Viennese Prater Opening Hours, Ride Prices & Tips
The area of the amusement park is usually freely accessible around the clock. Below you will find an overview about the opening hours of the top attractions.
How much is the entrance fee to the Prater in Vienna?
The admission to the Viennese Prater is free of charge. However, the use of the different attractions is subject to charges. Here you will find the prices for the top attractions and tips on various price reductions and combination tickets.
More topics on this page:
Top 10 Attractions
Facts and Figures
Praters History
Prater Active Tip
Opening Hours
Giant Ferris Wheel
Attention: 7.01. - 17.01. and 20.01. - 31.01.2025 closed!
Otherwise daily open at least from 10:00, May till the end of September already from 9:00 o'clock.
January, February and November until 19:45.
March, April and October until 21:45.
December until 22:15,
September until 22:45.
May, June, July and August until 23:45 o'clock.
All mentioned figures are approximate values and may vary.
Liliputbahn
Daily open from the mid of March till the end of October,
from 10:00, March and October until 17:30,
April and September until 18:00, May and June until 19:00,
July and August until 19:30 o'clock.
These times may vary if there are too few visitors or bad weather conditions.
Madame Tussauds
Daily open from 10:00 until 18:00 o'clock,
entrance until 17:00 o'clock.
Schweizerhaus
Opened only from March 15th till October 31st, 2024,
daily from 11:00 am until 23:00 o'clock.
Further Prater Attractions:
Usually the high season of the Viennese Prater runs from the 15th March through 31st October 2024. Most rides are open at this time from 10:00 am. If the visitor rush is strong enough some of the rides are open until midnight.
But several of the rides are also open in the low season. Especially at weekends, public holidays and in the advent season some of the rides like Prater Turm, Black Mamba, Wildalpenbahn, Hotel Psycho, Boomerang and Blumenrad could be opened even in the low season.
Information about the Winter Market is available at following link.
Detailed opening hours for the main attractions: www.wienerriesenrad.com Madame Tussauds Vienna* www.liliswelt.at www.schweizerhaus.at
Ride Prices
Madame Tussauds
Standard tickets available from 23,85 Euro,
directly at: Madame Tussauds Vienna*
Liliputbahn
approx. 6 Euro per round trip,
approx. 3,00 Euro per section,
approx. 1,20 Euro to Schweizerhaus.
Prater Tower, Black Mamba, Hotel Psycho, Wildalpenbahn
approx. 5 Euro per ride.
Boomerang
approx. 6 Euro per ride.
Blumenrad
approx. 6 Euro per ride.
Tips for Combination Tickets:
Giant Ferris Wheel & Madame Tussauds or hop-on hop-off bus & Madame Tussauds on offer directly at:
Madame Tussauds Vienna*
Giant Ferris Wheel, Madame Tussauds, Liliputbahn, Schönbrunn Palace, Zoo Schönbrunn and a lot more attractions for a flat rate from approx. 89 Euro with the Vienna Pass*.
Price Tips
The Tickets for Madame Tussauds should be purchased online to save about 10% compared against regular pricing. During the purchase of the tickets, you have to select the date of your visit. Further details available under: Madame Tussauds Vienna*
The Niederösterreich-Card covers also some free offers for Vienna. Among other offers the card includes a free ride with the Giant Ferris Wheel and 50% discount on a Madame Tussauds ticket. Further included Highlights: Desert House, Upper Belvedere, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna State Opera and even more. If you plan to visit some of those tourist targets the price of approx. 79 Euros for the NÖ-Card may pay off. Details
Prater Active Tip
If you are not only interested in the amusement park, but also like to explore the wide green and recreation area of the Prater park, you should rent a bicycle or a rickshaw. You have the possibility to do so at the bicycle rental nearby the "Schweizerhaus". About 1 to 2 hours should be enough time to explore the roughly 4 km long avenue Hauptallee. A clear presentation of the location is available at the city-walks Prater Map.
Prater Top 10 Attractions
The following Prater highlights should not be missed during your visit. Take a ride with the nostalgic Ferris wheel and enjoy the view over Vienna, fight with the Black Mamba against the power of gravity or share the Viennese passion for the hearty cuisine in the Schweizerhaus. Just click on the various pictures, to find out more about the single highlights.
Facts and Figures about the Prater
| Area of the entire Prater: | approx. 6.000.000 m² |
| Area of the amusement park: | approx. 260.000 m² |
| Number of attractions: | approx. 250 |
| Length of the Prater Hauptallee: | approx. 4,5 km |
| Height of the Giant Ferris Wheel: | approx. 65 m |
| Weight of the Giant Ferris Wheel: | approx. 245 tons |
| Number of wagons: | 15 pcs |
| Speed of the wagons: | approx. 2,7 km/h |
Every year the Prater attracts around 4,5 million visitors. More than 700.000 of them take a ride with the main attraction, the Giant Ferris Wheel.
Address: The Prater is located in the 2nd district with the postal code 1020 Vienna and includes various street names and squares. Under the following link you will find a Prater map and more information.
Prater History
| 1162 | For the first time the area is mentioned in a document and is named there with the term "Pratum". |
| 1537 | A chestnut avenue is laid out. The course corresponds to today's Prater Hauptallee, which leads from Praterstern 4,5 km long directly to the Lusthaus. |
| 1560 | A huge hunting area for Maximialian II. was created on the territory. Maximialian II. was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564-1576 and ruled over the Habsburg Empire. |
| 1766 | The access to the Prater area was opened to the general public. For the time being, access is only allowed during the day. In the notice of Emperor Joseph II., the area is referred as -Bratter-. This year is also the origin of the -Wurstelprater-, which was the name of the amusement park area. |
| 1774 | From this year onwards, access was permitted to the general public at any time, day or night. |
| 1786 | In this year three famous coffee houses open up along the main avenue Prater Hauptallee. |
| 1873 | The Vienna World Exhibition, at that time, was held in the Prater, on an area of about 230 hectares. As a part of the preparations the territory of the amusement park was also rebuilt and renamed. It was no longer named -Wurstelprater- and got then the new name -Volksprater-. |
| 1878 | Opening of the trotting track Krieau. |
| 1897 | After a construction period of about 8 months the Giant Ferris Wheel was opened on 3rd July 1897. |
| 1909 | The first roller coaster was opened. The location was directly beside the Giant Ferris Wheel. |
| 1928 | The Liliputbahn, a miniature railway, was put into operation with two steam locomotives. |
| 1944 | Fire of the Giant Ferris Wheel. An electrical damage of the neighboring roller coaster caused a fire, which also reached the gondolas of the Giant Ferris Wheel. |
| 1945 | At the end of the Second World War, large areas of the amusement park have unfortunately been destroyed by bombs. |
| 1947 | The Giant Ferris Wheel and the Liliputbahn resumed operation after the war. |
| 1950 | A new roller coaster was put into operation. Today it is known as the -Alt Wiener Hochschaubahn- and is still in operation. |
| 2010 | The Prater Tower was put into operation and belongs today to the most popular attractions. The chain carousel with a height of about 117 m was the highest chain carousel in the world till 2013. |
| 2011 | The wax museum Madame Tussauds opens a branch in the Prater directly opposite the Giant Ferris Wheel. |
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