AUSTRIA – Vienna, Palais Schwarzenberg // The Living Daylights (1987)

The Palais Schwarzenberg was once a five star hotel and home to a princely family – sure thing, James Bond had to stay here. Now the estate is decaying. And hard to enter.

Why Bond was here
James Bond (Timothy Dalton) is uncovering a conspiracy around an arms smuggle ring with the aide of young Soviet cellist Kara Milovy (Maryam d’Abo). Both meet in Bratislava and escape to Vienna. There they stay in the “Palais Schwarzenberg”, an exclusive hotel in the heart of the city.

The former hotel entrance in the movie

How you gonna get there
The Palais is north of the Belvedere Gardens at Schwarzenbergplatz. Closest metro stations are “Karlsplatz” and “Stadtpark”, connected via U4. Tram line 71 also goes past – station “Am Heumarkt” is the nearest exit. At Schwarzenbergplatz is a huge fountain and a Soviet memorial, the Palais Schwarzenberg itself hides behind trees and a parking lot.

Good to know
The Palais is an old baroque residence of the princely Schwarzenberg family. The Hereditary Prince still uses the estate nowadays. Parts of the Palais hosted a five star hotel till 2006 – it was the one used for filming.
Unfortunately the Palais Schwarzenberg decays since then. The paint spalls, stones shear off. The Schwarzenberg heirs sold the ground floor to an Arab investor fist, later to the Grand Casino Vienna consortium. Their plan is to establish a high class casino in the ground floor of the Palais. Till now, no construction or renovation began – but Grand Casino confirmed to us the casino is in the making.
Till then, the Palais is closed for public. From the northern side one can view the residence via the public parking lot. But the hotel entrance and stairs from the movie scene are at the southern park side. Since the area is guarded, the only possible way to enter is to ask the Hereditary Prince for permission. Better do that some weeks in advance.

Getting invited into the Palais by the Schwarzenberg family was a big deal. We made contact via the family’s attorney and got rejected at first. With a second try, they accepted. We were allowed into the garden to view the Palais from the south side. And we were allowed to do one (!) photo. It’s the panoramic view above.

© 2015 Huntingbond (1,3), © 1987 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation (2)