Hofburg concert: seats and booking

What you are booking

The ticket is a seat at a concert by the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra, a group of up to 40 musicians joined by opera singers and ballet soloists from Vienna's opera houses. The programme moves between Strauss waltzes and polkas, arias and duets by Mozart, and operetta numbers by Kálmán and Lehár, and it lasts about an hour and a half. The ticket pays for admission, the live concert and a cloakroom. A printed programme and a CD are sold on the night. Meals and drinks are not part of it, and the hall bars alcohol and drugs. The ticket is marked wheelchair accessible, and each date's start time appears in the calendar.

Who runs the evening, who plays

The Vienna Hofburg Orchestra was founded in 1971 by the conductor Gert Hofbauer, who brought together musicians from the major Vienna orchestra associations, with the stated aim of cultivating Viennese waltz and operetta music. The Hofburg is a separate body: the palace complex where Austria's president works. The Konzerthaus is a third. Who sings and dances changes from date to date, and the orchestra keeps a page of its artists on its own site. This site is an independent guide that sends you to GetYourGuide to book, so questions about a seat, a refund or a soloist go to the booking page. Its repertoire, as its own site lists it, is classical concerts by Johann Strauss and Mozart, Caprice Viennois concerts and New Year's concerts.

What the programme sounds like

Expect the sound of a Viennese ball, then the opera house, then the operetta stage. The orchestra plays Strauss waltzes and polkas, and soloists sing arias and duets by Mozart and numbers by Kálmán and Lehár. The orchestra promises musical jokes every evening, and guests on the booking page mention humour and light moments between the pieces. The mix is short and varied by design, so nothing outstays its welcome. The programme is subject to change, so treat the pieces named on this site as the style of the evening. The guide to the Strauss family explains who wrote what you will hear. Listeners who know only the Blue Danube will meet several less familiar pieces beside it, which is part of the pleasure.

Read next: The Strauss family and the waltz

Which hall your date uses

The orchestra's own pages name three halls. The Ceremonial Hall was built between 1802 and 1806 and holds 492 guests. The Festival Hall, at almost 1,000 square metres, is the largest hall in the Hofburg. The Mozart Hall of the Konzerthaus has 704 seats. The pages describe the seasons in slightly different ways, so do not rely on a rule such as one hall in summer and another in winter. Your confirmation names the hall for your date, and it is worth reading straight after you book, while a change of date is still easy. The guide to the halls explains each room. If a date is listed at the Konzerthaus and you wanted the palace, choose another date from the calendar.

Read next: Hofburg halls and the Konzerthaus

Hofburg or Konzerthaus: does it matter?

It matters if the palace is your reason for coming. The Hofburg halls were built as rooms of state for an imperial court, and the Festival Hall has marble columns, chandeliers and painted ceilings. The Konzerthaus opened in 1913 as a purpose-built concert house, and the orchestra describes its Mozart Hall as famous for its acoustics. Both give the same orchestra and the same style of programme. If your confirmation names a Hofburg hall, you are in the palace. If it names the Konzerthaus, you are in a concert hall in the city's third district, near the edge of the old city. Neither is a poor choice: the Konzerthaus is a hall designed for listening, and the palace is a setting designed for state occasions.

How the seat categories work

The booking page tells you to look at the product pictures for the categories and the seating plan, so open them before you pick. Categories group seats by position, and guests link the first category with the better view. The orchestra's own page for one concert says its seats are not numbered and that the evening staff show you to yours. Guests on the booking page add that arriving early gives you the better choice of seats within the category you bought. Treat the category as a promise of the zone you will sit in, not of one chair. The seating plan is the one picture that shows where each category lies, so compare it with your party's priorities before you pay.

Which category to choose

Choose by what you want to see. Opera singers and ballet dancers share the stage with the orchestra, so a higher category earns its place if the dancing matters to you. One guest on the booking page recommends the first category for a clear view, and notes that a VIP category sits in front of it. A lower category still puts you in the same room with the same orchestra and the same programme. A party that wants adjoining seats should book one category in a single order and arrive early. If the programme matters more than the view, a lower category is a fair choice and leaves money for dinner.

Booking, cancelling and when

Booking happens in the GetYourGuide calendar: choose a date, a seat category and the number of guests, and a confirmation follows. A booking made there can be cancelled until 24 hours before the concert for a full refund, and paying later is offered at checkout. The orchestra plays its Strauss and Mozart concerts from May to October, and it adds Christmas concerts in the Festival Hall. Some dates do sell out, and the orchestra's own site marks a past concert as sold out, so book ahead for a date that matters to you. Guests say redeeming the voucher at the box office was easy.

How it compares with other Vienna concerts

Two other Vienna concerts are worth knowing. The Haus der Musik concert is a one-hour programme by a string quartet, with works by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Strauss, and no photography inside. The Palais Auersperg concert lists Mozart, Strauss and Vivaldi and lets you add a four-course dinner before or after; the palace has no lift and the ticket is not suitable for wheelchair users. The Hofburg concert is the one to choose for a full orchestra and a choice of seating categories, and its ticket is marked wheelchair accessible. Each of the three is a separate listing with its own rating and fare, so open the cards on the home page to compare them.

Around the concert

The Hofburg complex holds museums and the Austrian National Library, which keep their own opening hours and sell their own tickets. The concert ticket does not include them, and it does not include travel to the hall. The main entrance for Hofburg concerts is directly on Heldenplatz, next to the National Library, so a daytime visit to the library or to the square is a natural way to find the door before the evening. The old city around the Hofburg has places to eat both before and after a concert of this length, so dinner fits before or after. The palace and the library are separate bodies from the orchestra, so check their own sites for opening hours.

Who this isn't for

This is not a full symphony concert and not an opera performance. It is a programme of short pieces, with comedy, ballet and a changing line-up of singers, built to entertain a visitor in Vienna for the first time. If you want a long classical programme in a quiet hall, choose a different concert. Some guests on the booking page also mention audience members talking or softly singing along, which can distract. If you need silence, look elsewhere or sit in a higher category. Nor is it right for a guest hoping for dinner at the seat, since the ticket covers the concert alone. Families with small children should check the booking page for any age guidance before choosing this evening.

• Read the hall and the date in your confirmation.
• Open the seating plan in the product pictures before choosing.
• Arrive early for the better seats in your category.
• Dress smart casual and use the cloakroom.