The imperial collection, assembled over centuries by the Habsburgs and housed in a building constructed specifically to display it.

The Picture Gallery upstairs is the heart of it: the largest collection of Bruegel the Elder anywhere, plus Vermeer, Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velázquez and Arcimboldo.

The Kunstkammer on the lower floor is the Habsburg chamber of wonders — goldsmiths’ work, automata, scientific instruments, natural curiosities and the Cellini salt cellar. Visitors consistently rate it higher than they expected.

The Egyptian and Near Eastern collection and the Greek and Roman antiquities occupy the rest of the ground floor.

It is a genuinely first-rank museum, and unlike the Belvedere it is not built around one famous object.

The single strongest room in the building and the reason many people come.

A dozen or so paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder hang together, including the Hunters in the Snow and the Tower of Babel — the largest concentration of his work in existence, because the Habsburgs bought them early and kept them.

They reward standing still. The detail is the point, and every one of them repays five minutes rather than thirty seconds.

The room gets busy from mid-morning. Go there first if it is the reason you came.

Visitors who know the paintings from reproduction consistently report being surprised by the brightness and the scale in person.

An unusual case of a museum café becoming a destination in its own right.

It sits on the first floor beneath the central dome, in a space of marble, columns and painted ceilings that is as impressive as anything in the collection.

It has become heavily photographed and there are queues to get a table, particularly at weekends and in the middle of the day. Visitors generally report that the queue is justified.

It serves proper meals as well as cake and coffee.

Two practical notes: go early or late rather than at lunchtime, and remember that you can see the dome and the staircase without eating there — the architecture is free with your ticket.

Purpose-built as a museum in the late nineteenth century, and one of the last great buildings of the Habsburg empire.

The grand staircase, with a ceiling by Munkácsy and lunettes by a young Klimt, is worth stopping on rather than climbing past. The Klimt panels above the arches are early work and are easy to miss entirely.

The dome, the marble, the inlaid floors and the decorated ceilings are all part of what you are paying for.

Directly opposite stands the Natural History Museum, its architectural twin, with an identical exterior. The two face each other across a square with a monument to Maria Theresa between them.

If you have an interest in either building or in nineteenth-century museum design, the pair together is a remarkable thing to see.

Tickets can be bought online or at the door, and queues at the entrance are usually manageable rather than severe.

Booking ahead is sensible in peak season and for major temporary exhibitions, which can add a substantial crowd.

Combination tickets with the Neue Burg collections in the Hofburg and with other imperial sites are available and are good value if you are visiting several.

An audio guide is available and is worth taking in a collection of this density.

The museum is closed one day a week — check which before planning around it, since it has caught visitors out.

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

Two to three hours is what most visitors report and it is about right for the Picture Gallery plus one other section.

Four hours or more if you intend to see the Kunstkammer, the Egyptian collection and the paintings properly.

An hour is enough only for a targeted visit to the Bruegel room and the staircase.

The collection is large enough that completeness is not available in a day, and the reviews that describe the museum as overwhelming are from people who tried.

Pick two floors, not four. The Picture Gallery and the Kunstkammer is the strongest pairing.

First slot of the morning is quietest, and the Bruegel room is walkable.

The museum has a late opening one evening a week, which is a much calmer way to see it and is worth checking against your dates.

Mid-morning through mid-afternoon brings the tour groups and the café queue.

Late afternoon empties out.

Because it is entirely indoors, this is one of Vienna’s best wet-weather options — which also means it fills on rainy days.

December is the busiest month, with May, September and July close behind.

March, February and January are the quietest.

Being an indoor museum, the season affects the crowd rather than the experience.

Winter weekdays are the connoisseur’s choice: a first-rank collection with room to stand in front of things.

If you are visiting in December, note that Vienna’s museums are busy precisely because the weather sends everyone indoors, and the Christmas markets bring extra visitors to the city.

The museum sits on the Ringstrasse just outside the historic core, a walk of ten to fifteen minutes from St Stephen’s.

Underground and tram stops are within a couple of minutes, and the Museumsquartier and the Hofburg are both adjacent.

That position makes it easy to combine with the Hofburg, the Natural History Museum opposite, or the Museumsquartier complex next door.

Driving is unnecessary.

The entrance is on the Maria-Theresien-Platz side; the twin building opposite is the Natural History Museum, and people do walk into the wrong one.

Cloakroom and bag storage are provided and large bags must be checked.

The café under the dome is covered above; there is also a shop.

Toilets are available on the main floors and are not a subject of complaint.

Seating exists in the galleries, which matters in a museum this size.

Photography without flash is generally permitted in the permanent collection, with restrictions on temporary exhibitions.

The museum is accessible with lifts serving all floors, step-free entry and accessible toilets. Reduced admission generally applies to visitors with disabilities and a companion.

The grand staircase is the architectural centrepiece but there is a lift alternative, so nothing is out of reach.

Wheelchairs are available to borrow.

The galleries are wide and the crowd density is lower than at the Belvedere or Schönbrunn, which makes this one of the easier major Vienna sites to navigate.

Seating is available throughout.

Better than a picture gallery sounds, largely because of the Egyptian collection and the Kunstkammer.

Mummies, sarcophagi, automata, elaborate goldsmiths’ work and a cabinet full of strange objects hold attention in a way that Renaissance portraiture does not.

The building itself impresses children as much as adults.

Keep it short and targeted: the Egyptian rooms, the Kunstkammer, the staircase, cake under the dome, and out.

Under-19s generally enter free at Austrian federal museums, which makes this an inexpensive family option — check the current terms.

There is very little criticism of this museum in the reviews. The complaints are about scale — too much to see — and about occasional closed galleries.

The frustrating version: arrive at midday, try to see everything, queue for the café at lunchtime, and leave four hours later exhausted and unable to remember what you looked at.

The good version: first slot, straight up to Bruegel while the room is quiet, work through the Picture Gallery at your own pace, stop for coffee under the dome mid-morning before the queue builds, and finish in the Kunstkammer.

It is among the finest collections in Europe in one of the finest buildings built to hold one. Choose what to skip and it is a superb morning.