Schloss Hof Estate

Schloss Hof Estate - Highlights

Welcome to Austria’s largest rural palatial complex — a place where history becomes a living experience.

Your guests discover three unique worlds at the Schloss Hof Estate: The resplendent palace apartments show how emperor and princes lived—a lifestyle full of brilliance, elegance and imperial grandeur. The artistically planned Baroque Garden captures the creative spirit of the eighteenth century—terraces, fountains and glorious flowers. And on the estate farm visitors take a time trip into the everyday life of past ages: with historically and authentically recreated artisan workshops, theme gardens and rare, old Austrian animal breeds in historical stables.

An all-round experience uniting history, nature and culture — an authentic, living and multifaceted presentation.

• Duration: 120 min

The Hidden Sides of Schloss Hof

Secret passages, historical cellars and mysterious nooks and crannies—this exclusive guided tour opens doors that otherwise remain shut.

Your guests experience Schloss Hof from its hidden side: They step down into the subterranean vaults, explore secret passages and discover rooms that were once reserved for the Baroque aristocracy. A special highlight is the Baroque jewel of the estate—the lovingly preserved chapel with its sacristy, which is still used as ethereally atmospheric setting for weddings. The tour is rounded off in elegant style with a glass of vintage regional wine—served in an entrancing atmosphere and in view of the beauty of the palace.

An experience for all the senses—authentic, exclusive, unforgettable.

• Duration: 60 min

Baroque Country Life at the Estate Farm

Living history—nature, animals & handicrafts as in the days of the Baroque

A trip to the Schloss Hof Estate is a time trip into a world of the past—full of surprises, encounters and experiences for all age groups. Your guests are transported into the fascinating world of the flora and fauna of the eighteenth century: they roam through authentically and historically recreated craft workshops, discover Prince Eugene of Savoy’s historical plant collection and explore lovingly designed theme gardens, just as they served everyday life in the Baroque era. On the estate farm they encounter rare, old Austrian animal breeds, including the famous white Baroque donkeys and exotic Bactrian camels—a spectacular experience and not just for children.

Two interactive adventure paths with play stations challenge them to wonderment, to join in and to acquire insights—ideal for families, school classes and comprehensive generation groups. And to round things off with relish, our own schnapps distillery awaits the visitors. Here, visitors are not only shown how schnapps — plum brandy — used to be distilled, but they can taste it as well. We have an alcohol-free alternative at hand for children and young people.

• Duration: 60 min
   

Prince Eugene of Savoy’s Garden: A Masterpiece of Art and Nature 

On seven terraces Prince Eugene of Savoy commissioned one of the largest and most beautiful landscape gardens of the Baroque era. Your stroll takes you past blooming broderie beds, artistic sculptures and mighty fountains, and to one of the most beautiful orangeries in Europe and its gardens with Mediterranean plants.

• Duration: 60 min

Witches' Brews and Flower Beds: A trip of discovery through the gardens of the Schloss Hof Estate

There are seven terraces to wander through at your leisure in the Baroque Garden of Schloss Hof, past around 35,000 flowers and cascades, and at the same time you can find out all kinds of interesting information about stone sculptures, broderie horticulture and fountains.

A tour through the idyllic estate farm brings you to a multitude of visual delights in the shrub beds and rose and herb gardens, where secrets of the ancient lore of herbs are revealed. As a charming final touch you receive your own, specially composed fragrant sachet in the Potting Plant Nursery – a waft of Schloss Hof fragrance to take home with you..

• Duration: 90 min
   

Special Exhibition: The art of perfect order – The Baroque garden

7 March - 2 November 2026

Perfection, splendor, and staging. The gardens of the Habsburgs were far more than places of leisure. They were stages of power, settings for courtly amusements, and artfully designed reflections of an entire era.

The 2026 special exhibition invites visitors to discover the Baroque garden as a total work of art. Using the garden complex at Schloss Hof Estate as a starting point, the exhibition explores what defines Baroque gardens and how they differ from those of the Renaissance or Romantic periods. Sculptures, characteristic Baroque design elements, and plants are impressively combined with technical innovations such as water features and fireworks.

Baroque gardens served pleasure and recreation, but at the same time functioned as powerful demonstrations of wealth and authority. The exhibition also addresses stylistic influences and fashions in garden design, international models, and the competition for Europe’s finest gardeners, artists, and engineers.

At the same time, the exhibition offers a glimpse behind the scenes of these magnificent ensembles. “Pleasurable gardening” was a costly pursuit, requiring vast financial resources and the labor of many workers—an unmistakable mirror of Baroque society.

The special exhibition extends across nearly the entire grounds of Schloss Hof Estate and invites visitors to experience the Baroque garden with all their senses—true to the spirit of a Baroque total experience.