Burgtheater
Burgtheater
4
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
What is Travelers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Top ways to experience Burgtheater
The area
Address
Neighborhood: Inner City
In Vienna's best-known district, pedestrian boulevards Kärntner Strasse and Graben connect you with landmarks such as the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera), Vienna’s iconic Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) and the vast compound of Hofburg, the Habsburgs’ former Imperial Palace. Peek down side streets such as Annagasse and Weihburggasse, and Graben’s Seilergasse and Habsburggasse, to get a feel for the center. The Imperial Apartments and the refreshingly demystifying Sissi Museum are must-dos at Hofburg. Spacious squares such as Am Hof and Freyung often host beautiful seasonal and antiques markets.
How to get there
- Herrengasse • 4 min walk
- Schottentor • 5 min walk
Reach out directly
Best nearby
Restaurants
4,766 within 3 miles
Attractions
1,041 within 6 miles
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.0
293 reviews
Excellent
125
Very good
115
Average
33
Poor
6
Terrible
14
Siobhan L
Belton, TX974 contributions
Dec 2023 • Solo
The Burgtheater is directly across the street from City Hall so you have a wonderful area to walk and see intricate architecture. This theater was built in 1741 and was nearly destroyed during World War Two. It was restored by 1953 and is absolutely stunning.
Written January 19, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MidwestKathM
Detroit, MI1,127 contributions
May 2024 • Couples
The BurgTheatre is an impressive building dating back to the 1870s-1880s. It was hit hard during World War II, and rebuilt to the original design in the decade following the war. The building wasn't open while we were there, but we enjoyed the exterior with the putti looking down from on high and the busts of famous playwrights and poets, including Shakespeare. The interior is available to see on a limited basis, with tours available in German (English tours during the summer). If you are a Klimt fan, there are ceiling paintings by him and brother Ernst and Franz Matsch.
Written June 17, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
GEDLosAngeles_CA
Los Angeles, CA451 contributions
There are only two ways to see this beautiful theater. One is to go to a play. Of course, each production is different and I could hardly comment generally on this topic. The second way is to go on the tour, which is given at 3 pm daily. As for that, want to lose your love of theatre? Take this “tour.”
First of all, it’s almost always in German (only on one weekend day in English), despite the fact that clearly ¼ of our VERY LARGE group of around 100 people spoke only English and the remainder knew English. If they’d run two groups, one in German and one in English, neither would have been small or, presumably, unprofitable, but that was not in the cards. Well, fair enough, they told us ahead of time that it would be in German, but they also told us it would be 50 minutes in length, not 1 1/2 hours, and that it was a tour, not a lecture.
The guide, in fact, mostly lectured for 1 hour BEFORE we were even allowed into the theater. About half the time she spoke with everyone sitting on one staircase and half with everyone sitting on a nearly identical staircase, but on the other side of the building. Now, in truth, these were not your typical staircases. Each was an elegant set of marble stairs in highly ornamented entrance halls. But the guide seemed more interested in the history of the building than in any kind of tour of what would be called a theater. She also displayed almost no sense of humor. She also indicated a host of statues and wall and ceiling frescoes, which represented famous plays. Great, but nearly all of them, from our vantage point, could only be seen upside down. How would you like to see a fresco of a representation of “Romeo and Juliet” upside down? Would it help if you knew who painted it back when this building was first built? I don’t think so, particularly when you could be several blocks away at the Kunhistoriches Museum looking at a room full of masterful Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, paintings. And during all this time, there was no apparent way to leave the tour, since one is not allowed in the building without the tour.
After an hour, the actual tour part began. We were surprised, but somewhat relieved. We were taken into the auditorium. On its larger-than-average stage was the most numerous crew of stagehands I’d ever seen. It was almost a performance, kind of like an absurdist play called “The Stagehands.” They raised and lowered the same lights maybe 10 times while we were there. They removed flats and put different flats down. One of the flats seemed like it was going to fall over, but then it didn’t. They all wore the same black aprons and tool kits. They all tried to look busy when, from my estimation, about half of them could have been off the payroll. And they joked around quite a lot since they were the subject of an audience of tourists larger than in an equity waiver theater. I guess probably a good number of the stagehands used to be actors.
Then, the guide took us backstage. The stage is very large and deep. Guess what, it has a turntable and various lifts that can sink below floor level. It also has lots of lights. The Stagehands continued their machinations during this time, but at closer view.
In short, the tour could have been in English. It could have been the promised 50 minutes. It could have focused on the theater without going on ad nauseum about the building decoration. I would say one positive thing: if you are the kind of amateur photographer who likes to take pictures of chandeliers, then this is the tour for you because the staircases on which we sat had numerous chandeliers overhead and there was plenty of time to take pictures of them.
First of all, it’s almost always in German (only on one weekend day in English), despite the fact that clearly ¼ of our VERY LARGE group of around 100 people spoke only English and the remainder knew English. If they’d run two groups, one in German and one in English, neither would have been small or, presumably, unprofitable, but that was not in the cards. Well, fair enough, they told us ahead of time that it would be in German, but they also told us it would be 50 minutes in length, not 1 1/2 hours, and that it was a tour, not a lecture.
The guide, in fact, mostly lectured for 1 hour BEFORE we were even allowed into the theater. About half the time she spoke with everyone sitting on one staircase and half with everyone sitting on a nearly identical staircase, but on the other side of the building. Now, in truth, these were not your typical staircases. Each was an elegant set of marble stairs in highly ornamented entrance halls. But the guide seemed more interested in the history of the building than in any kind of tour of what would be called a theater. She also displayed almost no sense of humor. She also indicated a host of statues and wall and ceiling frescoes, which represented famous plays. Great, but nearly all of them, from our vantage point, could only be seen upside down. How would you like to see a fresco of a representation of “Romeo and Juliet” upside down? Would it help if you knew who painted it back when this building was first built? I don’t think so, particularly when you could be several blocks away at the Kunhistoriches Museum looking at a room full of masterful Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, paintings. And during all this time, there was no apparent way to leave the tour, since one is not allowed in the building without the tour.
After an hour, the actual tour part began. We were surprised, but somewhat relieved. We were taken into the auditorium. On its larger-than-average stage was the most numerous crew of stagehands I’d ever seen. It was almost a performance, kind of like an absurdist play called “The Stagehands.” They raised and lowered the same lights maybe 10 times while we were there. They removed flats and put different flats down. One of the flats seemed like it was going to fall over, but then it didn’t. They all wore the same black aprons and tool kits. They all tried to look busy when, from my estimation, about half of them could have been off the payroll. And they joked around quite a lot since they were the subject of an audience of tourists larger than in an equity waiver theater. I guess probably a good number of the stagehands used to be actors.
Then, the guide took us backstage. The stage is very large and deep. Guess what, it has a turntable and various lifts that can sink below floor level. It also has lots of lights. The Stagehands continued their machinations during this time, but at closer view.
In short, the tour could have been in English. It could have been the promised 50 minutes. It could have focused on the theater without going on ad nauseum about the building decoration. I would say one positive thing: if you are the kind of amateur photographer who likes to take pictures of chandeliers, then this is the tour for you because the staircases on which we sat had numerous chandeliers overhead and there was plenty of time to take pictures of them.
Written November 4, 2010
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
fordominus F
Bellingham, WA232 contributions
Mar 2011 • Solo
http://www.burgtheater.at/Content.Node2/home/eninfo/English_Information.en.php
sometimes guided tours of the infrastructure of the house, if not - try the Staatsoper - about a 2 km stroll along the Ringstrasse or cross through the Volksgarten and Burggarten -
evening tickets on line, classical and modern life theater performances with Europe's elite actors and directors; in german only ;
similar qualities at the Theater in der Josefstadt - aimed less experimental than the 'new' Burgtheater playbill. Both theaters have smaller houses and stages associated with equally excellent performances. Additional, there are many, many smaller theaters providing quality shows in german as well as in english - search on line.
sometimes guided tours of the infrastructure of the house, if not - try the Staatsoper - about a 2 km stroll along the Ringstrasse or cross through the Volksgarten and Burggarten -
evening tickets on line, classical and modern life theater performances with Europe's elite actors and directors; in german only ;
similar qualities at the Theater in der Josefstadt - aimed less experimental than the 'new' Burgtheater playbill. Both theaters have smaller houses and stages associated with equally excellent performances. Additional, there are many, many smaller theaters providing quality shows in german as well as in english - search on line.
Written January 19, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
zdaati
Vienna, Austria4,626 contributions
Feb 2021 • Couples
Due to covid was closed but still a very nice building even if only from outside. It is a theather and nice inside as well.
Great resturant vestibul in it, expensive but still worthwhile.
Great resturant vestibul in it, expensive but still worthwhile.
Written February 8, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nina B
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany16 contributions
Nov 2019
I went to a German language show of "Die Edda". Costume, set, and effects were all superb. The actors' performances were also quite impressive.
Written November 14, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
operalover939
Toronto, Canada2,945 contributions
Sep 2019
I read Faust in an upper-year German course many years ago, and I had long been looking for an opportunity to attend a performance of it in German. Yesterday the opportunity came, and my wife and I watched and listened with a certain horrified fascination as we were subjected to Regietheater at its most aggressive: Faust served up piecemeal by a director determined to make the play, sets, costumes and all, as unpleasant and ugly as possible. We are not unacquainted with Regietheater, though our experience of it has mostly been in opera houses, but it was startling and disenchanting to watch it being applied to one of the landmarks of German and European theatre. There was some booing among the applause at the end, but it seemed unfair to us to blame the performers for the director’s excesses. As for the building, is is magnificent.
Written September 29, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Susan C
Hightstown, NJ37 contributions
Sep 2019
We took a tour of the Burg Theatre on a Sunday at 3 pm as the tour is offered in English at that time. The architecture and art (ceiling frescoes by Klimt brothers, statues and other art work) are simply spectacular! Well worth the time.
Written September 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
yegor_b
Minsk, Belarus3,372 contributions
Jan 2019 • Couples
The Austrian imperial theater was created in 1741 and has got its new home at the Ringstraße in 1888. Still, it's one of the most important German-language theatres in the world.
Written July 8, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
cutiscar
Melbourne, Australia85 contributions
May 2019 • Solo
I did a 3 pm tour of the Burgtheatre because I am a fan of Gustav Klimt and want to see as much of his work here in Vienna as I can. I bought the tickets an hour earlier without a problem and was told the tour will only be done in German but I will be given some information written in English. That was ok with me. I did the tour. There were about 30 people. We saw the two grand staircases, the portrait gallery and the foyers of the stairs but couldn’t see the stage because of rehearsals. The staircases were the piece de resistance. So ornate with busts of famous composers, statues, ornate lamps and of course, the artwork up on the ceilings by Gustav Klimt, his brother and another artist. They were magnificent and you could see in this early work Gustav’s beginnings of his beautiful figure paintings. There were paintings partially down the walls too. I loved this part the most but I have to say that I’m sure I missed a lot of important information given by the guide. The written information wasn’t that useful. So I would recommend you do the English speaking tour if you can.
Written May 15, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Is there some sort of dress code to see a show at the Burgtheater? Like Suit and tie sort of wear?
Written September 21, 2018
Sorry to respond so late, but I rarely check into my account. Most of the time I forget I have one, until I want to post reviews. As to your question, I am not sure, but I wouldn't go excessively casual. That would probably be out of place.
Written January 21, 2019
Is it possible to walk inside without attending the 3pm guided tour?
Written May 12, 2018
Ich möchte zu einer normalen Nachmittagsvorstellung gehen. Wird im Burgtheater besondere Garderobe erwartet?
Written March 23, 2016
Das kann ich Ihnen nicht sagen. Wir waren zu einer Podiumsdiskussion am morgen dort und hatten uns "sonntäglich" angezogen. Ich empfehle auf jeden Fall für den Herrn einen Anzug mit Krawatte und die Dame entsprechend schick. Dann werden Sie sich wohl fühlen.
Written March 23, 2016
vorrei sapere se la visita al teatro è solo con le guide o se si può visitare anche liberamente .Grazie
Written August 25, 2015
Showing results 1-4 of 4
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing