St Stephen’s Cathedral Tickets: Bring Cash, Cards Are Not Accepted

One detail matters more than every other detail at St Stephen’s: the ticket desk does not take cards. The cathedral’s own wording is blunt — keine Kartenzahlung möglich. Bring euros in cash or you will be walking to a cash machine on Stephansplatz.

How the pricing works

The cathedral is sold as parts. Each element — the main nave with audio guide, the catacombs, the North Tower, the South Tower, the treasury — is €8 on its own.

The All-Inclusive ticket is €29 and covers everything. Two or more elements and it is already close to worth it; the unusual part is that it is valid for a year, so it is genuinely useful if you are in Vienna more than once or want to come back for the towers in better weather.

The two towers are completely different climbs

• South Tower — 343 steps, no lift. A narrow spiral, no rest points, and the higher view. This is the one people mean when they say they climbed St Stephen’s.
• North Tower — lift only. No stairs at all. Lower, but it takes you to the Pummerin, the great bell, and it is the accessible option.

If someone in your group cannot manage 343 unbroken steps, the North Tower is not a lesser version of the same thing — it is the only version that works.

Entering the church itself

You can step into the rear section of the nave without paying. Going beyond the barrier into the main body of the church is where the ticket starts. Services take priority over sightseeing throughout the day.

Source: stephanskirche.at, checked 26 August 2026.

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