Group headset rules at Schönbrunn, the Hofburg and the Imperial Crypt in Vienna (2026)

Three of Vienna's best-known imperial sites regulate how a guide's voice reaches a group, and all three accept a group's own system. Schönbrunn Palace's house rules, valid from 25 April 2026, make a guide system mandatory for groups of 10 or more, the Hofburg bans loudspeakers, and the Imperial Crypt requires a system for its largest groups. One detail decides whether a single system can cover the whole day.

Every guided group of 10 or more people must use a group guide system in the palace's state rooms, either its own or the palace's. The rule is in Schönbrunn Group's house rules for accredited guides, valid from 25 April 2026, and the palace lends its devices free of charge.

"Für alle Gruppen ab 10 Personen ist die Verwendung entweder ihres eigenen oder unseres Group Guide Systems verpflichtend. Die Geräte des Group Guide Systems stehen kostenlos zur Verfügung."

In English: "For all groups of 10 or more people, using either their own or our Group Guide System is mandatory. The Group Guide System devices are available free of charge."

Only guides wearing Schönbrunn Group's badge may guide; groups are capped at 30, and tours at two languages and 35 or 50 minutes. A breach can bring a time-limited ban from all Schönbrunn Group sites, which the company reports to travel agencies and the Austrian Economic Chamber.

Because they must stay inside. The house rules reserve the palace's devices for the state rooms, do not allow them in the gardens, and set them to a channel that may not be changed. A group that also walks the park, climbs to the Gloriette or continues into the city needs another solution.

The handover takes time too: devices are collected before the reserved entry time and returned to the issue desk after the tour. The case for a group's own system here is not price, since the palace devices are free, but one routine for the whole day.

In the Hofburg the rule is about volume, not group size. Schönbrunn Group, which also runs the Sisi Museum, the Imperial Apartments and the Silver Collection, bans loudspeakers and amplifiers of any kind in the exhibition rooms and allows group guiding systems with a microphone and headsets.

"Lautsprecher oder Verstärker aller Art sind wegen der damit verbundenen Lärmbelästigung in den Schauräumen nicht gestattet. Die Verwendung von Gruppenführungssystemen mit Mikrofon und Headsets ist möglich."

In English: "Loudspeakers or amplifiers of any kind are not permitted in the exhibition rooms because of the noise they cause. Group guiding systems with a microphone and headsets may be used."

These rules also apply from 25 April 2026, with the same 30-person cap and the same ban across all Schönbrunn Group sites, a 60-minute limit and at most two languages.

At 25 or 26 people, depending on which of the crypt's pages you read. The Kaisergruft's page for Austria Guides makes a system mandatory from 26 people unless the group uses its own, while its booking form says an audio tour system is mandatory from 25. Plan for a system from 25.

"Ab einer Gruppengröße von 26 Personen ist die Verwendung dieses Systems obligatorisch, sofern kein eigenes System benutzt wird."

In English: "From a group size of 26 people, using this system is mandatory, unless the group uses its own system."

The crypt caps groups at 25, or 30 after consultation when an audio system is used, and only certified Austria Guides and crypt staff may guide. In October 2026 it listed EUR 2.50 per receiver for its own system, booked in advance; its form calls the alternative "kabellose Headsets oder ähnliches" (wireless headsets or similar).

Rules in other cities and countries are on our tour group headset rules page.

The texts leave room for it but do not name it. Schönbrunn speaks of a group's "own" system, the Hofburg of systems "with a microphone and headsets" and the Kaisergruft form of "wireless headsets or similar". None mentions phones, frequencies or brands, so ask each venue in writing first.

With Your Next Tours, the guide's phone is the transmitter: guests scan a QR code and listen in their own phone's browser through their own earphones. A pocket WiFi router carries the audio without internet, which also suits a crypt below street level. Ask whether guests' own phones and earphones count as the group's own system, and keep the reply.

1. Count the group for each site, yourself included, since no text says whether the guide counts: 10 at Schönbrunn, 25 at the crypt.
2. Choose per site: the palace's free devices for the state rooms only, or your own system for the whole day.
3. For your own system, get written confirmation from Schönbrunn Group and the Kaisergruft; the palace and the Sisi Museum list separate reservation addresses.
4. Ask guests in the pre-tour message to bring a charged phone and earphones, and carry spare wired pairs.
5. Keep groups at 30 at Schönbrunn and the Hofburg and at 25 in the crypt, within the time and two-language limits; for wider language mixes, see multilingual tour groups.

Your group already carries the receivers. Install the guide app, create a tour and share its QR code before the first gate. Where a venue accepts your own system, guests listen on their own phones and earphones from the first room to the last stop. See how the broadcast works, or compare the cost with renting a system.

Translations of the German and Czech rule texts are ours; the originals are authoritative.