What it is
The Hofburg grew wing by wing from the 13th century to the early 20th, and today houses the offices of the Austrian president alongside a cluster of museums. The Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection are visited on one ticket; the Spanish Riding School performs in the Winter Riding School, and the baroque State Hall of the Austrian National Library is one of the most beautiful library rooms in Europe.
The curved Neue Burg wing faces the wide Heldenplatz, from where paths lead into the Volksgarten and the Burggarten with its Palm House.
Getting there by bus
The city-centre buses 1A and 2A stop at Michaelerplatz and Habsburgergasse, right by the domed entrance on the old-town side. On the Ring, trams 1, 2, 71 and D stop at Burgring, a short walk across Heldenplatz, and U3 Herrengasse is about five minutes away.
Stephansplatz and the State Opera are both within ten minutes' walk.
