Vienna in October

[ReturnofthePan]

Hi all,
We've booked for 5 days in Vienna and have done a bit of the usual research for a new city. All looks very interesting, but I was also wishing to ask if anyone has experience of a trip, or living there even (!) and may wish to share any 'must do's and must nots' or any off the beaten track suggestions.
tia

I went to Vienna this summer and loved it. I don’t think we did much ‘off the beaten track’ but the things we did love were:

Vienna Pass - a tourist card which you pay up front and then gives you free tickets to lots of attractions. We found we wanted to see small bits if lots of things and this allowed us to dip in and out of lots of places without worrying about the cost too much.

Klimt at the Belvedere - beautiful paintings, Impressionists at the Albertina, Heidi Horton gallery - all fabulous art exhibitions.

National library - beautiful building

Hundterwasse building - inspiring art and architecture

Prater - surprisingly good fun for an evening and the beer and sausage restaurant is surprisingly good and quite cheap

Figmuller Backstrasse - get a reservation as there’s always a queue, they were the best Weiner schnitzel we had all week.

Yori - Korean bbq restaurant

candlelit Mozart concert in an old church - just beautiful!

Things we didn’t enjoy - we did a 1hr cruise on the Danube canal that was disappointing, there’s not much to see except a lot of graffiti…. The Naschmarkt was also a letdown - we had our only poor meal there and there wasn’t much atmosphere, but maybe we just chose poorly.

have a great trip!

Oh you’ll love it! We went last September. It was 35C all week and there was no air conditioning but the city and surrounding countryside is just beautiful :)

As above we also got the Vienna Pass and found it well worth it. We stayed out near the Schonbrunn Palace in an apartment and used the metro and trams to get around. It’s so simple.

We were travelling with our kids (three and 15 weeks) at the time so mainly tried to do interactive things for our son. We liked:

Day trip to Melk on the train to visit the abbey
Haus der Musik
IKONO (an interactive art gallery)
Science Museum
Sissi Museum

Definitely eat goulash! We also had great burgers at Le Burger. Prater Park was fun and we enjoyed the RollerCoaster Restaurant (son was mesmerised!).

Ah thank you very very much! These are some of things we would be interested in! It’s just us two grown ups (allegedly). We are also doing a day out to Budapest on the Sunday as Vienna is effectively closed on Sundays I read. So we have 3 and a half days in Vienna around the Sunday and the Vienna Pass is for consecutive days so that’s a bit of a bummer. And thanks for the tip re the cruise. Sounds v disappointing.
however after Vienna we go to Prague so the Danube cruise is still within reach!
we are also having a couple of lessons in the Viennese Waltz - am sure there will be dozens of tourists swirling around the platzs 🙄

I was unaware of Sisi and largely the Hapsburgs so that is a bit of a must thank you.

I haven’t been since I was a student 20 years ago, but highlights I remember include Freud’s house, Klimt’s kiss, watching the Lipizanner horses rehearse (which you can do for free - actual performances are £££ but the rehearsal was incredible. Horse ballet!!), the cathedral, and eating vast amounts of Sachertorte and schwarzswalderkirschtorte. I want to go back now!

We also travelled by boat down the Danube to Budapest. The journey itself wasn’t very exciting but the concept was very romantic!

I do remember Vienna having a lot of ugly areas filled with traffic islands and roundabouts which we had to trail through to get to the pretty bits…but the pretty bits are gorgeous!

The Sisi exhibition at the Hofburg is brilliant. The first time I went (years and years ago)the Palace was rubbish as it was just empty rooms but they've really made loads of improvements and loads more information for visitors.

The Prater is fun but don't bother with the robot restaurant, it was a real let down!

Belvedere, Schönnbrunn is beautiful, cafe Oberlaa for the real (not as touristy) coffee and cake experience. My favourite cake is Donauwelle (Danube waves) with a melange coffee.

St Stephen's Cathedral is beautiful and the Imperial crypts were fascinating.

Definitely try to get a concert in if you can, the standard of musicians is very high So it will be good.

Have a great time!

I quite liked the Naschmarkt. Not so much for the stalls but there are some good buildings around it. I still remember a terrific falafel wrap that we had for lunch.

You can't go wrong visiting the many churches. And Rachel Whiteread's Holocaust memorial is worth a look.

Go up to Grinzing and drink some wine in one of the many cafes/bars. Mahler is buried in the cemetery there.

Go to Vollpension in Vienna. You’ll get a nice meal in there.

Following as thing of going in December 🌲

Hi.
It's good to know where to go in Vienna, thanks. The stunning architecture, art and music are remarkable. Love to visit the country, but I keep putting off going. Hopefully, in the New year.
I would love to attend the Vienna New Year's Day concert, but it is difficult to get the tickets.

I'm just back from Vienna. Unlike reports we read, we didn't find that it was totally closed on Sunday but if you are going to Budapest, do go to Gellért over the Széchenyi baths. I would also recommend Cafe Astoria over New York Cafe in Vienna.

Vienna has some of the most impressive buildings i have ever seen and something crazy seems to be around every corner. We stayed near Secession which is stunning.

There are many beautiful coffee houses. My favourite is Cafe Central where Freud used to frequent but it is very touristy. I recommend cake and coffee over a full meal.

Hundertwasser House needs to be combined with the Hundertwasser museum in my experience. The house is fab but doesn't take long to look at.

Absolutely loved The House of Music which is very interactive. Maybe better for families though.

The giant ferris wheel at Prater has great views over the city.

We liked the beach bars on the Danube. Get the U to Donauinsel for these.

It is a great city and 5 days is a good amount of time to explore it. It has one of the best public transport systems in the world and is a very cycle friendly city. There are very strict recycling rules which are made very clear to you.

Offbeat Budapest is a great website and IG account which has information on Budapest and Vienna: https://www.offbeatbudapest.com/

I wish we’d got to see the horses but it was just so damn hot we couldn’t imagine sitting there to watch 😭 Everything we did basically involved seeking air conditioning 😂

We did the Third Man tour which we really enjoyed.

I was there recently and my daughter has been there for 2 months, and loves it. It’s such a civilised place, with lovely buildings everywhere. The summer flower beds were gorgeous when I was there. I enjoyed a short visit to the Natural History Museum where I saw this, as well as lots of other gems:

https://www.visitingvienna.com/sights/museums/gemstone-bouquet/

We went for lunch at Amerlingbeisl https://www.amerlingbeisl.at/ an old pub, off the tourist trail, and lovely - good simple food. We had an excellent meal at Mast Weinbistro and enormous and delicious Wiener Schnitzel at Meissl & Schadn. If you’re into food (as I am), a visit to Julius Meinl am Graben is a treat.

Than you so much for ALL of these pointers - am slowly working through them. Really appreciate the specific places to eat, for example.
Question- the Hofburg complex looks vast. And lots in it. With a viewing of the horses in training how long would a good viewing of it all take? And do you buy one ticket or all separate tickets ( like for the horses for example).

I’ve not been there since before Covid, but when we went around end sep/start of Oct it was their Oktoberfest at Prater. That was amazing

If you can get a table, go for lunch at Steirereck in Stadtpark. Fabulous Michelin star restaurant.

The Albertina is also worth a visit.