to the Wiener Prater for the Giant Ferris Wheel and fairground rides. The zoo-and-Ferris-Wheel combo ticket saves about a quarter on separate prices.

For a longer animal-themed trip, Zoo Berlin is the other big historic zoo in the German-speaking world. Find more ideas on our Austria destinations hub and compare other animal parks on the zoos and aquariums hub.