The Belvedere is a single estate with two separate palaces and a formal garden running between them, on a slope south-east of the centre.

The Upper Belvedere is the one to visit if you are choosing. It holds the permanent collection of Austrian art including the Klimt rooms, and the building itself — the great staircase, the marble hall, the ceilings — is half the experience.

The Lower Belvedere was the residential palace and now hosts temporary exhibitions, along with the Orangery and the palace stables.

Tickets are sold separately for each, or as a combination.

The gardens between them are free to walk through, and the view from the upper terrace back down the garden to the city skyline is one of the best in Vienna and costs nothing.

Klimt’s most famous painting hangs upstairs in the Upper Belvedere, along with several other major works from his golden period.

It is the reason a large majority of visitors are here, and the room is correspondingly busy. Expect a crowd in front of it at any time from mid-morning onward, and expect people photographing themselves rather than looking.

The painting itself is larger and more textured in person than reproductions suggest — the gold is applied in layers and catches the light in a way that does not photograph.

Go straight there on arrival rather than working through the building in order. Twenty minutes after opening you can stand in front of it properly; two hours later you cannot.

The other Klimt works in the same rooms are worth as much time and get a fraction of the attention.

Set expectations here, because a recurring note in the reviews is that beyond Klimt the collection is more specialised than people expect.

The Upper Belvedere covers Austrian art from the medieval period to the twentieth century, with strong holdings in Schiele, Kokoschka and Austrian Biedermeier and Romantic painting, plus French Impressionists and a baroque collection.

If you are hoping for a broad European old-master gallery, that is the Kunsthistorisches Museum across town rather than this one.

What the Belvedere does that no other Vienna museum does is combine the art with the building — you are looking at paintings in the state rooms of a baroque palace, and the rooms are worth as much attention as the contents.

Schiele in particular is worth seeking out. He gets far less of the crowd than Klimt and rewards it.

Tickets are timed and booking online is worth doing, particularly in summer and around holidays. Queues at the door build through the morning.

Book the earliest slot you can get. The Klimt rooms are the only genuinely congested part of the museum and the first hour is the difference.

Combination tickets for both palaces are available, as are broader Vienna passes.

If you only want the gardens, no ticket is needed at all.

Prices change periodically, so check the official site rather than any figure quoted elsewhere.

A formal baroque garden runs down the slope between the two palaces — parterres, hedges, fountains, sphinxes and steps, laid out as a designed progression rather than a park.

It is free and open, and it is genuinely one of the better free things in Vienna.

The view from the terrace in front of the Upper Belvedere, looking down the garden with the city and St Stephen’s spire beyond, is the classic Belvedere image and needs no ticket.

Walking between the two palaces through the garden takes ten to fifteen minutes and is the right way to travel between them.

Early morning and evening are the quiet hours, and the low light on the parterres is the best of it.

Two hours for the Upper Belvedere and the gardens at a comfortable pace, which is what most visitors report.

An hour if you are going straight for the Klimt rooms and the main state rooms and leaving.

Three to four hours if you are doing both palaces and a temporary exhibition.

Add travel time from the centre, around fifteen to twenty minutes each way.

The Upper Belvedere alone is the sensible choice for most visitors on a first trip to Vienna, and the Lower Belvedere is worth adding only if its current exhibition appeals to you specifically.

First slot of the morning. The Klimt rooms are walkable, the state rooms are quiet, and the light through the palace windows is at its best.

By late morning the coach groups have arrived and the upper floor is dense.

Late afternoon thins out again and is the second-best option.

The gardens are open longer than the museums, so an early garden walk before opening, or an evening one after closing, adds the best of the estate for free.

In winter the light goes early, which matters more here than at an indoor-only museum because the garden and the view are part of the point.

December is the busiest month, with a Christmas market in the grounds drawing large numbers. August and September follow.

February, November and March are the quietest.

The gardens are at their best from late spring through summer.

The museum works in any weather, but the estate as a whole is much better on a clear day when the terrace view and the garden walk are available.

May and October are the balanced choices — full gardens, manageable crowds and long enough days.

The Belvedere sits south-east of the historic centre, a walk of around twenty minutes from St Stephen’s or a short tram or underground ride.

Trams stop close to both the Upper and Lower entrances, and the main railway station is a short walk from the Upper Belvedere.

That proximity to the station makes it a good option on an arrival or departure day.

There are two separate entrances at opposite ends of the estate, so check which your ticket or tour specifies — walking between them through the garden takes ten to fifteen minutes.

Driving is unnecessary and parking is limited.

There are cafés at both palaces, and a shop at the Upper Belvedere.

Prices are as expected at a major museum.

Toilets and cloakroom facilities are available, and larger bags must be checked.

The gardens have benches and are pleasant for a break, though there is no picnic culture here in the way there is at Schönbrunn.

The area around the Upper Belvedere has cafés within a short walk if you would rather eat away from the museum.

Both palaces have lift access and step-free routes to the main collections, with accessible toilets and reduced admission for visitors with disabilities and a companion.

The gardens are the constraint. The estate is on a slope and the formal garden between the two palaces descends by a series of terraces and steps. There is a route around, but it is a detour.

If you are visiting both palaces and cannot manage steps, treat them as two separate arrivals by tram rather than walking between them through the garden.

Crowd density in the Klimt rooms is a barrier in itself, which is one more argument for the first slot of the day.

Opinion divides on one question: whether a museum built around a single famous painting justifies the ticket.

The underwhelming version: arrive at midday, queue, go upstairs, find forty people photographing themselves in front of The Kiss, glance at the rest, and leave in an hour thinking it was expensive for one picture.

The good version: first slot, straight to the Klimt rooms while they are quiet, back through the Schiele and the Austrian collection at your own pace, out onto the terrace for the view down the garden to the city, and walk down through the parterres to the Lower Belvedere.

The painting is the draw. The palace, the collection around it and the free garden are what make it a morning rather than a photograph.