Reviews of Belvedere Vienna

If you are interested in plants, the gem of Belvedere is the Alpengarten located at the southern end of the Belvedere Palace grounds. We visited Vienna in May 2009 and stumbled upon the garden (I am an avid gardener, but was not able to find anything about the garden on the web prior to our trip).

Based on information provided by the head gardener (Michael Knaack), the garden covers 2500 m2 (about 0.7 acres), but houses over 4,000 plant varieties, most of which are native either to alpine regions around the world and to regions of the Austro-Hungarian empire of the 19th century. The original plant collection was started in the early 19th century by Archduke Johann, the brother of Austrian Emperor Franz I. During the latter half of the 19th century, it was moved from Schonbrunn Palace (the original garden site) to Belvedere. The original garden suffered from the two World Wars and was closed until 1949. It is currently maintained by the Austrian Federal Garden Adminstration.

The garden is neatly laid out in raised beds with gravel paths, and includes mixed plantings of herbaceous and woody plants, interspersed with small water features. If you are interested in rock gardening, this is a must visit garden.

Just to the north of the Alpengarten is a botanical garden operated by the University of Vienna. Unfortunately, it was closed on the day we visited, but also appears to be horiticuluturally worthwhile.

The other gardens at Belvedere are Italian style. They may appeal to many, but are less unique than the Alpengarten. Additional information about the garden is available in German at http://www.bundesgaerten.at/article/articleview/62771/1/17606

(4.0/5)