St Stephen's Cathedral tickets: €8 for each tower, the catacombs or a tour, €29 for everything, and no booking needed

💡 The Short Version: The self-guided visit, each tower, the catacomb tour and the English cathedral tour are €8 each (€3 for ages 6 to 14), and the all-inclusive ticket is €29 for the cathedral with an audio guide, both towers, a catacomb tour and the Cathedral Museum. No booking is needed. The South Tower is 343 steps, and the North Tower has a lift to the platform with the Pummerin bell. Sightseeing is at set times: Monday to Saturday 9:00 to 11:30, and every day 13:00 to 16:30. The catacombs are tour only. Or book a tour: Vienna walking tour of the city centre highlightsad (from €24) is a 2-hour guided walk of the centre.

The tickets, compared

Prices are the adult rate from the cathedral parish’s visitor site, stephanskirche.at. The address is Stephansplatz 3.

• The all-inclusive ticket covers an independent tour of the cathedral with a digital audio guide for your smartphone, both towers, a public catacomb tour and a visit to the Cathedral Museum. One child under 14 enters free with each ticket. It is sold in the cathedral or online, and not to school groups.
• Separately, the tower, catacomb and tour tickets add up to €32 for the cathedral visit, both towers and a catacomb tour. The €29 ticket is cheaper, and includes the museum.
• Changes: sightseeing times can change for services and events, and the cathedral’s calendar lists them.
• The attic tour is an evening tour of 120 steps up a spiral staircase to the roof truss, which meets outside the South Tower entrance and is booked with the cathedral guides.

How to buy

• At the cathedral. The visit, towers and public tours need no registration, and you pay on the spot. Groups of 15 or more register separately.
• Online for the all-inclusive ticket, or in the cathedral.
• GetYourGuide sells St Stephen’s Cathedral & Dom Museum Wien Ticketsad at €29, with 2,285 reviews. The cathedral’s own all-inclusive ticket is also €29 and names the towers and catacombs, which the listing’s title does not, so read the listing before booking.

Tours worth paying for

The cathedral’s own tours are the cheapest guide: the English public tour and the catacomb tour are €8 each. A city walk is the alternative, with the cathedral as one of several stops. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

A walking tour of the centre

From €24 · 5,653 reviews · 2 hours

Vienna: Guided Walking Tour of City Centre Highlightsad is GetYourGuide’s most-reviewed walking tour in Vienna, a guided walk of the city centre. Vienna: Guided Walking Tour of City Highlights & Hidden Gemsad is from €23.76 with 4,165 reviews, also 2 hours. Vienna walking tours compares them against the free and bike tours.

What to see

The cathedral’s South Tower, called the Steffl, is 136.4 metres high. The North Tower is 68.3 metres and unfinished.

The South Tower and the tiled roof of St Stephen’s Cathedral. Photo: Herbert Heim, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. The cathedral interior. The independent visit includes a smartphone audio guide. Monday to Saturday the morning slot is 9:00 to 11:30, and on Sundays sightseeing starts at 13:00.
2. The South Tower. 343 steps up to the Türmerstube and the view over Vienna.
3. The North Tower. A lift to the viewing platform where the Pummerin, the cathedral’s large bell, hangs. It is the choice if you do not want the climb.
4. The catacombs. Only on the public tour, from an entrance inside the cathedral.
5. The Cathedral Museum. The medieval cathedral treasure, which the cathedral calls some of the most valuable sacred and historical objects in the world.

The order that works: the English cathedral tour at 10:30 on a weekday, then a tower, and the catacomb tour at 13:30 or later.

The nave of St Stephen’s Cathedral. Photo: Giorgio Galeotti, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What to skip: one of the two towers. They cost €8 each, and the all-inclusive ticket adds the second only if you also want the museum.

Hours, rules and getting there

• The building is open Monday to Saturday 6:00 to 22:00, and Sundays and holidays 7:00 to 22:00. The nave can be entered outside sightseeing times.
• Sunday: sightseeing is only from 13:00 to 16:30.
• Getting there: Stephansplatz, in the middle of the old town, on the U1 and U3.
• Concerts and Masses: the cathedral publishes a calendar. For church concerts, see Vienna classical concerts.

The cathedral is a short walk from the Hofburg and the State Opera. What to book before you go to Vienna lists what needs booking and what does not, and 3 days in Vienna puts the cathedral on day one. Vienna museums covers the Mozarthaus at Domgasse 5 and the Kaisergruft. To sleep beside it, hotels near St Stephen’s Cathedral lists hotels within walking distance, and where to stay in Vienna compares the areas. The Vienna Christmas markets page has the winter dates. Vienna public transport has the fares for the U1 and U3.