The summer home of successive Habsburg rulers and their families, Schönbrunn Palace is Vienna–and Austria’s–most visited tourist attraction. The enormous residence comprises 1,441 spectacularly preserved rooms, as well as a sprawling garden area complete with follies, a zoo and a labyrinth. The grandeur of the palace and its grounds hold plenty of potential to spark the imagination of children of all ages–here is our guide to making Schönbrunn come to life for kids.

Interactive Children’s Museum

Onsite at Schönbrunn, the Children’s Museum was created with the sole purpose of bringing the story of the palace and its aristocratic inhabitants to life for children aged 4 to 12 years. Here, kids can experience first hand what it might have been like to be a prince of princess of the summer palace, with opportunities for dressing and applying makeup in the style of the times, laying the table for a banquet, and playing with period toys.

Get lost!

The labyrinth and maze of Schönbrunn gardens are a highlight for kids and adults alike, with both requiring a great deal of interfamilial team work. Simple though it looks, the maze, which was laid out in 1790 and reconstructed in 1998, has visitors scratching their heads and retracing their steps for hours on end. The payoff is well worth it, when you finally reach the raised platform in the middle to mock or encourage those still stuck. The labyrinth covers 2700 square meters and features a set of games and challenges for a range of ages and learners, including a mathematical riddle and a giant kaleidoscope. Over at the adjacent Labyrinthikon, a futuristic playground awaits.

Fun at the folly

There’s nothing like some Roman ruins–even if they are only hundreds rather than thousands of years old–to get children excited. Added to the grounds in 1778 by architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf, Schönbrunn’s Roman Ruins are a prime example of the fashion for fake ruins that were so popular at the time. Despite being called “follies”, the fake remains provide a serious and painstakingly put-together insight into the tastes and wonts of the 18th century ruling classes











Puppet show

A lesser-known highlight of Schönbrunn’s grounds is the charming marionette theater, which has daily shows of Mozart’s Magic Flute, an adaptation of Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus called DieKinderfledermaus (The Child Bat), and Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck–all starring eerily lifelike puppets worked out-of-sight by expert hands, of course. Private showings of various performances can also be arranged.

Animal magic

Such is the scale of the palace’s grounds that Vienna’s zoo is located within its border. Founded in 1752 as the imperial menagerie– a collection of exotic animals that directly preceded the concept of zoological gardens–Schönbrunn Zoo is the oldest in the world. Animals live amid well-preserved baroque buildings, and the zoo is home to leopards, elephants, koalas and even giant pandas, along with many more creatures great and small.