Top 20 most beautiful castles and palaces in Austria2026 ranking

This palace is truly impressive. If you have the chance, I recommend opting for the guided tour, which is very interesting. One part is dedicated to Sisi, which is really top notch. You can explore her richly decorated apartments, as well as those of her husband.

Visiting the palace and its gardens is really very pleasant. For my part, I booked a guided tour that I recommend you do. You will learn a lot about the life of Sisi and her husband, which is far from what you see on television. The carriages on display are very impressive. This visit is a must if you are staying in the city of Vienna.

Linz Castle is remarkable from the outside and houses a huge museum. For only three euros (student price), we were able to discover the history of the region and the city through an uncountable number of objects of all kinds, ranging from the Renaissance to the present day. One floor showcased animal species from the region, while two temporary exhibitions highlighted the work of local artists.

The audio-guided tour of the imperial apartments taught me a lot about the life of the imperial couple. The rooms, while certainly less splendid than at Schönbrunn, all feature sumptuous tiled stoves. While wandering through Sissi’s rooms, I admired a majestic series of salons and more private spaces that immersed me in the empress's daily life, like her surprising gymnasium. In contrast, Franz Joseph’s apartments surprised me with their simplicity, even though the study remains sumptuous. Unfortunately, during my visit, the silver collection on the ground floor was closed.

I discovered the Schönbrunn estate as a Viennese Versailles. It seduced me as much by its grandiloquent palace as by its romantic park, which emotionally transported me back to the heart of Empress Sisi's life. The Grand Tour visit provided me with a wealth of information about the Habsburg family. I particularly appreciated the magnificent Mirror Room and the Chinese cabinets with their lacquered partitions, which were quite striking in this imperial setting. Right next to the palace, the extraordinary Carriage Museum impressed me with the scale of its collection. As witnesses to history, the golden carriage from Sisi's wedding and the colossal black carriage used for imperial funerals are…

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This old military fortress overlooks the city of Salzburg and offers amazing views of the city and the surrounding region. The funicular ride up is spectacular. You can walk up, but it is pretty steep. To escape the crowds a bit, you can walk back down on the other side toward the park. It is very pleasant. Inside the castle itself, there are different things to see, with some explanations (in German or English) that teach you quite a bit about Austrian history. But there is not all that much to see. You can eat on site at a restaurant, or just bring your own picnic.