{"id":3421,"date":"2016-06-30T15:36:45","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T14:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=3421"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:57:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:57:01","slug":"alpine-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/alpine-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"The Alpine Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/bonsai-1.jpg\" alt=\"A bonsai tree\" class=\"wp-image-13826\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/bonsai-1.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/bonsai-1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The alpine gardens adjoin Belvedere&#8217;s, but couldn&#8217;t be further away in terms of look and feel from the baroque landscaped hedges, fountains, and terraces of Prince Eugene&#8217;s palace complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Small, but fine, display of alpine flora<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Also includes a marvelous collection of bonsai<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Only opens in the warmer seasons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Book a two-hour <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/vienna-walking-tours-l205287\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_WalkingTours\" rel=\"sponsored\">walking tour<\/a>* of Vienna<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/botanical-garden\/\">The university botanic gardens<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/hirschstetten\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"34465\">Hirschstetten botanic gardens<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Alpengarten<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/twobonsai.jpg\" alt=\"Two bonsai trees\" class=\"wp-image-44153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/twobonsai.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/twobonsai-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Bonsai trees in the Alpine Gardens)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carefully-cultivated geometric shapes, paths and formal arrangements dominate the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/baroque-gardens\/\">Belvedere palace gardens<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, the alpine gardens next door feature meandering pathways drifting around rocky outcrops thick with a tumble of plants, shrubs and small trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gardens measure some 50m by 50m, so you won&#8217;t be spending half a day here. But they do offer a little respite from the Belvedere crowds: it&#8217;s just you, the Edelweiss, the chatter of birds, and the distant drone of Viennese traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can make a similar argument for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/botanical-garden\/\">university botanical gardens<\/a> next door, which cover a greater area (and charge no entrance fee). But the alpine gardens have one thing extra going for them: the bonsai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cultural trivia: the folk song, <em>Edelweiss<\/em>, from <em>The Sound of Music<\/em> is not actually an Austrian folk song. Rodgers and Hammerstein composed the piece for the 1965 musical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The plants<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The gardens offer a little bit more than just Edelweiss (I don&#8217;t recall if there was any there at all, actually): the facility actually includes over 4,000 plant and shrub species from alpine areas around the world and plays an important scientific and conservation role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll find everything marked with Latin and German names, but I didn&#8217;t spot any information in English on my visit (though it&#8217;s been a while).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The collection dates back to the early 1800s and the botanical interests of Archduke Johann. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sightseeing\/palace-of-schonbrunn\/\">Sch\u00f6nbrunn<\/a> originally housed the gardens, but everything moved to Belvedere in the second half of the 19th century.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"274\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/erzherzogjohann.jpg\" alt=\"Archduke Johann\" class=\"wp-image-29893\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/erzherzogjohann.jpg 274w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/erzherzogjohann-206x300.jpg 206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 274px) 100vw, 274px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Archduke Johann on an alpine hunting trip; Blasius H\u00f6fel based on Johann Peter Krafft&#8217;s Erzherzog Johann als Gemsenj\u00e4ger, 1818, copper engraving, 50.5 x 35.5 cm, Belvedere, Wien, Inv.-Nr. 7619 \u00a9 Belvedere, Wien. Reproduced with permission under the terms of <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Botany must have run in the family. Johann&#8217;s brother was none other than Emperor Franz II\/I, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/culture\/holy-roman-empire\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12853\">Holy Roman Emperor<\/a> (until its dissolution) and the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/culture\/austrian-empire\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12856\">Emperor of Austria<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Franz wasn&#8217;t busy negotiating with Napoleon or pursuing a notably reactionary political agenda, he was out gardening. The botanical collection over at the Naturhistorisches Museum, for example, has its origins in the botanical court collection of the &#8220;Blumenkaiser&#8221; (Flower Emperor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most impressive plants (for the non-specialist) in the Alpengarten appear in the bonsai collection, partly behind glass and partly out in the open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having said that, if you take the path along the left after the entrance you come across what looks like a moss-covered rock. This is actually a quite remarkable cultivar of white spruce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, near the back, cages crawl with houseleeks (which have nothing to do with leeks, but are pretty, rosette-shaped succulents).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s something strangely captivating about the bonsai trees, though, and the gardens display rather a lot of them here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maples and pines dominated the couple of dozen outside on my visit, with the glasshoused bonsai covering a broader mix of species that included juniper, spruce, chestnut, elm, beech, larch, birch, pear, and apple. Their accompanying labels looked a little old, so the age of each tree is likely more than stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The outdoor bonsai provided, perhaps, the best examples of this Japanese art form. I discovered, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A beautiful 60 year-old purple Japanese maple and a 100 year-old trident maple<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gorgeous miniature pines, including a 180 year-old Japanese white pine<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A perfectly-formed 90 year-old cedar of Lebanon<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tickets &amp; visitor tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The federal parks and gardens department manage the alpine gardens. Belvedere tickets and passes don&#8217;t apply here; you pay a small fee to go in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike Belvedere, the gardens usually only open from the middle of March to sometime in late summer or early autumn (check the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundesgaerten.at\/belvederegarten\/alpengarten.html\">website<\/a> for details and opening hours). During that time they may also have a handful of plants for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Go in spring and early summer to catch the best period for flowers, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get to the alpine gardens<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Just follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/gettingthere3\/\">directions for Upper Belvedere<\/a>. To enter the gardens, go to the southern gates of the complex and walk east for a few metres: you can&#8217;t miss them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: close to Landstra\u00dfer G\u00fcrtel 3, 1030 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1ksawXWFMVD9bljA48Gi7_VvWSfI\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The alpine gardens adjoin Belvedere&#8217;s, but couldn&#8217;t be further away in terms of look and feel from the baroque landscaped hedges, fountains, and terraces of Prince Eugene&#8217;s palace complex. The Alpengarten (Bonsai trees in the Alpine Gardens) Carefully-cultivated geometric shapes, paths and formal arrangements dominate the Belvedere palace gardens. In contrast, the alpine gardens next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belvedere-sites","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3421"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89220,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3421\/revisions\/89220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}