I have the chance to spend a day in Vienna in late January on the way back from a business trip – 6 or 7 hours I reckon. Flight and hotel paid for. I’m procrastinating because it will be cold and its a busy month for me. But it’s a chance to see somewhere that to date I’ve only seen the airport and the train station.
Should I go? If so where. Any hotel advice?
PS: I know that this will mean nothing to some of you here.
hubert rawlinson says
No hotel advice as we have a friend in Vienna that we stay with.
I’ll ask her for a few tips.
Beautiful place architectural delights agogo.
dai says
Stay with my ex girlfriend! Er … Maybe not. Wonderful place especially if you like classical music. Have a real Wiener Schnitzel and visit one of the many lovely cafés. There’s also an amazing flea market if you are there on a weekend.
Moose the Mooche says
And if you look you will discover
That it’s a real Wiener Schnitzel yeahhhh
TRMagicWords says
The Museum Quarter is fab, especially MUMOK, the Museum of Modern Art. However, if time is short then you really should see the Secession Building and maybe squeeze in the Leopold Museum. The Architecture Museum also had an ace cafe for lunch last time I was there.
fentonsteve says
It’s been a while since I’ve been but Mrs F’s bridesmaid now lives there and we’re due a visit. It’s a wonderful place to stroll around (when it isn’t raining).
When I last spent 48 hours there, I did:
1. A stroll along Ringstrasse.
2. Hotel Sacher for a Sache Torte.
3. Prater Ferris wheel.
4. Volksgarten
5. Staatsoper (state opera house, get down early evening for cheap returns).
6. Schönbrunn Palace (30 mins train ride out of town, probably too much for your time).
Have a look at this for ideas:
https://www.wien.info/en/recommendations/vienna-in-three-days
dai says
Oh yeah the wheel is obligatory and watch The Third Man before you go.
John Walters says
There is a Third Man museum in Vienna.
However, it was closed the day I tried to visit it.
hubert rawlinson says
The museum is well worth the visit or you could visit Harry Lime’s doorway.
Hundertwasser House
oh and a coffee house.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
To be honest with only six or seven hours all you can do is run round at full speed some of the highlights listed above. My experience also based on business stopovers all over Europe is that by the time you get yourself orientated and find somewhere for a beer and a sausage it’s time to get a taxi for the airport. And in January there’s a fair chance it will be ball-achingly freezing.
Do yourself a favour, Vienna is worthy of a proper long weekend.
dai says
He seems to be staying a night there. So not sure where the 6 or 7 hrs comes from (in the OP).
fortuneight says
I get in lateish on Thursday night. The last flight to the UK is around 7pm so allowing time to get to the airport I reckon I have from breakfast until about 5pm on Friday to do the tourist thing.
I’m OK with just seeing a few bits and pieces, but I can see the cold being a bit of a drawback. But from what I’m reading, I reckon it’s a yes.
dai says
The average high in Vienna in Jan is apparently a balmy 4 deg C. Just wear a coat! You may have a higher chance of a sunny day than in the UK too.
Rufus T Firefly says
Great city and the area encompassed by the Ringstrasse (Innere Stadt) is traffic-free. This part of the city is dominated by the Stephansdom cathedral. It has lots of places to eat, drink and shop and has most of the usual international brands. The side streets tend to be more interesting, with specialist shops for all kinds of things – from chocolate and pastries to books.
I have stayed in the Hotel Imperial and Le Meridien, both handy for the Museum Quarter. Walking north-east from this part of the city you will eventually reach the Danube. The Prater area and the Ferris wheel is where you can recite the “cuckoo clock” speech from The Third Man.
Not far from the Museum Quarter is Gumpendofer Strasse, which is residential and sleepy, but does have the excellent Cafe Sperl, traditional Viennese coffee house, said to have been very popular with Freud, Hitler and Jung. Another coffee house worth checking out (you’ll never have a bad cup of coffee in Vienna) is Cafe Hawelka, which features in Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express” video.
Sitheref2409 says
Stephansdom and the Holocaust Museum stood out for me.
For dinner, the Borscht Museum
Beezer says
Enjoy it if you go. It’s a city I would love to see.
I have it in my head that I read somewhere that at some point before WW1 Stalin, Lenin and Hitler were all residents at the same time.
I’m probably at best only partially right, if at all. But I can’t be arsed to check.
Gatz says
I was intrigued enough to check. No Lenin, but you do get Freud, Toto and Trotsky to make up for it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21859771
atcf says
Spent my honeymoon (flitterwochen) in Vienna. Definitely the Prater Ferris Wheel. IIRC, the Hundertwasserhaus is also fairly close and worth a look if psychedelic architecture is your thing.
Freddy Steady says
Flitterwochen! Great word!
dai says
Honeymoon is a great word too, if you think about it.