My husband and I are spending 4 days in Vienna in August before our tour (motorcycle trip through Austria and Hungry) starts. Being from Los Angeles, we are clueless when it comes to using public trandportation in Europe, or anywhere for that matter, but in Europe we will have to deal with not speaking German. We are staying on Opernring at the Le Merdien, so I know we can walk to plenty of sights, but could use advise how to get to other sights i.e Vienna Woods, Schonbrunn.

&quot;<i>in Europe we will have to deal with not speaking German.</i>&quot;

Don't worry - there will be more people in Vienna who speak fluent English than there are in LA

Oh - I meant to add - you might want to re-post w/ a better title. &quot;public transportation&quot; could be asking about anywhere in Europe (I mainly opened your thread thinking it might be about the UK, Ireland or France - where I have more expertise)

Vienna was the last city on one of our road trips so we dumped the car when we got there. There is a good tram system in the center and there is a u-bahn (sort of subway) out to Schoenbrunn. We didn;t do Vienna woods (but I'm sure there are trains or day tours) - but we did do a boat tour to Melk Abbey which was fascinating.

And don;t worry about speakng German - it's not necessary. And the Concierge in your hotel can give you a street map as well as one for the trams and u-bahn.

Buy a 72 hr transit pass in Vienna, it give you unlimited travel on all U-bahn, Trams, and buses. The system is excellent, efficient, and totally safe. You'll need to use transit as many things (Schoenbrunn, Belvedere, Wienerwald) are not an easy walk. System is very easy to use and most speak a little English in Vienna

I agree with Operaman. Get a 72 hour pass. Makes things very easy. When I was in Vienna in 2004 we didn't even have to use the pass for turnstiles or anything like that in the U Bahn stations...unlike the London Underground or Paris Metro. But make sure you do have a ticket. The transportation &quot;police&quot; can check you at any time.
Our hotel was outside the ring but there were a couple of trams nearby that we used to get to the center in short order. We also used the tram that goes around the Ring just to have a nice &quot;tour&quot; around the city.
There was a U Bahn station not too far from the hotel which we used, as well. Schoenbrunn was an easy hop from there. Got off at the Schoenbrunn station and just followed the crowd to the palace. Neither my BF nor I speak German other than a few words like &quot;thank you&quot; and &quot;hello&quot;. We did fine.

LeeParis

Make sure you validate your pass in Vienna. Time stamp machine are located at all entrances to U-bahn stations.