St. Stephen’s Cathedral was an obvious addition to our first Vienna itinerary. What we didn’t realize was that visiting it isn’t one experience with one admission ticket. It’s several attractions inside, below and above the church.
When planning our first visit to Vienna, we tried to balance the city’s major landmarks with places that genuinely interested us. We didn’t want to work our way through a checklist simply because a guidebook said we should.
However, there was never much question about visiting St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
My wife Sharon and I suckers for wandering through massive churches and cathedrals. That probably started with St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and continued with places such as Westminster Abbey in London and Notre-Dame in Paris. Even when we don’t know the history behind every chapel, painting or statue, we’re drawn to the scale of the buildings and the details that reveal themselves once you step inside.
The cathedral sits directly in the center of Vienna, and its enormous tower and patterned roof make it difficult to miss. Even if you aren’t particularly interested in churches, this is one of the buildings that defines the city.
You can enter part of the church without buying a ticket. But getting a closer look at the cathedral interior, going up either tower and touring the catacombs are separate experiences. Each normally requires its own ticket.
One Cathedral, Several Admission Choices
Once inside, we found a price board listing the available options. During our visit, each individual experience cost €8 for an adult:
- Cathedral admission with a digital audioguide
- Guided catacombs tour
- South Tower admission
- North Tower admission
- Guided cathedral tour
There was also an all-inclusive ticket for €29, covering the cathedral, catacombs, both towers and an additional museum visit.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral sells separate tickets for its interior, towers and catacombs, along with an all-inclusive option.
The all-inclusive ticket was clearly the better value for someone determined to see everything. But that wasn’t necessarily what we wanted to do.
We had other plans in Vienna, and buying the bundle would have created a temptation to complete every included attraction simply because we had paid for it. Instead, we chose the parts that interested us most.
That resulted in my wife Sharon and me having somewhat different experiences at the same cathedral.
Taking The Elevator Up The North Tower
The first thing we did together was visit the North Tower.
There are two cathedral towers visitors can enter, but they offer very different experiences. Reaching the South Tower requires climbing hundreds of steps. The North Tower has an elevator, so that was the obvious choice for us.
The elevator itself was small, and the experience was more confined than visiting a modern observation deck. But once we reached the top, we had wide views across Vienna.
The city view was worthwhile, but the best part was being so close to the cathedral’s roof.
From street level, you can see that the roof has a colorful pattern. From the tower, you’re close enough to appreciate how that design was assembled from thousands of individual tiles.
The tower also gave us views in several directions across Vienna. Instead of looking down on a cluster of modern skyscrapers, we were looking across layers of older rooftops, church towers and newer buildings extending toward the hills.
Visitors can also see the Pummerin, the cathedral’s largest bell, inside the North Tower.
The tower visit didn’t take an enormous amount of time, which worked well for us. We got the view, saw the roof up close and returned to the cathedral without committing a significant portion of the day.
Sharon Went Below The Cathedral
After returning from the tower, Sharon decided to take the guided tour of the cathedral’s catacombs.
The catacombs can only be visited as part of a guided tour, so this wasn’t an area where we could buy tickets and wander around independently.
This was also where our cathedral visit split into two different directions. Sharon was interested in seeing what was beneath the building, while I wanted a closer look at the cathedral itself.
So she headed underground for the catacombs tour while I purchased admission to the main interior.
In a very Sharon-style recap, she later described the tour as: “We had a guide, toured the catacombs, saw where some famous people are buried, heard their stories, and then it was over.”
Remind me again why I send her on these things by herself. 🙂
Paying To See More Of The Cathedral Interior
It is possible to step inside St. Stephen’s Cathedral without paying. However, the free area leaves visitors behind barriers near the back of the church.
You can still appreciate the height of the building and get a general sense of the interior from there. But much of the cathedral remains at a distance.
Paying the cathedral admission allowed me to move farther inside and get much closer to the altar, side chapels, pulpit and other architectural details.
From the rear of the cathedral, the altar looks impressive but distant. Once inside the paid area, I could see far more of the carvings, paintings and stained glass surrounding it.
The paid area also allowed me to see details that would have been difficult to appreciate from behind the barriers, including the cathedral’s ornate stone pulpit.
There were side altars, sculptures and smaller areas throughout the church. I didn’t know the history behind every object I was seeing, but I still appreciated being able to explore the building instead of viewing most of it from the entrance.
For me, the €8 admission was worthwhile. The free area provided a glimpse of the cathedral, while the paid section felt more like actually visiting it.
Should You Buy The All-Inclusive Ticket?
The all-inclusive ticket looked like a good deal at first. During our visit, the individual experiences cost €8 each, while the bundle was €29. If we planned to visit both towers, tour the catacombs and explore the cathedral interior, the math would have worked in our favor.
But we also knew that buying the bundle might turn the visit into a checklist.
The South Tower requires climbing hundreds of steps, which neither of us was eager to do. We were much happier taking the elevator up the North Tower. Sharon wanted to see the catacombs, while I was more interested in spending time inside the cathedral.
So we skipped the package and bought individual tickets for what we actually wanted to see.
That may not have been the absolute cheapest approach if we had added one more attraction, but it gave us more flexibility. We visited the North Tower together, then split up while she toured the catacombs, and I explored the cathedral interior.
We didn’t see every possible part of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and we were fine with that. We saw the parts that interested us instead of spending extra time completing everything included in a package.
What We’d Tell A First-Time Visitor
The biggest thing we learned is that visiting St. Stephen’s Cathedral isn’t as simple as walking into a church.
You can enter the cathedral for free, but that only gives you a limited view. The North and South Towers require separate tickets and offer very different experiences. The catacombs are only accessible on a guided tour, while the cathedral ticket lets you move past the barriers and get much closer to the altar, chapels and architectural details.
Before buying anything, it helps to decide what you actually care about.
For us, the North Tower was an easy choice because it had an elevator and gave us both a city view and a closeer look at the tiled roof. Sharon was curious about the catacombs. I wanted more time inside the cathedral. That combination worked better for us than trying to cover every option.
Someone who wants to see nearly everything should absolutely compare the individual prices with the all-inclusive ticket. But I wouldn’t buy the bundle automatically just because it appears to offer the best value.
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