Premium VIENNA Guide - Sights, Food & More
✈️ Arranging Flights
In general, my go-to booking site is kiwi.com, because I find it very user-friendly, and it gives you a direct overview of the price of your luggage. However, my experience has been mostly with travels within Europe. Make sure to check what you are booking in detail (connection flights, times, departing airports) and read the terms and conditions.
My favourite carrier to fly with is hands down Aegean Airlines. Even the economy ticket includes an 8kg suitcase within the price, proper meals, drinks, extra coffee and tea and snacks - for free! They also have vegetarian options and offer sketchbooks to small children. In general, I have always felt comfortable flying with them.
🎟️ Vienna Pass
While researching entrance fees for museums and palaces, I was unpleasantly surprised by how expensive they were, and how you have to pay almost for everything. Prices started from 10€ and reached 30€ per person (🤯). For that reason, I chose to purchase the Vienna Pass.
It is a personalized physical card that you can buy it for 1, 2, 3 or 6 concecutive days, including:
✔️Free access to 70 famous attractions,
✔️Hop-On-Hop-Off bus that drives you around,
✔️Fast track entry to some museums,
✔️Guidebook with sightseeing opportunities.
Prices fall in the range of 80-180€, depending on how many days you book it. It doesn’t look cheap, but after doing the math I realised that if I wanted to visit everything Vienna had to offer, it was worth buying one for 2-3 days.
You can order it online with a 10% discount and pick it up from the Vienna Pass store, or just go directly to the store and buy it for normal price.
💡PRO TIP: Make sure to check the Guidebook provided, which includes information for each attraction. Some of them need booking before your visit or have special conditions.
🚌 Transport options
Public transportation takes you literally everywhere and it is always on time, so it was the way I moved around. There are different tickets with different prices, with the cheapest ticket costing 2,40€ for a single trip.
My recommendation would be to consider weekly or day-long tickets. They include all means of transportation, you don't have to validate them all the time and prices go as such:
✔️ For 1 day: 8€
✔️ For 2 days: 14€
✔️ For 3 days: 17€
✔️ For 7 days: 17€ (Monday to Monday)
For easy ticket access and purchase, try downloading the OBB app, the official app of Vienna's public transport. It has all options inside for single and combo tickets, and you can buy all tickets for multiple people.
For finding how to get from one place to another, I always use the Moovit app. You just enter your current location and final destination, and it shows you multiple ways to go, as well as timetables and live maps. I was never lost!
💡PRO TIP: A "single trip" is considered a trip from your departure point to your arrival point. It doesn't matter if you change the means of transport, as long as there are no big interruptions that indicate you stopped to do something else. So you can take a bus, then the metro, then the tram without buying another ticket for that specific route. This is slightly open for interpretation by the checker (in case they check you), so remember to validate your ticket!
🥂 Reservations
I fell into the trap of not booking my lunch and cafe destinations beforehand during the weekend. Big mistake! The closer you get to Christmas, the more impossible it becomes to find a place to sit even for a simple coffee.
So I'd advise you to book as many things as you can, as early as you can, especially for famous destinations such as Cafe Sacher, Cafe Central.
All of them accept reservations online, so that wouldn't be a problem. Waiting in line or going super early is also an option - just keep in mind that the tourist crowd is big and feisty.
❄️Winter Weather
I wouldn't say Vienna was extremely cold during the day, more so during the night. It also tends to rain a lot, so definitely pack an umbrella and a warm coat with you. Clothing can be a light pullover, jacket, scarf and low boots on an average day.
If you are planning on visiting the Opera House or something similarly fancy, my suggestion would be to bring a nice, formal outfit like most people there. Nothing extreme though!
🎄 Christmas Markets
Vienna is famous for its Christmas Markets, appearing from mid-November to Christmas Day. In most of them, you can buy a variety of decorative items, mugs, street food and hot beverages.
Surprisingly, the food was not as cheap as I expected, with an average price of 8€, and 5€ for Gluhwein. Everything was tasty though.
💡Pro tip: Be prepared to give an extra 4-5€ when you pay - you get served in actual ceramic mugs and dishes, so you deposit money for each of them as a security. You can choose to either keep them or return them when finished, and if so you get your money back. Also, bring cash in euros as many booths don’t accept credit cards.
✨ Street Lights
It's Christmas, so the city is dressed in pretty Christmas lights. If you want to see the best of them in one stroll of around 20 minutes, follow the route below:
✔️ Start from the Vienna State Opera.
✔️ Go up Kartner Strasse, until you reach the famous gigantic bow outside the Popp & Kretschmer store. Don't forget to take a picture!
✔️ Then continue going up the same street, viewing beautiful ornaments on the buildings around you, such as those outside the Sluka Conditorei.
✔️ Finish Kartner Strasse by reaching Stephansplatz, with the big Christmas tree. The view is magical.
✔️ Make a left to Graben, and enjoy the lights hanging above your head as you walk down the street.
Make sure your phone has enough battery for all the amazing shots you are going to get!
🏛️ Museums
Vienna is full of museums for all kinds of visitors. Below you will find the ones that I chose to visit, which combine architectural significance, popularity and uniqueness. All of them are included in the Vienna Pass.
🏰 Palaces
Similarly to museums, the city is known for its palaces. Some of them are inside the city, while some of them are a bit in the suburbs. Most of them are included in the Vienna Pass.
📷 Other Beautiful Sights
Some of them need reservations or are not open to the public, so I viewed them from the outside instead. Make sure to check each site's website to see opening times (some of them are closed on Sundays) or entrance prerequisites.
🎡 Activity Visits
Care for a more eventful experience? The following recommendations include cool activities I did in my spare time, and would recommend if traveling with family. They are included in Vienna Pass.
⛪ Churches
All churches were magnificent! Some of them are free to enter, some of them require a fee. Make sure to check their websites for more details.
☕️ Cute Cafes
Below I include some of my favourite cafes that almost felt like visiting a monument. They are not necessarily cheap, but they are a must if you are visiting Vienna.
Don’t forget that many stores and shops are closed on Sunday, so makes sure to check opening times before planning your visit!
💡Pro tip: Tipping is a thing, usually 5-10% of the total amount. You will get some angry looks if you don’t offer to tip or if you tip less, as it is considered that the service was not good (🤷🏻♀️). In some cases tip is already included so make sure to check the receipt.
🍽️ Local Food
I researched a lot on local dishes, and ended up trying the following. Some of them are found mostly in Christmas Markets, and some of them come from the greater Austrian area, but are consumed a lot in Vienna. It was a great culinary experience, I liked everything I ate!
Sweet 🍰
- Kaiserschmarrn: Scrambled pancakes, often accompanied by raisins and apple sauce, or vanilla cream.
- Sachertorte: Chocolate cake with apricot jam.
- Apfelstrudel: Apple pie with vanilla cream.
- Pretzel: Baked, knot-shaped dough, topped with either savoury (salt, cheese) or sweet (sugar, chocolate) items.
Savory 🥨
- Kasespatzle: Pasta with melted cheese, topped with caramelised or crispy onion stripes.
- Ofenkartoffeln: A baked potato opened in half, topped with butter, cheese or sour cream.
- Weiner Wurstl: Hot dog with local simple sausages, topped with sauces.
- Kasekarainer: Hot dog with local sausage infused with melted cheese.
- Kartoffelpuffer: Savory pancake made of fried potatoes.
- Schnitzel: Thin slice of fried pork or chicken
- Tafelspitz: Boiled beef with vegetables, Emperor's favourite dish.
- Erdapfelsalat: Cold potato salad with toppings.
Drinks 🍷
- Melange: Coffee, espresso with steamed milk, topped with little foam.
- Gluhwein: Mulled wine, which is a hot red wine with spices and fruit.
Have a great trip to Vienna!
Yours, Maria
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