Vienna Travel Forum

Hi,
Can anyone tell me where the best place to sit is for the Spanish Riding School performance? The most expensive seats appear to be on the end. Are the ones on the sides just as good? There are no photos of the seating - just a vague seating chart on the website. Thanks!! Claire

Sorry to disappoint you, but avoid this place at all costs. We waited 1½ hours to see the morning exercise - and walked out after 15 minutes. We asked for a refund and got one immediately without any fuss - need I say more!!

This place is an utter rip off - kids in the local horse show put on better performances. The riders 'uniforms' were dirty and the horses were foaming at the mouth.

We went to a real performance in 2007 and it was lovely. I would imagine that the practice sessions are a lot different. It really wouldn't matter where you sit or stand as the view is good wherever you choose. I believe for actual performances, that the seats at the end (which is where we sat)are preferable and certainly more comfortable and hence a little more expensive. The galleries seem to have only standing room if memory serves me correctly. I don't know when you are planning to be in Vienna, but the actual performances are not very often and there is a certain part of each year when the horses are taken away on their annual "vacation" for want of a better description. But I found all the information I needed on the website: http://www.srs.at/

I'm sorry that Mightymazz had such a bad experience, but I can assure you that my experience of the Spanish Riding School was a highlight of my first trip to Vienna and I can only assume that the difference lies in the fact that I was at an actual performance and she may have been at a training session or a practice.
The riders at the performance were impeccably dressed and everything was quite formal.

The seats along the side give a good, clear view (better in the first gallery than the higher second gallery), but the ones at the top end of the school are better for seeing the whole of the riding arena at once. You can also see well from the bottom end of the school, though you will be looking at rear ends a bit more, as the choreography of the shows is directed to the top end of the school.

If you can get second or third-row seats in the parterre loge (box on the ground at the top end of the school) you will get a very good view and the price is not as high as the top category. The third row seats are a good deal because they're raised a little above the first two rows so you will have an unimpeded view.

I strongly reject Mightymazz's bizarre comments. I am not sure what he or she expected to see in a training session but the horses are **training**. If you watch dancers or athletes training, they are working, not giving a full performance. If you want to watch a performance, pay for a ticket and see a show rather than a training session! (though I was at a training session on Friday and they did a full rehearsal for a show so I got a real bargain!)

If anyone can see riding better than this at a local show, I am amazed. As far as I am concerned, the highest levels of competition dressage don't come anywhere near the horses and riders in the Spanish Riding School. But I don't think anyone who complains about the state of the riders uniforms or horses with normal foam on their mouths from working can be much of a judge of classical dressage!

I would also add, for anyone concerned about the horses' welfare, that I have been watching these horses for coming up to 10 years, I know them individually, and I see them in the stables relaxed, fit and happy. I wish horses on the competitive circuit were looked after as well and ridden as thoughtfully as these wonderful horses.