Hello from Vienna....suggestions??
 

We have had the most amazing 4 weeks in Europe with our travelling companions. Today we said goodbye to them as they are heading home to Australia. We have four days in Vienna before stating our journey home.

Take into account we have had a pretty hectic 4 weeks, Munich, the romantic road, krakow, Budapest, Prague, Moscow & st. Petersburg.....phew. We now want to see Vienna ( for the first time) a bit slower. I'd love to hear your special discoveries, we arrived late this afternoon, staying about 500m from st. Stephens cathedral. We've toured some amazing churches and palaces and would like a bit of a break. Our hotel has bikes for us to use, so we are hoping to cover a lot of the city that way. We have a small apartment, and our interests are food, wine and pretty scenery. So with all that in mind I'd love to hear suggestions for our next four days.

Thanks as always......the T/R will be long ;-)

The Hundertwasser Museum and the apartment building.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...th/4206899070/

The Leopold Collection if you like Klimt, Egon Schiele, etc.

Go to the top of the woods overlooking Vienna and walk back down to Grinzig and have a drink and snacks in a <i>heuriger</i>.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57622927111169

If the weather is nice, have lunch at the Cafe Lantmann.

I stumbled on this cafe last fall, and it was wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp2T1cYLzu4

Here is their website. http://www.landtmann.at/en/the-cafe/

Michael nicked my idea - get the tram & bus to the top of the Kahlenberg [described to us by an elderly lady we met in a cafe as a "Muss"] and then walk down through the vineyards.

we actually ended up in Heiligenstadt and found the house where Beethoven spend some of his summers:

http://www.wienmuseum.at/en/location...enstadt-1.html

almost next door we found a Heurige [the first of several we visited] - they are denoted by the branch of fir tree that is displayed over the door, which shows that they are selling their own wines. some have a normal menu from which to choose; the ones we preferred had buffets which are very good and reasonably priced.

you might also like to try the Riesenrad at the Prater: http://www.wienerriesenrad.com/en

you can have dinner as you slowly revolve, but we liked the simpler fare at the Biergarten. [are you spotting a food-based theme here?]

oh - another idea - if you don't mind a train ride, take your bikes out to Baden and go for a ride in the vienna woods. we found a lovely Inn in the woods, near a path that Beethoven was supposed to have walked many times, where we had a great lunch.

Baden has a lovely rose garden too, and the house where Beethoven wrote his 9th Symphony:

http://www.mamilade.at/noe/baden/aus...-neunten-baden

[spot another theme, perhaps?]

enjoy the end of your trip!

Café Central (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Café_Central) is pretty cool for coffee and light meals - so much history. Zum Griechenbeisl also has a long history (http://www.griechenbeisl.at/lang_en/page.asp/index.htm), and I absolutely love the Greek Orthodox Church next door, near to the Stefansdom. It is usually closed but you might just be able to peer in through the glass panels in the door. That is probably my favourite building in the whole of Vienna.

Lavandula

Woh thanks to all of you..... Ill let you know but the walk down through the vineyards sounds perfect!

If you're going to do walk down from Kahlenberg: Take the 38 tram all the way to its terminus in Grinzing. Walk across the street to catch the 38A bus (make sure it's going all the way to Kahlenberg, as some of the buses don't go all the way up.)

You can follow various paths back into Grinzing or into Nussdorf. If you wander into Nussdorf, catch the D tram at Beethovengang (terminus) to return to the Inner Stadt. There is also a new cafe at the terminus that seems very popular with day hikers.

Keep in mind that most of the heurigen (wine taverns) do not open until 16:00 or later.

thanks for posting those details, fourfortravel - I'd forgotten the bus numbers.

aussie - we went to the Belvedere in the morning which was very convenient for picking up the tram nearby [perhaps fourfortravel knows where the stop is - I can visualise it but can't remember the street name!]

the trip up to the Kahlenberg had us arriving there at about 1pm, we had a drink in the rather expensive restaurant at the top, then started to walk down. By the time we'd gone wrong a few times [not much in the way of signage] and seen the Beethovenwohnung, it was about 4pm.

there were some Heurige on the way down, but they were all shut - perhaps because it was sunday? so take some water with you as if it's warm, you'll need it.

So the best laid plans......

I hurt my ankle pretty badly and walking has become an issue. So we used the hotel bikes and spent the day exploring ths lovely city. Started in the area around st stephans cathedral, as early in the morning it's really quiet. Rode all round the ring road, deviating every time we saw something interesting . Ended up crossing the Danube and exploring that side of the city.

We've just come in from an early dinner, the city is swamped with people. It's a public holiday and its been a hot sunny day. Tomorrow we will catch the underground to schonbrunn palace and explore the gardens.

It's fun to take a train/bike/boat trip on the Danube. Stop at Melk to see the beautiful abbey there. There's a comprehensive ticket we bought at the train station, which included entry to the abbey, train and boat fares. Called the Bayern Pass (?).

aussied - sorry about the ankle, but good for you in taking to the bike!

when we were there we only got as far as the the schoenbrunn palaces - the gardens looked lovely but it was raining heavily. i hope you have better luck.

Hello there, I'm from Salzburg and one of my favourite places in Vienna is this Cafe http://www.palmenhaus.at/ it's really nice if the sun is shining, and you can have your coffee and Apfelstrudel (yes no joke, austrians really love apfelstrudel) in the sunshine, but the Palmenhaus is also worth visiting on a rainy day. Another great location is the Museumsquartier, but you might know this already. At the ALbertina is a Bosch, Breugel, Rubens, Rembrandt exhibition at the moment.

ENJOY!

PS, there are trains to Graz and Salzburg nearly every hour, maybe you like to do a one day trip as well.

ah forgot to mention, there are different train companies, so make sure you get the cheapest ticket (Westbahn, if you are going to Sbg), and there are trains that are faster then others..

if you have had anough of all the traditional sweets, you might like this one http://www.cupcakes-wien.at/

Great ideas everyone , hopefully they'll also help fellow planners. Home now and working through the jet lag ....... And the washing!!!!