Imperial Palace, Including the Imperial Riding School

Getting to the Hofburg (Imperial Palace)

• From Schwarzenbergplatz (end of the 71 line), take the D tram in the clockwise direction to the Burgring stop.
• On your left are the twin museums. To your right, across the street, is the Heldenplatz.
• Cross the street and the Heldenplatz. To your right is the Neue Hofburg, an addition built onto the Imperial Palace in 1905, which now houses the Austrian National Library.

At the Hofburg

• Just to the left is the Imperial Jewelry, including the crown of the Holy Roman Empire.
• To the right is the Schweizer Hof (Swiss Courtyard) containing the Hofkapelle (court chapel), notable for the fact that the Vienna choir Boys sing for masses here on Sundays.

  To get in, you will need to order tickets far in advance.

• Continuing straight ahead through the underpass takes you to Michaelerplatz, but on the right, just before you get there, is the entrance to the Spanische Reitschule (Spanish or Imperial Riding School).

  Performances are on Sunday mornings, but advance tickets are highly advised. You can watch the Morgenarbeit (morning training) on other days of the week, but even here the line is long.

  The stables used to be where our hotel is now. They are now just to the right of the Michaelerplatz. Tours are available and you can meet the stars of the shows.

• At Michaelerplatz you can go straight ahead toward the Graben, left toward the Freyung, or right towards the Opera.

  Going right takes you by the Augustinerkirche, which also has magnificent masses on Sunday morning and is much larger than the Hofkapelle.