Hofburg and Sisi Museum Tickets: With or Without a Guide?
Updated October 13, 2026 · 5 min read
Take a guide if this is your first visit to the Hofburg and you know little about the Habsburgs. The Skip-the-Line Sisi Museum, Hofburg and Gardens Tour has 8,012 reviews at 4.8 stars and runs 2 to 2.5 hours. Skip the guide and buy the museum’s own day ticket if you already know the story, or if you would rather linger in front of the exhibits at your own speed.
What the plain ticket covers
The Sisi Museum day ticket is the starting point. It costs €20 for adults and includes the Imperial Apartments, so you see the museum and the rooms where Franz Joseph and Elisabeth lived and worked on one ticket. Children from 6 to 18 pay less, and entry is only possible in a booked time slot.
Two things are worth knowing before you plan around it:
- The Silver Collection is closed. It is part of the same complex, and the museum states that it remains shut. A listing that mentions it does not mean you will see it.
- The price is temporarily lower, and the museum section is closed. Until 18 November 2026 the day ticket costs €15, and opening hours are 10 am to 4:30 pm with last entry at 4 pm, according to the museum’s ticket page. In the same period the museum is temporarily closed until the redesigned Sisi Museum opens on 19 November, so for now the ticket gives you the Imperial Apartments. Outside that period the regular prices apply.
What the official guided ticket adds
The museum sells its own guided day ticket for €33 from 20 November 2026. It includes a tour of about 60 minutes through the museum and apartments. The tours run at set times each day: 11:30 am and 3:30 pm in German, and 2 pm in English.
That is the catch: in English you get one departure a day and have to build the visit around it. The tours on GetYourGuide run about twice as long, so look at their start times on the booking page.
The skip-the-line tours compared
| Tour | Duration | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skip-the-Line Sisi Museum, Hofburg and Gardens Tour | 2 to 2.5 hours | €52.16 | 4.8, 8,012 reviews |
| Hofburg and Empress Sisi Museum Guided Tour | 2 hours | €48 | 4.7, 1,665 reviews |
| Skip-the-Line Hofburg and Empress Sisi Museum Tour | 2 hours | €42 | 4.7, 1,208 reviews |
All three cover the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments. According to its description, the first adds the courtyards and gardens of the complex.
Compare these with the €20 day ticket. A guide costs €22 to €32 more than the plain ticket. The listings sell these as skip-the-line tours; confirm on the booking page that the museum entry is in the price.
The Sisi Pass
The Sisi Pass is a combination ticket at €60 for adults and €38 for children from 6 to 18. It covers the Schönbrunn Palace, the Sisi Museum, the Imperial Apartments and the Vienna Furniture Museum, and it is valid for one year from the date of issue.
It is worth it only if you will visit both the Hofburg and Schönbrunn. The two single tickets are around €20 and €30 to €40, so the pass is not far off the sum, and it saves a booking. Check which Schönbrunn route the pass includes before you rely on it, and read the Schönbrunn ticket article for what the 22-room and 40-room routes differ in.
Other Hofburg tickets that people mix up
The Hofburg is a complex, and the Sisi Museum is only one part of it.
- The Imperial Treasury costs €16 and holds the Habsburg jewels, including parts of Empress Elisabeth’s jewellery.
- The Imperial Crypt is the family burial vault, €15. It lies under the Capuchin Church, not in the Hofburg.
- The New Hofburg Palace audio-guided ticket costs €23 and takes about an hour.
None of them is part of the Sisi Museum day ticket, which covers the museum and the Imperial Apartments. Each one is a separate ticket.
Which one to book
- First visit, no background: the 2 to 2.5 hour tour with the gardens.
- You know the history: the plain day ticket, booked for a time slot.
- Both Hofburg and Schönbrunn: compare the Sisi Pass with two single tickets.
- Short on time: the plain ticket, early in the day.
More palaces and museums are listed under attraction tickets in Vienna, and walking tours cover the old town around the Hofburg.
