3-days in Vienna

Must see

• Palace Schönbrunn
• State Opera
• The Seseccion
• Karlskirche
• Spanish Riding School
• St. Peter’s Church
• Burggarten with Mozartdenkmal

Transport to centre
Travel easy from the airport by train to the centre. You leave ‘Departure’ and via a tunnel you can get to the train, buy tickets first for the train at the red ticketmachine. The other machines are for the CAT-train. Which is more expensive and unnecessary. We were with 30 minutes with line S7 at our hotel, but it could be you will require the tram or subway to your hotel depending on where you stay.

With public transport lines 1 and 2 you can travel on the Opernring for a large part this is attached to many tourist attractions. With the Wiener Linien/WienMobil app you can get tickets per individual on your phone for 24, 48 or 72 hours. With this ticket of Wiener Linien you can travel by bus, subway and tram which is ideal. Therefor I would really recommend to use the Wiener Linien app.

Good to know is that shops are closed on Sundays. Musea are open therefor I would advise to make your planning on this.

Where to stay
The hotel we’ve stayed is 2.5 km from the centre, with a stop for the Tram in front of the hotel we were quite fast in the city centre. The Niu Franz hotel is a good hotel for a weekend away in the city. After my visit to Vienna and stories about the city my parents were eager to go as well. My parents did better though. They aren’t used to public transport a lot. Therefor I advised them to be close to the ring-street(Opernring, Burgring, Universitätsring) and made the map below for them where to go to. They found a really nice hotel, Hotel Regina, which is in the city centre close to the Rathaus and university of Vienna.

Palace Schönbrunn
Before we went we already booked this tour to the Palace. I wanted to adept in the life of the famous Sissi. I was very excited when we visited this magnificent palace on a Sunday. It was busy, but not too much. You need to keep your jacket on in the museum and only large bags and umbrellas are required to leave at the wardrobe. When you go, please book the Grand Tour, then you can’t miss anything and are allowed to visit all the rooms, be aware, making pictures isn’t allowed at many of the rooms. This is really something you can’t leave out once you go to Vienna and like the stories about Sissi.

Schloss Schonbrunn Grand Tour  https://www.imperialtickets.com/en/schoenbrunn-palace/grand-tour-schoenbrunn-palace/45 20 euro per person.

State Opera
When you can, pre-book online one of the opera’s, please do it is magnificent. You can have a guided tour, but to experience a real opera night in this beautiful Opera building is amazing. Bring your suit or best dress and go for the full experience of a night at the Opera.
For tickets go to Viennaconcerts.com.
Apparently, if you are lucky, you can still get tickets in the afternoon before the Opera but be aware this can be places where you need to keep standing, 2 hours can be a long time.

The Secession
We haven’t been inside the Secession, but when you walk here you can see a beautiful roof with golden leaves. When you are here and you are hungry don’t forget to go to the Nasch Market. After this you can walk towards Karlsplatz and take a look inside the Karlskirche.

Karlskirche
This church isn’t ordinary, it has an elevator in the middle of the church, which brings you close to the sealing. This way you can see the beautiful painted sculptures on the sealing close by. Want to see a concert of Vivaldi in the church?

Spanish Riding School
The Spanish Riding school is based at the Michaelerplatz and is one of the oldest riding schools. Want to join a guided tour within the Spanish Riding School?

St. Peter’s Church
When you enter the church you are right away surrounded by gold, paintings and a lot of small windows all around you. This oval designed church inspired by the Vatican in Rome is very impressing.

Burggarten with Mozart Monument
Within the city centre you will find the Burggarten. One of the English style gardens of the Family Habsburg. Within this garten you will find monuments of emperor Franz I and II. As well a monument dedicated to composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart surrounded by music instruments. Looking for a nice place for breakfast or lunch? Go to the Palmenhaus within the garten.

Shopping to do
Within the black circle on the map is the Stephansdom, various shops and department stores. For example, Steffler, which has a skybar with a magnificent view on the Stephansdom. Nice place to get a cup of coffee or tea. Want to do some luxury shopping and looking for designer brands? Then you must go to the Kohl Market.

Everything which is marked yellow, you must go to and see for yourself. Are you going right before Christmas? In that case don’t forget to visit the

‘Weihnachtsmarkten’ Christmas Markets:

• Rathauspark the largest one
• Museum Quartier full of art
• Nature historic museum
• Schloss Schönbrunn
• Karlskirche
• Stephansdom
• Michaelerplatz

Where to eat or drink:

1. Cafe Restaurant Raimund for lunch or drinks
2. Palmenhaus fantastic for breakfast and lunch. Very tasty and delicious food and bonus a perfect spot.
3. Cafe Landtmann is known under the locals, but tourists as well.
4. Visit the Naschmarket to have some nice food. You can choose from a lot of places in the world.
5. Don’t forget to bring some Mozart Kügeln home with you!

If you have seen most of the city and would like to visit another city. You can travel by boat to other cities like Prague and Boedapest. For tips about Boedapest you can read my story about Boedapest.