Vienna Travel Blog: Table of Contents
Where, How?
Vienna on C&C
Best Time To Visit Vienna
Personal Notes
Where to Sleep
Let’s Eat!
Let’s Go For a Drink
What to See and Do
Tipping in Vienna
Common Scams & What to Avoid
C&C’s Google Map of the City
Vienna Travel Blog: Where, How?
Vienna. Austria. Central Europe. Europe.
Population: 1.840.000 (2015)
Currency: Euro (€)
Airport(s)
Schwechat Vienna International Airport (VIE)
Airport Notes: This is the biggest international airport in Vienna, handling over 20 million passengers every year. It is modern and elegantly designed and has with 3 terminals. It is located 18 kilometres away from city center and serves as the hub for Austrian Airlines and Niki.
Please note that the Bratislava airport is a 45-minute drive away from Vienna.
Transportation to-and-from the airport: Use City Airport Train or Vienna Airport Lines bus to get directly to the city center. Alternatively, Railjet and Express train S7 allow you to get to other parts of Vienna comfortably.
Intra-City Transportation
Vienna’s tram network is the 5th largest in the world with a route length of 172 kilometres, so taking the tram is definitely an option. In addition to that, you can take the bus or the subway to move around quickly and easily. The Wiener Linien official mobile app can be useful, and so is Google Maps, of course.
A Note on Taxis: Taxis in Vienna are expensive but reliable. There is also a useful map with markers to help you move around the city.
Just like anywhere, Uber is cheaper and safer. If you don’t already have an account, use this link and get 15 dollars off your first ride!
Neighborhoods
Innere Stadt, also known as 1st District, is located in the center of Vienna. Here you will find famous buildings like Vienna State Opera House, St. Stephen’s Cathedral and Hofburg. Visit Donaukanal to experience traffic-free urban atmosphere. In Leopoldstadt, 2nd District, you can find Prater Park, an amusement park with facilities dedicated to physical activity. Visit Landstrasse, 3rd District, and see beautiful Stadtpark or one of Vienna’s top tourist attraction, Belvedere Palace. If you want to check out the views, try Vienna’s Giant Ferris Wheel.
Navigation tips: There are 23 districts in total in Vienna, with the 1st Distract starting from the city center and spiralling outwards ascendingly. The main touristic areas are west of the Danube river, with the majority located in the 1st District. There are many hotels and restaurants hidden in small alleyways, so it is important to use Google Maps or any other navigation app to help make your life easier.
More About Vienna on C&C
- 9 CITIES TO VISIT FOR ARCHITECTURE LOVERS
- 11 CHRISTMAS MARKETS THAT WILL GET YOU IN THE FESTIVE SPIRIT
Best Time To Visit Vienna
Average Monthly Minimum And Maximum Temperatures
Average Monthly Hours Of Sunshine
Average Monthly Rainfall Or Snowfall
Vienna Travel Blog: Personal Notes
What’s This Place About?
Vienna is all about architecture and history. Architecture mostly, is I would say the number one attraction of the city. In there you can find pretty much any interesting European style from Jugendstil to Baroque to Neoclassical. You will also find a lot of modern buildings in a lot of very different styles as well. A lot of the most famous architects in history have worked and have something in Vienna. Of course, there are so many beautiful buildings to go visit. The Imperial Palace (The Hofburg) or the Princess Deutsches Museum – the building itself is absolutely beautiful. The whole Museumsquartier, which can be directly translated into ‘the museum neighborhood’, consists of five or six museums next to each other. All these museums are built in gigantic palaces, such as the Belvedere Palace and the Schönbrunn Palace. But you also have to remember that there are a couple of other places in there like the Hundertwasserhaus and the Kunst Haus Wien, which is the House of Arts Vienna; also a Hundertwasser place where the famous architect built the building itself.
Vienna Travel Blog: What’s Great and Fun?
Well, museums; there are so many of them. Not only around the Museumsquartier, but also there’s the Albertina, the birth house of Mozart, the Ernst Fuchs Museum, the Academy of Fine Arts… It just never ever ends. The Natural History Museum, the Leopold Museum, the Sisi Museum, the Haus der Musik, the Contemporary Art Museum (MAK)… There are so many very nice museums there. But also, taking a stroll around the ring, which is the circular street that circles the old city. Or on the two main commercial streets: Kärntner Strasse, which is inside the ring; and Mariahilferstrasse, which is right outside of the ring. Just taking a stroll along these streets is a beautiful way to spend an afternoon. Then there are, of course, the classic Viennese cafes, where you can sit in a classic setting and have a milchkaffee.
Personal Anecdotes
I have personally studied at the Universität Wien (Vienna University) a few years back and spent about five months in the city. I was a broke student and didn’t have the opportunity to do all the things that I wanted to do because it is somewhat of an expensive city. That being said, I learnt that it was very entertaining to just go take walks and get lost in the city, mostly because of the beautiful architecture and the way the city is built. There is also the Gürtel which is translated directly to the ‘belt’. It is a street that runs around in a circle, where the aqueduct used to be. The Gürtel hosts many different clubs and street food restaurants. It’s not part of the circuit that many tourists will go and visit, but it’s still a very interesting place to go have a walk.
Vienna Travel Blog: Where to stay in Vienna
For budget accommodation in the list of where to stay in Vienna, there is a mixture of hostels, guest houses, and apartments, depending on your preferences. Wombat’s CITY Hostels Vienna – Naschmarkt, MEININGER Hotel Wien Downtown Franz and Pension Primavera are all good choices.
If you are looking for premium accommodation in your search for where to stay in Vienna, there are of course the typical major chain hotels such as Vienna Marriott Hotel, Park Hyatt Vienna and The Ritz-Carlton Vienna.
Mid-range hotels include Hotel Am Stephansplatz, arte Hotel Wien Stadthalle and Hotel Mailberger Hof, which are all four-star hotels.
Just like everywhere, in where to stay in Vienna also, Airbnb is a very interesting option. If you’re not already a member, you can use this Airbnb link to get $40 off your first reservation.
The real answer to the question where to stay in Vienna lies within you. These are the options. You have to make the choice.
Vienna Travel Blog: Let’s Eat!
Vienna Travel Blog: Famous Foods and Specialties
- Wiener Schnitzel – an absolute Viennese classic, a thin fried cut of meat coated in breadcrumbs.
- Sachertorte – a chocolate cake with some apricot jam inside.
- Apfelstrudel – an apple strudel.
- Plenty of pork and cabbage.
The Best Drunk Food
- Käsekrainer – A sausage stuffed with cheese. It’s usually found at the hundreds of sausage stands throughout the city. It’s my absolute favourite.
Vienna Travel Blog: Our Suggestions – Dishes And Restaurants
I was a dirt-poor exchange student when I spent the large majority of my time in Vienna, and so I ate at sausage stands and cooked at home most of the time. This means that I don’t have a lot of first-hand experience with Vienna’s restaurant scene. Nonetheless, here are a few good tips.
I’m including Cafe Westend in this list just to warn you to NOT go there. It’s unfortunate since it’s a beautiful old café, but it’s one of the worst tourist traps in Vienna. I also think it’s the restaurant with the most negative reviews on Google Maps I’ve ever seen in my life.
Café Central is the exact opposite. It’s a beautiful old classic café with a very good Wiener Schnitzel.
Feuerwehr-Wagner is on top of my list next time I visit Vienna.
Mraz & Sohn is probably the best restaurant in the city.
Schübel-Auer is a great little restaurant, relatively affordable, built in a building from the 1600’s.
Zur Herknerin is much less stuffy than a lot of the places available in the city. It’s modern, cosy, cute and keeps it simple.
Das Loft (Praterstrasse 1) is a bar on top of the Sofitel hotel renowned for its breathtaking view over Vienna. It is also open till late at night. Expect eye-gouging prices to go with the view.
It is always better to not stay at somewhere that is far away from these restaurants. Do keep that in mind when think about where to stay in Vienna.
Vienna Travel Blog: Let’s Go For a Drink
What Do the Locals Drink?
Schnapps, Radler, beer and wine, among many others.
Drinking in Public
You can consume alcohol in public legally in Vienna.
Vienna Travel Blog – Our Suggestions – Bars and Pubs
Vienna is a large city, so you can find a lot of bars and pubs to your liking, and the staff usually speaks English. Note that you only need to be 16 to consume beer and wine in Austria!
Yeah yeah, Charlie P’s is just an Irish pub with a high concentration of expats and students, but it’s a sentimental place for me. Their karaoke night (it’s Mondays, nowadays) was my weekly night out with my friends. Great, great times.
Half-pub, half-library, Pickwick’s is the most ideal place to visit on a rainy day.
I love, love the old-time feel of Känguruh-Pub. It’s a beer bar with a very good list, and it’s a great quiet neighborhood pub.
As with most places in this list, Kaffee Alt Wien is a café by day, restaurant at dinnertime and pub at night. I prefer its late-night pub incarnation. This truly feels like an artists’ café. I visited often during my time there.
The Sign is a cocktail bar, one of the most decorated in the city.
Kolar Beisl is an easy to miss pub located in 1st District. Just like any other nice place, it can get busy, but it has good beer for a reasonable price.
The proximity to at least one of these places must also be kept in mind when you decide upon where to stay in Vienna.
As regular readers of this column know, I don’t know anything about clubs. Sorry!
Vienna Travel Blog: What to See and Do
Nachsmarkt is the most popular Viennese market. It is a very lively place, loved by locals and tourists. It hosts around 120 stalls filled with variety of delicacies, so everyone will find something for themselves.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is one of the most important art galleries in the world. Here you can see paintings created by likes of Rubens, Rafael or the world’s largest collection of Bruegel. You can also visit the Kriminalmuseum, if you are not too sensitive! It displays a variety of torture devices and macabre cases, as well as other things related to crime and murder.
Do you want to enjoy Vienna’s panorama? Climb up 252 metres tall Donauturm to see 1st District and Vienna Woods from above. You can even go bungee jumping there!
You can also go on a sightseeing cruise along Danube to avoid crowds. A boat from Vienna can even take you to Bratislava in less than hour and a half.
The Vienna Opera Ball is an annual event hosted in Vienna State Opera and it is important enough to be transmitted live across the whole country. Every guest is obliged to wear full evening dress. Another thing to see in the city is the Vienna Festival that takes place every year during May and June. There you are presented with various form of arts: opera, concerts, performance art and many more.
When you are making a decision on where to stay in Vienna, make sure that the place is well connected to the above-mentioned attractions.
Tipping in Vienna
Just like in most of Europe, tipping is not expected but it is a nice gesture to do so. If you do decide to, you can tip 5% of the total amount of the bill or just round up the cost.
Vienna Travel Blog: Common Scams & What to Avoid
Common Scams
There are no common scams; Vienna’s one of the safest cities in the world. No need to worry about scams when you think where to stay in Vienna, That being said, there are a few cautions to be given about this city. You have to know that the age to enter a bar or a club in Vienna is 16 years old. Therefore you will see very young people in bars of the city, which you have to be careful of because there are some people that are out there to take advantage of the young party-goers; especially the ones that come from surrounding countries that do not allow such young people into bars.
Pickpockets
There are none, or barely any.
Taxis
They are actually a great way to go around the city at night. No problems there.
Where to Stay in Vienna: Problematic Neighborhoods
When you make a choice on where to stay in Vienna, try to be more careful about certain places. Avoid looking too drunk or lost in the bar neighborhood that is near Schwedenplatz. Near there, there’s a small network of gasse, which are the back allies, where you have many clubs and bars. At the very end of the night, around 4 or 5AM, this is a prime place for scammers and things like that. The same can be said about the clubbier parts around the Gürtel. You need to be very careful to not look drunk, lost, or obviously out of place.
Where to Stay in Vienna and How to Stay Safe: Tips and Tricks
READ MORE: Travel Canada Advisory for Austria.