Schönbrunn Zoo
The world's oldest zoo still running — the octagonal pavilion built in 1759 as an imperial breakfast room is now a restaurant you can actually eat in.
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Founded in 1752 for the Habsburg court by Francis Stephen of Lorraine on 17 hectares of the Schönbrunn Palace grounds. Holds 707 species and sits in an exclusive group of 27 zoos worldwide that house giant pandas. Ranked best zoo in Europe six times between 2008 and 2021.
What to look for
- The octagonal pavilion at the zoo's center — commissioned as an imperial social room and completed 1759, operating as a restaurant since 1949
- The giant pandas, kept here as part of a global network of only 27 zoos that house them
- Twelve enclosures arranged around the octagonal pavilion at the heart of the site, designed in 1745 by architect Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville-Issey
UNESCO World Heritage Site within the Schönbrunn Palace gardens; draws over 2 million visitors a year.
Schönbrunn Zoo is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Vienna, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Vienna pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Vienna
- Schönbrunn PalaceHabsburg emperors were born here, ruled from here, and died here — 1,441 rooms of Baroque ambition spanning 300 years.
- St. Stephen's CathedralA cathedral consecrated in 1147 as crusaders prepared to march — and built on top of a Roman burial ground that nobody knew was there until 2000.
- BelvederePrince Eugene built this summer palace on Ottoman campaign winnings — it is now three art museums inside a World Heritage Baroque garden.
- Hofburg PalaceSeven centuries of Austrian rulers worked from this address — the current president still does.
- Vienna State OperaThe first major building on Vienna's Ring Road, and the house where Vienna Philharmonic musicians earn their seats.
- Ernst-Happel-StadionBuilt for workers' sport in 1931, this 50,865-seat bowl also served as a transit prison for over 1,000 Jewish deportees in 1939.