megdean

We are going to Vienna next week (yeah!!) and I am trying to finalize our 3.5 days in Vienna before we get on a river boat trip. So much to do, and I am having a hard time prioritizing. Any input is appreciated. One question - should we see the three big sites - Hofburg, Schoennbrunn and Belvedere, or just one or two?

Friday, October 2
Land in Vienna at 10:40am. Go to Courtyard Vienna Messe and deposit luggage. Rest.
Prater park, Donauinsel (Danube Island)
Dinner at either Tempel, Stradina or the Weiner WeisenFest

Saturday - Innere Stadt
Visit One market - not sure which: Naschmarket or Freying passage - Farmers’ Market on Fridays and Saturdays.Karmelitermarkt and Brunnenmarkt.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
National Library
Hundertwasserhaus and KunsthausWien
Hofburg palace / Kaiserappartements
Figlmueller for dinner
Kunsthistorisches Museum - First October free museum night

Sunday
The Vienna boys choir sings mass in the Burgkapelle 10am - 2pm. Need to show up by 8:30 for free standing room. www.hofburgkapelle.at
Schonbrunn palace **
Ride the Ringstrasse via streetcars
Get on ship

Monday (ship is offering a couple of panoramic tours, which we may skip)
Belvedere Palace
Karlskirche

nytraveler

Not sure you have time for Schoenbrunn if you are occupied until 2 pm.

The palace itself is huge, although obviously what your see is limited, but the grounds are wonderful and there are many other things to explore.

This is the most popular tourist sight in Austria and I would definitely make time to see as much of it as you can.

megdean

So the Schoenbrunn is a full day. Maybe we skip the choir in the morning.

Would you also do the Hofburg Palace the day before?

To clarify, on Monday, I am thinking of skipping the ship's panoramic tour and doing the Belvedere on our own to have more time. The ship just does a "walk-through" at the Belvedere.

Cowboy1968

On day 1, when you land at 10:40 you should be in your hotel by 12 noon.
What exactly do you plan to do at the Prater (which is next door to your hotel, for sure) and on the Donauinsel for the next 7-8 hours until you will have dinner?

The Wiener Wiesn-Fest is Vienna's (relatively new) version of Oktoberfest. It is almost as authentic as the one in Milwaukee ;-)

I wouldn't say that Schönbrunn is a full day. You probably have booked your tickets to see the inside of the palace in advance, which will last 1-2hrs, depending on which tour you have. Plus an hour or two for the gardens (assuming that you don't plan to visit the Zoo).

Visiting the Belvedere at your own pace is a good idea.

Riding along Ringstrasse with the trams (you can take the regular ones and do not need the overpriced tourist Ring Tram) is fun, but IMO it's worth to get off the streetcar and walk to actually see the buildings. At least on the stretch from the Opera to Burgtheater through Volksgarten and along the Parliament.

nytraveler

Agree that you don;t need a full day for Schoenbrunn - but 2 hours won;t do it either. And you won;t be getting there until fairly late on Sunday afternoon - and I don;t know when it closes on Sunday.

I would leave about 4 hours for a reasonable exploration - plus you need to get there from center city.

megdean

Some revisions based on comments received. I am also following another thread on Fodors for someone going to Vienna for a week. How does this look? Thank you!!

Friday, October 2
Land in Vienna at 10:40am. Go to Courtyard Vienna Messe and deposit luggage. Rest. (Husband is promised a nap this afternoon Coming from LAX...)
Prater park, Donauinsel (Danube Island)
Vienna woods hike - Kahlenberg
Dinner at either Tempel, Stradina or the Weiner WeisenFest

Saturday -
Visit one market - not sure which: Naschmarket, Freying passage - Farmers’ Market, Karmelitermarkt or Brunnenmarkt.
Burgarten
Schoenbrunn palace
Figlmueller for dinner
Kunsthistorisches Museum - First October free museum night

Sunday
The Vienna boys choir sings mass in the Burgkapelle 10am - 2pm. Need to show up by 8:30 for free standing room. www.hofburgkapelle.
Ride the Ringstrasse via streetcars / walking tour of Innere Stadt
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
National Library
Hundertwasserhaus and KunsthausWien
Karlskirche, Peterkirche, Jesuitkirche
Get on ship

Monday (ship is offering a couple of panoramic tours, which we may skip)
Belvedere Palace

Cowboy1968

Sorry, I did not suggest 2 hrs for all of Schönbrunn but 2hrs for the palace plus 2 hrs for the garden.
But you should get tickets in advance:
http://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/plan-yo...ets-tours.html

It takes appr. 20 minutes to get to Schönbrunn from the city center by subway.

megdean

OK, I see there is a Grand Tour ticket and a Classic Pass ticket. I am leaning toward the Grand Tour - still includes the gardens, right? Reasons I should choose the Classic Pass?

fourfortravel

Chiming in as one who lives in Vienna...

Friday, October 2. "Dinner at the WienerWiesen" may not be as straightforward as you think. Friday evening will be extremely crowded at Prater, and you may have to settle for enjoying a Bratwurst while standing. Osteria Stradina is one of our "go-to" for weekday lunch when my husband has time, and the tables fill quickly (there are not many tables inside); you may want to consider reservations. Also, if you choose Stradina, bring cash; quite often the card machines are "not working."

Is there a particular reason you are visiting DonauInsel?

Hiking Kahlenberg could take the entire afternoon, for planning. From the Marriott you will need 45 minutes one-way to reach the top, a couple of hours to walk back down, and then at least another 30 minutes back to the hotel.

Saturday, October 3. The Naschmarkt is absurdly crowded on Saturdays because of the Flea Market; plan accordingly and bring cash. The Freyung markets are small (and not inside Palais Ferstel passage--they're outside). Karmelitermarket is also small. Brunnenmarket is very Turkish/Middle Eastern oriented; they have a Flea Market of sorts at Yppenplatz but it is not comparable to Naschmarkt. I favor each of them for different reasons.

Schönbrunn can take as little as an hour or as long as the bulk of the day, depending on what you want to see. Buying your ticket in advance is a good way to avoid the queues.

Enjoy dinner at Figlmueller (f you must go). There are so many less-touristy (and tastier) options in Vienna.

Our "lessons learned" from Lange Nacht der Museen are to arrive early to purchase your all-inclusive ticket (€13, not free) and queue early for the museum of choice. If the only museum you want to see is KHM, go earlier in the day to save yourself the crowds; the entrance is only €14.

megdean

Fourfortravel, great info. I really can't stand crowds, so your comments will help us make better decisions.

We decided on El Hans for Friday night dinner. And we are skipping Figlmueller and just going to grab something easy wherever we end up when we are hungry. Something very casual - any suggestions you may have for a casual good restaurant in the Innere Stadt or near the Courtyard are welcome. And I think the KHM only in the daytime is best idea.

Re. Schoenbrunn, is there an advantage of the Classic Pass vs. the Grand Tour? We are leaning toward the Grand Tour ticket. We will try to get there by 8:30 am.

I welcome any other suggestions you may have. Thank you!

di2315

We arrived at Schonbrunn at 8:30am without pre-booking. Buying tickets was no problem, we were among the first couple walking through - almost had all the rooms to ourselves; so much better than arriving after the bus groups have begun and being shuffled along with the masses.

We walked up to the Gloriette on the hill for delightful morning tea, and went to the strudel making demonstration in the bakery. The Orangerie and surrounding garden area is just beautiful too. We didn't visit the Zoo - were probably there for around three hours all up. Di

sandralist

megdean,

For what it's worth, I'll be in Vienna in a couple of weeks for the second time. On my first visit, I found the Schoenbrunn the single biggest time-suck and only mildly interesting slog in a city I otherwise I enjoyed. For aesthetics and understanding imperial palace gardens and architecture when it is successful and not just bombastic, I greatly preferred the Belvedere. Needless to say, after touring the palace and walking halfway to the Gloriette, we didn't stay. We bought the full tour ticket and it took us about 35 minutes to walk through the palace.

If you are interested in food as an education in the city, I would favor its cafes over its markets.

I considered staying at the Marriott near the Prater and did some research as to restaurants, and the hotel is rather isolated in that respect. You might find these helpful

http://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/...ulinary-prater

http://www.gruenehuette.at

The Viennese start serving dinner fairly early, so something you might consider is eating near your last sightseeing stop wherever you are before returning to the Courtyard.

Cowboy1968

As Fourfortravel, I am still struggling to understand what you plan to explore on the Danube Island. It's a very long (20kms or so), very narrow artificial island which is very popular with cyclists, runners or when there are outdoor concerts. But there is nothing specific to see.

As Fourfortravel described, it takes a while (appr. 1 hour) to get to Kahlenberg from your hotel or the Prater area in general. You do have a very nice view over Vienna from there, though.

But I am not sure how much walking you actually wish to do on your first afternoon in Vienna. The Prater is already quite extensive, then you have to walk the Donauinsel (for whatever reason), then the ride to Kahlenberg, more walking in the woods, and the trip back to the city center.

megdean

I am not tied in to the island, and will cut that out. I think we were just looking for something relaxing to do that first day, but we will stick with the Prater and knock the island and the Kahlenberg off the list.

fourfortravel

Since you're near the InnerStadt, why not "relax" with a walk to the churches on your list on Friday? Since your hotel is in the 2nd, start with Karlskirche via the U2 (Krieau) to the U1 at Praterstern, exiting to Karlsplatz and Karlskirche). From there Stefansdom, Peterskirche and Jesuitinkirche are an easy walk (and you'll see part of the InnerStadt at its liveliest, as opposed to Sunday when all the stores will be closed.) Near to Peterkirche is Türkis, a rather good, casual, Mediterranean restaurant. Also in the nigh of Stefansdom is Trattoria d'Angelo, casual Italian cuisine, obviously; and a short walk away is Beim Hofmeister, a casual Austrian restaurant that resides in the old cow stables of Empress Marie Theresia. It's family-owned and run, super casual and with rather decent fare. If you're not overwhelmed with jet lag, then head back to your hotel via Prater and WienerWiesen.

There really is no "grabbing something easy" to eat beyond a Wurstelstand or McDonalds in Vienna. If it's a Wurstelstand, know thy sausages before you order.

On Saturday I might tour Naschmarkt early (before 10:00 or so, and skip the Flea Market), then see the National Library/Burggarten/KHM and the Freyung markets, picking up a couple of Baguette Parisienne from Beaulieu in Palais Ferstel for lunch (and perhaps catching a free table, in which case I recommend the Gris Blanc to go with the baguette ) before carrying on to Hundertwasser (which you can only see the exterior of). Save El Hans for Saturday night. End the evening with Prater and WienerWiesen.

As for the different Schönbrunn tickets, the Grand Tour includes all of the palace rooms; the Classic Ticket does not. Schönbrunn and Belvedere are completely different: the former is the summer palace for the Habsburgs; the latter is the home of Prince Eugene, who had an important series of victories for the empire against the Ottomans and was rewarded with the palace. I like Belvedere for its art and exhibits, and Schönbrunn for its history and gardens (though I confess I have the luxury of coming and going whenever I please). Enjoying one over the other is a matter of preference.

On Sunday, after the Wiener Sanger Knabben performance, head to either Kahlenberg or Cobenzl, weather permitting and wander down into either Grinzing or Nußdorf for a meal. If you end in the latter, our favorite heuriger, Kierlinger, will still be open for one more week, and you can enjoy a light meal before heading to the ship. From there catch the D Tram into the city. If you end in Grinzing there will be a number of heuriger open; easy transport into the city is available via the 38 Tram. OR, go to Schönbrunn after the performance.

I might skip the Ringstraße tour via public trams unless you are totally into the architecture. The buildings are pretty and many have a bit of history, but that's about it otherwise.

megdean

Wow, this is great! We will do exactly this! Thank you. And yes, we like Pinot Blanc. Like your thinking.

Cathinjoetown

We had seats for the Burgkapelle mass, thank goodness. You will hear the choir but they can only be seen from a few vantage points. After the mass is finished, the choir comes to the front of the church for one song/hymn.

You're packing a lot in. A quick way to see the gardens at Schonbrunn is a ride on the little train which goes up to the Gloriette and back. I would not spend the day there, the palace itself, imo, is more interesting than the grounds.

The art museums are enormous, particularly the Kunsthistoriches. We were joking, "Which way to the Brueghels?" Just to throw another iron in the fire, the Liechtenstein City Palace is pretty amazing.

Have a great time in one of my favorite cities.

thegrandplan2019

Bookmarking

fourfortravel

Oh, my, megdean, you've put a bit of pressure on me by following my suggestions. I do hope you'll adjust and adapt as weather and interests allow.

Cathinjoetown is correct in that you are packing a lot in; even after three years of living in Vienna, I still get distracted when I set out with a day's itinerary an only complete half of what I planned. I hope you'll be able to give yourself time for a coffee and (something other than a Sacher) Torte.

megdean

Don't worry, fourfortravel, I just need a plan to start with. I hate going without some structure in my plan. We will be flexible. And for the third and fourth day, we will be joined by another couple, and, heck, they may have their own ideas on what to do. Heaven forbid....