mikegold

we will be spending about 5 days in Vienna in early November, and are trying to decide on hotels. one that seems to get good praise is the KVU, but i am concerned about the location and safety as well as how nice a hotel it is. we are looking for a 3-4 star hotel with reasonable prices and good location. is this one worth staying at or should we consider somewhere else? thanks.

BATUFFOLINA

I don't know the KVU, but I can suggest to check HOTEL ANANAS. I have stayed 3 nights there some years ago and it is a good 4 star hotel, clean, great breakfast, with the subway station right across the street that takes you to Karlsplatz. I really liked it!

pipsil

We stayed at the KVU earlier this year and loved it. It is full of old fashioned charm, our twin bedded room was unusually large and the location could not have been better. Of course "old fashioned charm" is not everybody's cup of tea but If I can help you with further details please e mail me at [email protected]

richardab

I stayed at the Hotel Kaisern Elisabeth which I loved, loved, loved. I will say that the rooms are spotless, bathrooms shiney, staff is friendly and the location is prime. Since you are in Vienna in winter, this is a good location because it is right in the center of the city and within walking distance from everything! They also have a fabulous breakfast buffet which is included in the room rates. Such a nice place. One of my favorite inexpensive hotels in europe!

http://www.kaiserinelisabeth.at/

padbrasher

My family of 2 adults and 2 teens stayed at the KVU in August for 3 nights and absolutely loved the hotel. The location is excellent, a block from Stephansdom. Our rooms were spacious, well-decorated and very comfortable. The bathrooms were also very large, modern and extremely clean. The breakfast buffet offered eggs with either bacon or ham cooked to order, as well as cold meats, cheeses, fruits and pastries. Finally, the staff was both friendly and helpful. I truly believe this hotel is a treasure and would recommmend it without any hestitation.

zola

Richard:

Your comments for Hotel Kaiserin Elisabeth make it look attractive indeed, but you didn't indicate what you paid. The posted rates on the hotel's website are for 2003. What is "reasonable" in precise terms these days?

richardab

I don't remember what I paid but I never pay over $100 for a single. Email the hotel directly and tell them you want their BEST PROMOTIONAL RATE, they are very good at answering..

tcreath

Hi!

I will post the same reply I just gave to the other post about Vienna hotels:

Message: We stayed at the Pension Pertschy and were really pleased. The hotel, and our room, were very nice. Great breakfast spread as well. The hotel is fairly quite. The best thing about the hotel was its location; right in the heart of Vienna. Its an easy walk to St. Stephens and/or The Hofburg, located on a side street directly off of Graben, a pedestrian-friendly shopping area. The Stephansplatz underground station is also very close.

We felt very safe and the hotel is located in a nice area of town. I'm not sure how many stars it is, but we were very pleased with our stay.

http://www.pertschy.com/h_pension1_e.html

Patrick

Pardon me for being the slow one. I was just about to post about the wonderful Konig Von Ungarn and as I typed it I realized what KVU must stand for. I'm really not into all those initial abbreviations. Anyway I've stayed there twice and wouldn't stay anywhere else in Vienna. I loved it.

zola

Richard:

While I was awaiting your reply, I had already e-mailed the hotel directly. They, in fact, responded quickly and courteously, quoting a rate for both a small and large single. This sounds like a real gem of a place, and the rates are indeed reasonable (can't believe the price for a 4****). Any additional comments about the hotel would be welcome. Thanks again for the help.

MaureenB

My family and I stayed at the Kaiserin Elisabeth this past June. We are two adults and two kids, stayed four nights in a nice large suite there. I think it was 270 Euro/night. We loved the hotel. It is formal, in the Austrian way of being very polite. In fact, when we checked in, I asked if they needed to take an impression of our credit card. The man at the desk looked at me in horror, and said, "Why no, you are our guest." I guess implying that would be crass of them not to trust us.
And the location couldn't be better. It's near everything for walking, plus a U-Bahn stop is less than a block away. It's so spotlessly clean, we marveled how they'd remove the smallest smudge on the elevator mirror before we'd return from breakfast! Beautiful breakfast room and sumptuous buffet; will make hot eggs if you ask. We met a businessman from Prague one morning in the breakfast room. He said the Kaiserin Elisabeth is his favorite hotel in Vienna, and asked how on earth we'd found it! (I told him fodors.com, of course.) They discounted our room rate by about 10 percent, when I asked via e-mail for their best rate. You will love the place. So elegant. Wish we were still there!

richardab

I lovd the place and thought it was one of my favorite parts of Vienna. The breakfast buffet is delicious and included in the rates. The rooms are sparkling clean and are very well kept, you might notice the smell of paint in the halls. I have heard a lot of people say that. I think they are constantly doing touch ups. You will love the location, it is quiet and dead in the center of the city.

I will email u some pics of my room which was a single but very spacious.

LindaW

One of my favorite places in Vienna is Hotelpension Arenberg. Frau Arenberg owned it at one time and pictures of actors, artists, conductors are on the wall autographed to her. It is a Best Western but with the posh Vienna feel and is a 4* hotel. It is located within the Ring and in a nice neighborhood. It is a 3-4 minute walk from the Air Terminal, 2-minute walk to the U-Bahn and maybe 5 minutes to Stephensplatz with nice shops in between. They have homemade muslei as one of their breakfast choices which is included in the price.
Another hotel is Hotel Drei Kronen, a 3* but just outside the Ring and is family run. The buffet breakfast is excellent. A grocery is in the next block and a nice open-air market is across the street. It is near the University and the visiting professors sometimes stay there. You have a 4-minute walk to the U-Bahn and maybe 8 minutes to the Stadt Opera.
They are both very reasonable with very nice staff

Travelnick

Safety is generally not a problem in Vienna - statistically it is the safest European capital.
I would be careful walking through Stadtpark at night - not likely you would do that but fairly close to your hotel. Day time in summer Stadtpark is openly drug dealers territory. In November they go underground to Karlsplatz UBahn station and Westbahnhof, both unpleasant locations with druggies and drunks in abundance.
The only other thing that I found irritating while living there are young beggars targeting me as I walked to work (with suit) and cutting across the pedestrian streets to ask for money. These aggressive ones are always reasonably dressed and do not like being told where to go.

BetsyG

We stayed at KVU last May with 3 kids. Thought the location was great, never concerned about safety. Great service at the hotel. Would love to stay there again!

BTilke

I've stayed at the Kaiserin Elisabeth several times over the last four years for both business and leisure travel. It's my second favorite hotel in Vienna (my favorite is the [ANA] Grand, but that is a 5 star hotel and can be quite expensive). When we took my parents to Vienna for their 50th wedding anniversary, we all stayed at the KE and the staff couldn't have been nicer--they upgraded my parents to a deluxe room and also upgraded the singles my brother and I were staying in--at no extra charge.
I almost stayed at the KVU for 10 days in March of this year (ended up staying at the Sofitel instead) and went to visit it during my trip. It seemed very nice, but I thought the KE's location was slightly better. However, you would be perfectly safe at the KVU.

lly01

Sorry to be so dense, but what does Pension mean?

viennese

Ily01, a Pension is a guest house, i.e. a privately owned place with a few rooms. It doesn't provide a hotel's facilities. It is not exactly a bed & breakfast (like a B&B in England) because you usually will not be guest in a private household.