Savvy culture lovers know that one can gallery hop for weeks in Vienna and barely scratch the (gilded, painted or carved) surface. Even after decades of visits, it’s possible to stumble across new collections that intrigue and excite.
The Austrian capital punches well above its size as a world capital of culture. Its museums range (or waltz?) from palaces containing old-master paintings amassed by Habsburg emperors; to galleries filled with contemporary art and Klimt’s golden wonders, housed in buildings that are works of art in themselves; to staggering collections of natural history, design, applied arts and graphic works. Egyptian mummies, dinosaur bones, curvaceous Jugendstil (art nouveau) furniture, glittering jewels…you’ll find the lot on exhibition all over town.
While there are scores of museums that might cater to your niche – covering topics as obscure as coffee, snow globes, crime, film noir, funerals and chimney sweeps – you might want to start with the classics. Here are eight of our favorite museums in Vienna.
1. Schloss Belvedere
Best for baroque bling and Klimt kisses
Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt designed this baroque summer palace in the early 18th century on an epic scale for Prince Eugene of Savoy. Stand at the Oberes Belvedere and you can’t help but swoon as you trail a finger across Vienna’s skyline, perfectly framed by tiered landscaped gardens where (sculpted) mythical beasts cavort and cascades gently splash.
Yet if you’re an art enthusiast, you’re probably here for one reason alone: Klimt. Schloss Belvedere contains the world’s biggest collection of his sensually dream-like, gold-kissed, mosaic-patterned works, which holds visitors captive. Forgo a leisurely breakfast and arrive as the palace opens bang on 9am for a crowd-free glimpse of his masterwork The Kiss (1907), as well as other art nouveau sensations like Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1901).
And Klimt is just the start. You would be wise to linger to eyeball other early late-19th- to early-20th-century century Austrian works – think those by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and more – in sumptuous rooms replete with marble, frescoes and stucco.
2. Fälschermuseum
Best for impressive imitations
It would take a razor-sharp professional eye (and possibly a magnifying glass) to spot that the paintings on display in this tiny, privately run museum aren’t quite the real deal. Just opposite the rainbow-bright Hundertwasserhaus, Vienna’s intriguing and wonderfully quirky Fälschermuseum (Museum of Art Fakes) presents a top-notch collection of works that look original, but which are in fact very convincing forgeries.
Schiele, Klimt, Raphael, Rembrandt, Turner, Monet, Picasso and Marc Chagall are just some of the artists that have been ripped off or copied by some of the world’s most skilled forgers. Besides giving background on the who, how, when and what, the museum spills the beans with stories about master forgers who managed to fool the experts’ eyes.
3. Kunsthistorisches Museum
Best for old-master treasures
If you only see one museum in Vienna, make it the outstanding Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum), lodged in a domed neoclassical building that rises from the Ringstrasse. Brace yourself for a breathtaking, epoch-spanning romp through art and artifacts, reflecting the extraordinary legacy (not to mention voracious collecting) of the Habsburgs, who ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire for centuries.
You might begin with a chronological spin through Greek and Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities, zooming in on funerary objects, sculptures and writing development from about 3500 BCE, with fine examples of sarcophagi, mummies, mosaics and gold treasure. Kunstkammer Wien is one of the world’s most extraordinary chambers of curiosity, with a magpie-like collection of luxurious delights like gemstones, coral and ostrich eggs transformed into brilliant artworks.
The Kunsthistorisches’ true highlight is the Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery), where the walls all but groan with masterpieces by Titian, Tintoretto, Rubens, Vermeer, Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Raphael, Caravaggio, Velázquez and many more. The collection is especially strong on canvases by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, including his unmissable 1563 Tower of Babel.
This museum is too big for just one bite, so pick up a floor plan and audio guide to devise your own itinerary (and count on a return visit, if you have time). To see the collection with fewer crowds, visit for its late-night opening on Thursday evening from 6pm to 9pm. Revive museum-weary eyes with a coffee in the palatial cupola café.
4. Naturhistorisches Museum
Best for mammoths and meteorites
No, you’re not imagining things – you are seeing double. Vienna’s neoclassical, cupola-topped Naturhistorisches Museum is the spitting image of the Kunsthistorisches Museum across the plaza, and was also commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I in the late 19th century.
These lavishly stuccoed, frescoed halls provide a deep dive into 4 billion years of natural history, cantering through minerals, fossils, dinosaur bones, insects and animals, among other fascinating objects from a 30-million-strong inventory. Keep an eye out for exceptional finds like the teeny 25,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf, a buxom figurine believed to be a fertility symbol; and a mind-blowing, 1100-piece meteorite collection. Audio guides lend plenty of insight.
Kids in tow? Check the website for dates of the popular Nacht im Museum (Night in the Museum), which includes a flashlight tour, films in the planetarium and a night spent next to the dinosaurs (bring your sleeping bag).
5. Albertina
Best for graphic art and grandeur
Habsburg royals once put their guests up in the swanky imperial state apartments that now compose the Albertina, home to one of the world’s most sensational collections of graphic art. Started in 1776 by Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, the collection brings together more than a million drawings and prints, from the late Gothic era to the present.
Michelangelo and Dürer, Rembrandt and Rubens, Goya and Caspar David Friedrich originals are shown in rotating exhibitions. Impressionists and Post-Impressionists also have their moment to shine, with delicate works by Degas, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin. Austrian art is in the spotlight, too, with masterpieces by Klimt, Kokoschka, Egger-Lienz and Schiele. While the number of extraordinary works might be overwhelming, everyone is keen to get a glimpse of Dürer’s iconic Hare (1502), Schiele’s erotic Female Couple (1915) and Warhol’s pop portrait of Mao Tse-Tung (1972).
A 10-minute walk south on Karlsplatz leads to the Albertina Modern, an offshoot that opened in 2020 and exhibits post-1945 works charting eight dynamic decades of Austrian art.
6. Haus der Musik
Best for music and budding composers
Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss (both father and “Waltz King” son), Brahms, Mahler…you can’t walk a block in Vienna without rubbing shoulders with the ghosts of great composers. Their symphonies, operas and concertos still reverberate in the city’s opulent concert halls today.
Tuning into the city’s remarkable musical legacy, the fun, hands-on Haus der Musik presents an engaging, kid-friendly journey through sound and music – think “conducting” the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra by madly waving a baton to the Radetzky March, and composing your own waltz by rolling dice. The first floor is devoted to the founder of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Otto Nicolai, who lived in this house from 1841 to 1847.
Feel free to bash out your own melodies on the piano staircase that links the museum’s four floors – or, for something a bit more polished, attend one of the concerts (or children’s concerts) in the glassed-in ground-floor courtyard.
7. Leopold Museum
Best for modern art
Originally designed by baroque starchitect Johann Fischer von Erlach, these revamped imperial stables are quite something. Today, the site has become MuseumsQuartier, a vast and dynamic cultural hub tapping into the zeitgeist with a range of galleries showcasing modern, postmodern and contemporary art; courtyard cafes, bars and restaurants; and shops and performance spaces. A single ticket gets you access to everything.
You could devote an entire day to exploring this complex, but if you have time for just one museum, make it the Leopold, a giant white limestone cube full of space and natural light. It’s a striking backdrop for the world’s largest collection of works by Egon Schiele (1890–1918), comprising 41 paintings and 188 drawings and graphic works. Don’t miss the ghostly Self-Seer II (Man and Death) (1911), the mournful Mother with Two Children (1915) and Cardinal and Nun (Caress) (1912).
Other well-represented Austrian artists include Albin Egger-Lienz, with his raw depictions of pastoral life; the Expressionist Kokoschka; and Secessionists Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner and Klimt (the morbid stunner of the last master being his allegorical 1910 Death and Life).
8. KunstHausWien
Best for rebellious creatives
As you wader the streets of Vienna’s 3rd district, Landstrasse, the dazzling facade of KunstHausWien will suddenly bowl you over. This curvaceous, black-and-white-mosaic-tiled, mirror-dotted marvel bears the inimitable imprint of one of Austria’s most original and outlandish artists and architects: Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000). A rebel with an environmental cause, Hundertwasser believed that the straight line was “godless” and that nature should run riot – hence the wonky walls and floors, bulging ceramic elements and trees that sprout from the grass roof.
The gallery presents a high-caliber roster of temporary exhibitions, often with an ecological theme that chimes with Hundertwasser’s revolutionary green politics. It’s also an ode to the artist, with a permanent collection of his rainbow-bright, playful art that pushes the boundaries of convention and reveals his dislike for urban conformity. Tracing the evolution of the artist’s style the exhibition skips from watercolors and portraits to travel-inspired abstract works and tapestries, covering themes from philosophy to ecology and architecture.
