Vienna keeps its dead in three different basements, and none of them sells you a ticket to the others. Under St Stephen's Cathedral lie the Ducal Crypt of the early Habsburgs and the baroque burial vaults that took 10,893 bodies between 1745 and 1783 – 30 minutes, 8 euros, guided tour only, no booking. Five minutes away the Capuchin Crypt holds 150 Habsburgs in their metal coffins, and that one you walk round on your own. The Michaelergruft under the Hofburg's doorstep is the raw version: painted wooden coffins, some open, and naturally mummified bodies still in their clothes – but only on Fridays and Saturdays. Add the sewer from Carol Reed's The Third Man, open May to October only, and the Seegrotte at Hinterbrühl, a flooded gypsum mine half an hour outside the city with a boat trip on an underground lake. This page gives the 2026 prices in euros and US dollars, says which tours run in English, and corrects what English-language guides keep getting wrong.
- TicketsSt Stephen's catacombs: nothing to book.
- Price€8 (about $9.17) – St Stephen's Cathedral – catacombs tour, adults
- OpenSt Stephen's catacombs: public tours Monday to Saturday at 10:00, 11:00, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30; on Sundays and public holidays afternoons only, at 13:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30.
- Best timeTake the catacombs on a weekday morning – 10:00, 11:00 or 11:30 – because Sundays and public holidays have no tour before 13:30 and because services can delete a slot at short notice; check the cathedral calendar the evening before.
- ClaustrophobiaCatacombs: low, narrow passages, but only about 30 minutes underground.
Seven places under Vienna, compared
Catacombs of St Stephen's Cathedral
The burial levels under the choir, the transept and Stephansplatz itself: the Ducal Crypt of the early Habsburgs, the bishops' crypt, and the baroque vaults in which exactly 10,893 people were buried between 1745 and 1783.
Wall niches in the Ducal Crypt hold the copper urns with the viscera of the Habsburgs, placed there between 1564 and 1878 – the bodies themselves are in the Capuchin Crypt and the hearts in the Augustinerkirche. The tour ends outside, on Stephansplatz. Not step-free: 22 steps down, 43 up.
Adults €8 (about $9.17), children 6–14 €3 (about $3.44); included in the €29 all-inclusive ticket (as of 09/2026)
Capuchin Crypt (Imperial Crypt)
The Habsburg burial vault under the Capuchin church on Neuer Markt: 150 people in ten chambers, among them Maria Theresa, Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth.
The one site on this page you can walk round without a guide. The centrepiece is the rococo double sarcophagus of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen, made in 1753–54; Otto von Habsburg and Regina of Saxe-Meiningen lie in the crypt chapel. Most Habsburg hearts and viscera are elsewhere – the Augustinerkirche and the Ducal Crypt under St Stephen's.
€15, reduced €13, ages 6–18 €8 (about $17.19 / $14.90 / $9.17); with a guided tour €21 / €19 / €14 (as of 09/2026)
Michaelergruft
The baroque communal crypt under the Michaelerkirche, at the gate of the Hofburg: wooden coffins with vanitas paintings, several of them open, and close to two dozen bodies that the dry air mummified naturally, still in their clothes.
Thousands were buried here between 1631 and 1784. The best-known coffin is that of the librettist Pietro Metastasio. Strict ban on photography and filming, no dogs.
Guided tour €10 adults, €5 children (about $11.46 / $5.73) (as of 09/2026)
Third Man Tour – the Vienna sewers
The City of Vienna's tour of the sewer from Carol Reed's 1949 film: down the original spiral staircase used in the chase, 7 m below Karlsplatz, into the cholera sewers of the 1830s and on to the vault where the River Wien disappears under the Naschmarkt.
Helmet and head torch provided, with scenes from the film projected onto the sewer walls. Maximum 20 people, minimum age 12. Vienna's sewer network runs to 2,400 km in total.
€18 adults, €14 reduced (students, Vienna City Card), €9 ages 12–18 (about $20.63 / $16.04 / $10.31) (as of 09/2026)
Seegrotte Hinterbrühl
A former gypsum mine in the Vienna Woods, flooded in 1912 when a blast opened a spring: a walk through the galleries and a boat trip on a lake of 6,200 m², 60 m below the surface.
9 °C (48 °F) all year. During the Second World War a subcamp of Mauthausen was set up here and fuselages for the Heinkel He 162 jet fighter were assembled underground. The operator counts more than 20 million visitors since it opened as a show mine in 1932. The Lower Austria card is not accepted.
Adults €18, seniors €15, children 5–14 €12, family (2+1) €42 (about $20.63 / $17.19 / $13.75 / $48.13) (as of 09/2026)
Virgil Chapel
A 13th-century Gothic chamber about 11 m high beneath Stephansplatz, rediscovered in 1973 during metro construction and built into the Stephansplatz station as a museum.
One of the best-preserved Gothic interiors in Vienna, with red masonry-joint painting and wheel crosses from around 1246. Step-free through the metro lifts.
€5, reduced €4 (about $5.73 / $4.58), free under 19 and on the first Sunday of the month (as of 09/2026)
Roman Museum at Hoher Markt and the Michaelerplatz excavations
What is left of the legionary fortress of Vindobona: excavations below street level inside the Roman Museum, and Roman house remains lying open in the middle of Michaelerplatz in a setting designed by Hans Hollein in 1992.
The 1990–91 dig at Michaelerplatz turned up Roman houses with underfloor heating and wall painting from the 2nd to 5th centuries. Inside the Roman Museum the excavations are reached by stairs only.
Roman Museum €8, reduced €6 (about $9.17 / $6.88), free under 19; Michaelerplatz free and always open (as of 09/2026)
Tickets and prices
St Stephen's catacombs: nothing to book. You turn up at the steps down to the catacombs inside the cathedral and join the next tour; only groups of 15 or more have to reserve, two weeks ahead. The only thing sold online is the all-inclusive ticket, through the Dom Museum's ticket shop. Capuchin Crypt: online tickets with a chosen date are available, but walking in works just as well. Third Man sewer tour: a reservation is compulsory, by phone on +43 1 4000-3033 or through the operator's online form – but the ticket itself can only be bought at the kiosk on the day, so be at the meeting point 20 minutes early with a card or cash. Michaelergruft and Seegrotte: no booking needed; the Seegrotte only asks groups of 20 or more to call ahead.
Official prices
- St Stephen's Cathedral – catacombs tour, adults€8 (about $9.17)
- St Stephen's Cathedral – catacombs tour, children 6–14€3 (about $3.44)
- St Stephen's Cathedral – all-inclusive ticket (cathedral with audio guide, south and north towers, catacombs tour, Dom Museum; valid one year; one child under 14 free per ticket)€29 (about $33.23)
- St Stephen's Cathedral – all-inclusive ticket, children 6–14 (for families)€7 (about $8.02)
- St Stephen's Cathedral – special tour "roof and catacombs" (90 minutes, German only, booked by email)€16 (about $18.34)
- Capuchin Crypt – admission, adults / reduced / young people 6–18€15 / €13 / €8 (about $17.19 / $14.90 / $9.17)
- Capuchin Crypt – admission with a guided tour, adults / reduced / young people€21 / €19 / €14 (about $24.07 / $21.77 / $16.04)
- Capuchin Crypt – family ticket (2 adults and up to 3 children) / single-parent family ticket€34 / €19 (about $38.96 / $21.77)
- Capuchin Crypt – Vienna City Card holders€12 (about $13.75)
- Michaelergruft – guided tour, adults / children€10 / €5 (about $11.46 / $5.73)
- Third Man sewer tour – full price / reduced (students, Vienna City Card) / young people 12–18€18 / €14 / €9 (about $20.63 / $16.04 / $10.31)
- Seegrotte Hinterbrühl – adults (14–60) / seniors 60+ / children 5–14€18 / €15 / €12 (about $20.63 / $17.19 / $13.75)
- Seegrotte Hinterbrühl – family ticket (2 adults and 1 child)€42 (about $48.13)
- Roman Museum, Hoher Markt – adults / reduced; under 19 free€8 / €6 (about $9.17 / $6.88)
- Virgil Chapel – adults / reduced; under 19 free (closed at present)€5 / €4 (about $5.73 / $4.58)
As of 09/2026 · source and direct booking: stephanskirche.at/info.php?setLang=en
When everything is sold out
The bottleneck is the Michaelergruft: four German tours and one English tour a week, and that is the entire supply. The sewer tour takes a maximum of 20 people per departure and there is one English departure a day, at 15:00 – without a reservation you have no seat.
Tours and tickets for underground Vienna
Two of the best things here cannot be resold at all: the cathedral catacombs are €8 (about $9.17) paid to the guide on the spot, and the Third Man sewer tour at €18 (about $20.63) is sold only at its own kiosk, however the tour is reserved. The Capuchin Crypt is €15 (about $17.19) at the door and €12 with a Vienna City Card. A reseller earns its keep when you want a guide who also walks you through the old town above, when the Seegrotte comes bundled into a Vienna Woods half-day so you skip the train and bus to Hinterbrühl, or when free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead matters more than the margin. Two things to check in the description: whether admission is actually included rather than just the guiding, and whether a tour sold as underground Vienna goes below the pavement at all – several of them never leave street level.
Vienna: Imperial Crypt Entrance Ticket
Vienna: 1.5-Hour Underground Walking Tour
Vienna: Vienna Woods Tour w/ Underground Lake, Wine Tasting
Vienna: Underground WWII Bunker Ticket and Guided Tour
Show all 8 offers
Booked through GetYourGuide (affiliate link, advertising). Most offers can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead. Prices as of 20 September 2026.
Opening hours and best time
St Stephen's catacombs: public tours Monday to Saturday at 10:00, 11:00, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30; on Sundays and public holidays afternoons only, at 13:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30. Services and church occasions can cancel a slot at short notice – the cathedral publishes a calendar. Capuchin Crypt: daily 10:00–18:00, last admission 17:30; 10:00–14:00 on 1 and 2 November, 10:00–16:00 on 24 December, from 12:00 on 1 January. Michaelergruft: guided tours only, Friday at 12:00 and 14:00, Saturday at 10:00 and 12:00 in German and 11:00 in English; no tours on church holidays or from 23 December 2026 to 6 January 2027. Third Man sewer tour: May to October only, Thursday to Sunday 10:00–20:00, on the hour, last tour 19:00. Seegrotte: 1 April to 31 October daily, last tour 16:30; 1 November to 31 March closed Mondays, last tour 15:00 Tuesday to Friday and 16:00 at weekends and on holidays. Virgil Chapel: closed for conservation work at present (as of September 2026).
When it is quietest
Take the catacombs on a weekday morning – 10:00, 11:00 or 11:30 – because Sundays and public holidays have no tour before 13:30 and because services can delete a slot at short notice; check the cathedral calendar the evening before. The Michaelergruft runs on Fridays and Saturdays only, with the single English tour at 11:00 on Saturday, so it decides the shape of the trip rather than fitting into it. The Third Man sewer tour exists from May to October, Thursday to Sunday, and not otherwise – if the film is why you are coming, do not book Vienna in February. The Seegrotte is the standard wet-afternoon answer and is closed on Mondays in winter.
Who it suits
With children
Catacombs: children 6–14 pay €3 (about $3.44); nothing is staged for effect, but the bone chambers are explicit and a nervous child will notice. Capuchin Crypt: 6–18 pay €8 (about $9.17) and there are family tickets. Sewer tour: nobody under 12, no exceptions. Seegrotte: under-14s must be with an adult, and the boat ride is usually the part children remember.
Minimum age
12 for the Third Man sewer tour. No minimum age is published anywhere else.
Wheelchair
The cathedral's own FAQ says the catacombs are not step-free: 22 steps down and 43 up. The Virgil Chapel is reachable without steps through the metro lifts, once it reopens. The Roman Museum cannot currently take wheelchairs because its stairlift is being refurbished. The Seegrotte is contradictory – see the uncertainties below – so phone ahead.
Pushchair
Catacombs and sewer: no, because of the stairs. Virgil Chapel: yes, via the metro lifts.
Dogs
No animals in the Michaelergruft or the Seegrotte. Wien Museum sites take assistance dogs only.
Claustrophobia
Catacombs: low, narrow passages, but only about 30 minutes underground. Sewer: 7 m down, helmet and head torch, and visitor accounts advise anyone with real claustrophobia to skip it. Seegrotte: the operator warns explicitly that it can be difficult if you are claustrophobic.
What to wear
The cathedral asks for clothing appropriate to the building and for men to remove hats. Seegrotte: 9 °C (48 °F) all year, so a warm jacket and proper shoes – the operator names sandals and flip-flops as unsuitable. Sewer: sturdy shoes; the helmet is provided.
Photography
Private photography is allowed in the cathedral itself, without a tripod; for the catacombs specifically the picture is unclear – see the uncertainties. The Michaelergruft bans photography and filming outright. The Seegrotte allows private photos.
Getting there
By public transport
From Vienna Airport (VIE), 18 km south-east of the centre, three options: the City Airport Train, €14.90 (about $17.08) non-stop to Wien Mitte in 16 minutes; the S7 suburban train at €5.50 (about $6.30) for an adult, made up of a €2.30 airport-to-city-boundary ticket plus a €3.20 Vienna ticket – note that while modernisation work runs to October 2027 the S7 terminates at St. Marx outside the centre, with trams 18 and 71 or bus 74A onward; or the airport coach at €8–9. Holders of a Vienna City Card or a multi-day pass need only the €2.30 supplement. In the city: St Stephen's, metro U1 or U3 to Stephansplatz, then the steps down to the catacombs inside the cathedral. Capuchin Crypt, Tegetthoffstraße 2 at Neuer Markt, five minutes' walk from the cathedral. Michaelergruft, Michaelerplatz 5, at the Hofburg gate. Sewer tour, metro U1, U2 or U4 to Karlsplatz, then follow signs towards the Secession and come up at Girardipark, opposite Café Museum. Seegrotte: train to Mödling, then bus 364 to Hinterbrühl.
By car
Do not drive into the first district – the whole of it is short-stay paid parking and the sites are minutes apart on foot. The Seegrotte is the exception: public parking about five minutes' walk away, with its own coach lane.
From the nearest city
Everything except the Seegrotte is inside the first district and joined up on foot: cathedral to Capuchin Crypt to Michaelerplatz is a walk of under half an hour, sewer tour included if you add ten minutes to Karlsplatz. The Seegrotte is in Hinterbrühl, in the Mödling district south-west of Vienna, roughly 20 km out and a half-day excursion once you count the train, the bus and the 50-minute tour. A Vienna City Card costs €19 for 24 hours, €31 for 48 and €37 for 72 (about $21.77, $35.53 and $42.40) and includes city transport, but it buys discounts rather than free entry – the two places on this page where it demonstrably saves money are the Capuchin Crypt, €12 instead of €15, and the sewer tour, €14 instead of €18.
Tips for your visit
- Do not try to pre-book the catacombs. There is nothing to book: be at the steps down to the catacombs inside the cathedral a few minutes before the next departure and pay the guide. The only online product is the €29 all-inclusive ticket.
- That all-inclusive ticket (€29, about $33.23) pays for itself the moment you add one tower and the Dom Museum to the catacombs. One child under 14 comes free with each ticket and it stays valid for a year, which matters if you are back in Vienna within twelve months.
- Sundays and public holidays have no catacombs tour before 13:30, and services can cancel a slot with no notice. Check the calendar on stephanskirche.at before you build a morning around it.
- If you are in Vienna on a Friday or Saturday, go to the Michaelergruft rather than assuming the Capuchin Crypt is the atmospheric one. The single English tour is Saturday at 11:00 – be at the church door early, because the group is small.
- Reserve the Third Man sewer tour by phone on +43 1 4000-3033 or through the online form, then bring a card or cash anyway: the ticket is only sold at the kiosk, and you need to be there 20 minutes before your slot. The English departure is 15:00 and it is the one that fills.
- Pack a jacket for the Seegrotte even in August – it is 9 °C down there, the tour is 50 minutes and part of it is spent sitting still in a boat. Bring proper shoes; the operator turns away flip-flops.
- The three old-town sites are a walk, not an itinerary: Stephansplatz to Neuer Markt to Michaelerplatz is fifteen minutes end to end, and the Roman ruins in the middle of Michaelerplatz are free and open at any hour.
- A Vienna City Card is worth buying for the transport, not for these sites: it takes the Capuchin Crypt from €15 to €12 and the sewer tour from €18 to €14, and does nothing at the cathedral.
What the internet gets wrong
The price has been €8 for adults and €3 for children aged 6–14 since well before September 2026 – €4.50 is roughly a decade out of date. The 11,000 is a rounded-up version of a real number: the Vienna history wiki documents exactly 10,893 burials between 1745 and 1783, and nobody has published a total that also covers the earlier burials, so any round figure is an estimate someone made tidy.
The documented mass burials run from 1745 to 1783 and they happened because the cemetery on the square was closed in 1732, not because of an epidemic. Vienna's last great plague was in 1713 – more than thirty years before the vaults in question were cut, and 66 years after the date nomadepicureans gives.
There are seven tours a day Monday to Saturday – 10:00, 11:00, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30 – and four on Sundays and public holidays, starting at 13:30. There is no 14:00 tour, no 16:00 tour, nothing after 16:30, no half-hourly rhythm and no student rate. Adults pay €8, children 6–14 pay €3.
Tours do not start on demand. They start at seven fixed times, they are run by a cathedral guide, and the cathedral warns that services and church occasions cancel individual slots at short notice – which is why the calendar on stephanskirche.at is worth two minutes before you go.
The Capuchin Crypt charges €15 for adults, €13 reduced and €8 for ages 6–18, or €21 / €19 / €14 if you want the guided tour – and there is no 11:00 tour at all. The 14:00 departure is in German. English runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 15:00, daily in July and August. The crypt is also a separate building with a separate operator from St Stephen's: no cathedral ticket, including the €29 all-inclusive one, gets you in, and the walk between them takes five minutes.
The adult fare is €18, with €14 for students and Vienna City Card holders and €9 for 12- to 18-year-olds. Tours go on the hour from 10:00, but the last one leaves at 19:00, not 21:00. And while the Third Man museum and the walking tour are open all year, the sewer itself is a 1 May to 31 October operation, Thursday to Sunday only – the single most common thing English-language listings get wrong about it.
There is a public transport option and it is on the operator's own information page – a train to Mödling, then bus 364 to Hinterbrühl, then a short walk. Bus 262 does not serve the Seegrotte.
adults around €15, children €9, the guided tour lasts about 45 minutes" (allaboutvienna.com); "Mon.-Fri. 9:00-13:00, Sat.-Sun. 9:00-16:00" (kidvoyage.com); open "Tuesday to Sunday" all year (evendo.com): adults pay €18, seniors €15, children 5–14 €12 and a family of three €42, and the tour with the boat trip runs about 50 minutes. From 1 April to 31 October the mine is open every day, with the last tour at 16:30 – the Monday closure and the early finish belong to the winter timetable, 1 November to 31 March, when the last tour is 15:00 on weekdays and 16:00 at weekends.
History in brief
- Around 1220–1230 an underground chamber is built in the cemetery of St Stephen's, the room that becomes the Virgil Chapel; in 1781 it is filled with rubble and it is not seen again until the metro is dug in 1973.
- Before 1363 Duke Rudolf IV endows the Ducal Crypt under the middle choir of the cathedral – the seed of the catacombs, and the principal Habsburg burial place until 1576.
- In 1633 Emperor Matthias and Empress Anna are the first to be moved into the new Capuchin Crypt; the most recent arrivals are Otto von Habsburg and his wife Regina, in the crypt chapel.
- In 1732 the cemetery around St Stephen's is closed. From 1745 new vaults are cut under the choir, the transept and the square, and by 1783 exactly 10,893 people have been buried in them.
- In 1783 a court decree of Joseph II ends burial inside churches and crypts; the vaults are sealed in 1784, the Michaelergruft among them, where burials had gone on since 1631.
- In 1872–73 the catacombs are cleared out: groundwater has started to seep in since the first mountain spring pipeline was built, and the bones are walled up in sealed vaults. Only the Ducal Crypt is left untouched.
- In 1912 a blasted spring floods the gypsum mine at Hinterbrühl. It reopens as the Seegrotte show mine in 1932, and in the Second World War it is used as a concealed aircraft factory.
- In 1949 The Third Man reaches cinemas. The sewer scenes were shot at a single location in Vienna; the famous shot of fingers through the street grating was re-staged in a London studio.
Frequent questions
Can you visit the catacombs under St Stephen's Cathedral without a guided tour?
No. The catacombs are open only on the cathedral's public guided tours. But you do not need to book: turn up at the steps down to the catacombs inside the cathedral shortly before one of the posted times and join the group. Only groups of 15 or more have to reserve, two weeks ahead.
How much do the St Stephen's catacombs cost in 2026?
€8 for adults and €3 for children aged 6 to 14 – about $9.17 and $3.44 at the ECB reference rate for 18 September 2026, €1 = $1.1460. The €29 all-inclusive ticket (about $33.23) covers a catacombs tour together with the audio-guided cathedral visit, both towers and the Dom Museum, and it is valid for a year. Any English page still quoting €4.50, €6.50 or €7 is out of date.
What time are the catacombs tours?
Monday to Saturday at 10:00, 11:00, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30; Sundays and public holidays at 13:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30 only. Services and church occasions can cancel individual slots at short notice, so check the calendar on stephanskirche.at the day before if your schedule is tight.
How long does the catacombs tour take, and how many steps are there?
About 30 minutes. You go down 22 steps at the start and leave by 43 steps that bring you out onto Stephansplatz, outside the cathedral. That makes the tour unsuitable for wheelchairs and prams, and it is why the cathedral's own FAQ lists the catacombs as not step-free.
Is the Capuchin Crypt the same thing as the cathedral catacombs?
No, and no ticket covers both. The Capuchin Crypt, also called the Imperial Crypt, is under the Capuchin church on Neuer Markt, five minutes' walk away, and holds 150 Habsburgs in their coffins. The catacombs under the cathedral hold the copper urns with Habsburg viscera, the bishops' crypt and the baroque burial vaults. The hearts are in a third place again, the Augustinerkirche. Adults pay €15 (about $17.19) at the Capuchin Crypt and €8 at the cathedral.
Which Vienna crypt is worth it if I only have time for one?
The Capuchin Crypt if you want Habsburg history and flexibility – it is open every day, you walk round on your own and nothing has to be timed. The Michaelergruft if you want the real thing: painted wooden coffins, some of them open, and naturally mummified bodies, on a 45-minute tour that runs Friday and Saturday only, with one English departure a week. The cathedral catacombs if you are short of both time and money.
Can you visit the sewer from The Third Man, and does it run all year?
You can, on the City of Vienna's Third Man sewer tour, and no, it does not run all year. The season is 1 May to 31 October, Thursday to Sunday, on the hour from 10:00 with the last tour at 19:00, and the English departure is at 15:00. It costs €18 (about $20.63), takes about 45 minutes, is limited to 20 people and admits nobody under 12. The Third Man museum and the walking tour are open outside the season; the sewer is not.
Do I need to book the Third Man sewer tour in advance?
Yes, and no. A reservation is compulsory – by phone on +43 1 4000-3033 on weekday mornings, or through the online form, which sends you a reservation number. But the ticket itself can only be bought at the kiosk at the meeting point on the day, so bring a card or cash and be at Girardipark 20 minutes before your slot.
How do I get to the Seegrotte Hinterbrühl from Vienna, and what does it cost?
Train to Mödling, then bus 364 to Hinterbrühl and a short walk; by car there is public parking about five minutes away. Adults pay €18, seniors €15, children 5–14 €12 and a family of two adults plus a child €42 – about $20.63, $17.19, $13.75 and $48.13. The tour with the boat trip lasts about 50 minutes, departures run roughly every half hour, and no booking is needed unless you are a group of 20 or more.
What should I wear for the Seegrotte?
A warm jacket and closed shoes, in any month. The mine sits at 9 °C (48 °F) all year, part of the visit is spent sitting still in a boat, and the operator names sandals, heels and flip-flops as unsuitable. The floor is a working mine floor, not a museum walkway.
Are the catacombs suitable for children?
Children from 6 pay €3, and the tour is short enough to hold their attention. It also ends in chambers of real bones and skulls, arranged without any attempt to soften the sight, which is more than some children want. Prams cannot come down. The sewer tour takes nobody under 12; the Seegrotte takes under-14s only with an adult and is usually the one children enjoy most.
Does the Vienna City Card help with any of this?
A little. The Capuchin Crypt charges City Card holders €12 instead of €15, and the Third Man sewer tour charges €14 instead of €18. The cathedral catacombs publish no card discount. The card costs €19 for 24 hours, €31 for 48 and €37 for 72 (about $21.77, $35.53 and $42.40) and its real value is unlimited city transport, since the sites are spread across the first district and Karlsplatz.
Can you take photographs in Vienna's crypts?
In the cathedral itself, yes – private photography without a tripod is allowed. In the Michaelergruft, no: photography and filming are banned outright. In the Seegrotte, private photos are fine. For the catacombs specifically the position is unclear: the cathedral's general rule permits private photographs, but at least one visitor account reports being told not to take any underground. Ask your guide before you lift the camera.
Are there other underground tours in Vienna besides the crypts?
Yes. A local association runs tours of a historic cellar reaching some 15 m below the street, a Second World War air-raid shelter and a Cold War installation, none of which is otherwise open. Resellers also list a historic pharmacy cellar with an old laboratory and a bunker at the museum of Vienna's liberation. Expect around €30 for these, and check whether the listing actually goes underground – several tours sold as underground Vienna are street-level walks.
Sources
Show 53 sources – every figure on this page is sourced
- www.stephanskirche.at/info.php?setLang=en – St Stephen's: catacombs tour times, €8 / €3, all-inclusive €29 / €7, no booking required, groups of 15+, special roof-and-catacombs tour €16
- www.stephanskirche.at/info.php – German version of the visitor page, used to cross-check times and prices
- www.stephanskirche.at/faq.php – Catacombs not step-free (22 steps down, 43 up), photography rules, dress code, over 6 million visitors a year
- www.stephanskirche.at/visitCatacombs.php – Catacombs accessible on public guided tours only; episcopal and princely burial places; the cemetery under the square
- www.stephanskirche.at/visitAllinclusive.php – What the all-inclusive ticket contains and how long it is valid
- www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Katakomben_(St._Stephan) – History of the catacombs: 1363, 1486, cemetery closed 1732, vaults from 1745, exactly 10,893 burials 1745–1783, court decree of 1783, closure 1784, clearance 1872/73, bishops' crypt 1951; coordinates
- www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Herzogsgruft – Ducal Crypt: endowed before 1363, principal burial place until 1576, viscera urns 1564–1878, Frederick III moved to the tomb in the nave
- www.visitingvienna.com/sights/stephansdom-catacombs/ – Visitor account: bilingual German/English tour, payment to the guide, exit onto Stephansplatz
- wien-erleben.com/der-stephansdom/ – Report of a photography ban inside the catacombs; the plague vow of 1713
- www.kaisergruft.at/ – Capuchin Crypt: 150 people buried, opening hours, tour times, address
- www.kaisergruft.com/preise – Capuchin Crypt: full price list including family tickets and the Vienna City Card rate of €12
- www.kaisergruft.com/hausfuehrungen – Capuchin Crypt: guided tour times, English departures, extra tours in July and August
- www.kaisergruft.at/site/de/fuehrungen/oeffnungszeiten – Capuchin Crypt: special hours for All Saints, Christmas Eve and New Year
- www.kaisergruft.com/de/maria-theresien-gruft – Maria Theresa's vault, the double sarcophagus of 1753–54, 16 people buried there
- www.kaisergruft.com/de/gruftkapelle – Crypt chapel with Zita, Otto von Habsburg (no. 150) and Regina (no. 151)
- www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Kapuzinergruft – Capuchin Crypt: building begun 1622, first burial 1633, 138 metal coffins, the separated burial of body, heart and viscera
- www.visitingvienna.com/sights/kapuzinergruft/ – English confirmation that an adult ticket to the Imperial Crypt costs €15 and that an English guidebook is sold on site
- www.michaelerkirche.at/fuehrungen/gruftfuehrungen/ – Michaelergruft: tour times including the English tour, €10 / €5, 45 minutes, meeting point, ban on photography and dogs, Christmas break
- www.michaelerkirche.at/geschichte/gruft/ – Michaelergruft: history, cemetery closed 1508, crypt opened to visitors 1977
- www.bestattungwien.at/sanierung-michaelergruft – Michaelergruft: burials 1631–1784, close to two dozen mummified bodies
- www.drittemanntour.at/en/index.html – Third Man sewer tour, English page: €18 full price, €14 reduced including Vienna City Card, €9 for ages 12–18, May to October, Thu–Sun 10:00–20:00 with the last tour at 19:00, maximum 20 people, English tours at 15:00
- www.drittemanntour.at/en/sewer-tour – Third Man sewer tour: reservation by phone or online, tickets sold only at the kiosk, meeting point at Karlsplatz-Girardipark opposite Café Museum
- www.wien.gv.at/en/environment/third-man-film-tour – City of Vienna, English page: 7 m below ground, cholera sewers of the 1830s, 2,400 km sewer network, minimum age 12, season and hours
- seegrotte.at/infos-vor-ort/ – Seegrotte: seasonal opening hours, 50-minute tour, 9 °C, languages, claustrophobia warning, under-14s only with an adult, train to Mödling and bus 364, parking, no animals
- seegrotte.at/preise-prices/ – Seegrotte: prices with age limits, family ticket, Lower Austria card not accepted
- seegrotte.at/ – Seegrotte: more than 20 million visitors, the boat trip, the current operating team
- www.noemuseen.at/museum/detail/schaubergwerk-seegrotte-hinterbruehl/ – Seegrotte: 60 m deep, lake of 6,200 m², mine from 1848, flooded 1912, show mine from 1932, wartime aircraft factory
- www.lower-austria.info/excursions/seegrotte-hinterbruehl – Lower Austria tourism, English page: Europe's largest underground lake, 9 °C, guided tours only, free parking, booking only for groups of 20+, the disputed claim that the route suits wheelchairs and prams
- de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seegrotte_Hinterbrühl – Seegrotte: the Mauthausen subcamp, the He 162, and the qualification of the largest-lake claim
- www.wienmuseum.at/virgilkapelle – Virgil Chapel: currently closed, prices, rediscovery in 1973, step-free access
- www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Virgilkapelle – Virgil Chapel: building phases 1220/1230, about 11 m high, filled in 1781, restored 2008–2015
- www.wienmuseum.at/roemermuseum – Roman Museum: opening hours, prices, current accessibility restriction
- www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Michaelerplatz – Michaelerplatz: excavations of 1990/91, Roman houses, the Hollein setting of 1992
- www.unterwien.at/ – Unter Wien: cellar and bunker tours, up to 15 m below the street
- www.wien.info/en/travel-info/arrival-departure/airport-to-cente… – S7 from Vienna Airport: €5.50 for an adult (€2.30 airport supplement plus €3.20 Vienna ticket), terminus at St. Marx during works running to October 2027, City Card holders need only the supplement
- www.wien.info/en/travel-info/arrival-departure/airport-to-cente… – City Airport Train: €14.90 one way, 16 minutes non-stop to Wien Mitte
- www.wien.info/en/travel-info/vienna-city-card – Vienna City Card 2026: €19 for 24 hours, €31 for 48, €37 for 72; transport included, attractions discounted rather than free
- www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_referenc… – Exchange rate behind every dollar figure on this page: ECB euro reference rate, 18 September 2026, €1 = $1.1460
- www.dark-tourism.com/index.php/108-catacombs-of-st-stephens-cathedral – Source for the claims that the catacombs hold the bones of some 11,000 people and that admission is 4.50 EUR, 1.50 EUR for children
- www.wienvienna.com/stephansdom-tombs-catacombs-crypts/ – Source for the claims of about 11,000 persons buried, EUR 4.50 / EUR 1.50 admission, and tours starting every 15 to 30 minutes based on demand
- www.viennatourism.org/stephansdom-vienna-guide/ – Source for the claims of €6.50 admission, tours every 30 minutes from 10 am to 5:30 pm, and 11,000 plague victims in the catacombs
- www.nomadepicureans.com/europe/austria/st-stephens-cathedral-vi… – Source for the claims of €7.00 adult and €5.50 student admission and of mass graves from the 1679 plague outbreak, in a guide dated 2026
- inoldcities.com/visiting-st-stephens-cathedral-in-vienna/ – Source for the claim of €7 admission and for a tour timetable that includes 2 pm, 4 pm and 4:30 pm slots
- secretvienna.org/the-catacombs-of-st-stephens-cathedral/ – Source for the claim that the tour starts from €2.50 for children and €6 for adults
- audiala.com/en/austria/vienna/imperial-crypt – Source for the claims that the Imperial Crypt costs €8 for adults, €6 for seniors and €4 for students and that guided tours run daily at 11:00 and 14:00
- thebettervacation.com/capuchins-crypt-vienna/ – Source for the claim that guided tours of the Capuchin Crypt are available daily at 14:00 in English
- www.dark-tourism.com/index.php/121-third-man-tours – Source for the claims that the sewer tour costs 7 EUR and runs every hour on the hour between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.
- easycitypass.com/en/partner/third-man-tour-vienna/ – Source for the advertised €4 discount on the sewer tour and confirmation of the May–October season and the minimum age of 12
- vienna-unwrapped.com/seegrotte-tour-review/ – Source for the claim that there is no public transport option to the Seegrotte and that the drive from central Vienna is 23 km
- kidvoyage.com/things-to-do/austria/vienna/zeegrotte – Source for the claims that the Seegrotte opens Mon–Fri 9:00–13:00 and Sat–Sun 9:00–16:00 and that you reach it by S2 and bus 262
- allaboutvienna.com/docs/is-seegrotte-hinterbruhl-worth-visiting… – Source for the claims that the Seegrotte costs about €15 for adults and €9 for children and that the tour lasts about 45 minutes
- evendo.com/locations/austria/vienna/attraction/seegrotte – Source for the claim that the Seegrotte opens Tuesday to Sunday only, with no Monday opening in any season
- www.visitingvienna.com/sights/michaelerkirche-crypt-tour/ – English visitor account of the Michaelergruft: €10 for adults, English tours offered but sometimes suspended, four mummies seen in silk clothing