Free-flying butterflies
Hundreds circling around you and occasionally landing on you — a close, direct encounter children especially love.
Gryffindor — CC BY 2.5 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0
An art nouveau glasshouse built in 1901 in the palace garden, and among Europe's finest: wrought iron, curved glass and a small cupola. Part of it is now a well-known café; the other part became a butterfly house. Inside is a full tropical climate — heat, high humidity, a waterfall and dense planting — with hundreds of butterflies flying freely around you and occasionally landing on a shoulder or hand. The space is relatively small and a visit takes half an hour at most, which is exactly what makes it a good short stop rather than a day's destination. Its real value is the location: you are inside the Burggarten directly behind the Hofburg, minutes from the Opera and the Albertina. Half an hour in, out again, and on with your day — and in winter it is the warmest half-hour in Vienna.
Hundreds circling around you and occasionally landing on you — a close, direct encounter children especially love.
Art nouveau from 1901 in wrought iron and curved glass — the building rewards looking as much as its contents.
Burggarten, Vienna
Austrian National LibraryOne room justifies the whole visit: the State Hall of the Austrian National Libr1 minute walk4.7
Ephesos MuseumA small museum inside the Hofburg's Neue Burg showing what Austrian expeditions 1 minute walk4.5
BurggartenThe palace's private garden: Emperor Franz I laid it out for himself after Napol2 minutes walk4.8
Austrian Film MuseumA film archive and cinema inside the Albertina building in central Vienna, found2 minutes walk4.7
AlbertinaA Habsburg palace standing on the last surviving fragment of Vienna's old city w2 minutes walk4.6With children, or if you're already in the Burggarten: yes — the price is low and the time short. As a dedicated cross-city trip: no.