I visited the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt (not to be confused with the Esterházy Palace in Fertőd, Hungary, which we also visited) when I was visiting Austria with a friend at the beginning of this month.
The Palace is famous for its baroque architecture (under Paul I, 1st Prince Esterházy of Galántha, the estate was converted into a baroque castle which remained the principal residence and center of administration of the Esterházy family for over 300 years) and because the composer Joseph Haydn worked at the palace for most of his life.
If you're in Eisenstadt, you simply cannot miss out on a visit to the palace. You could just walk around the grounds (and the park surrounding the palace), but we did both - we walked around the palace and the park in the evening and then visited the palace the following morning.
They offer guided tours of the palace, but they only offer a guided tour in English once per day (it was at 1pm on the day we were able to visit), and we weren't able to make the tour time. If unable to do a guided tour, you can visit other areas of the palace on the unguided tour, but the areas you can visit are more like a museum than a palace. We saw an exhibits on Haydn and Melinda Esterházy, a Hungarian princess until the Hungarian monarchy ceased to exist at the beginning of 1947. Both were interesting.
The palace is beautiful and was a highlight from our time in Eisenstadt, which is a beautiful city. Well worth a visit! read more