Keiracaitlyn

Greetings!

I have decided on a last-minute trip to Vienna. I will be arriving the evening Sunday August 28th, and leaving mid-morning Thursday September 1st. I've already booked my flight and hotel. I will be traveling solo. This is my first time in Vienna.

I have 3 full days in Vienna (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday). My interests are art and architecture. I'm a mental health counselor, so the Freud tour is a must. While I am interested in Vienna's music, I'm going during the symphony and opera off-season so I will not be focusing on those this trip. Also the horses for the Spanish Riding School are off elsewhere during my stay, so I will catch them another time. Here is my first draft itinerary.

Monday:
St Stephan's cathedral - 8am
Hofburg Palace/Imperial Treasury/Butterfly House - 9am to 12:30pm
Context Travel Tour - Intro to 1st district - 1:30pm to 4:30pm

Tuesday:
Karlskirche - 9am
Belvedere Palace - 10am
Context Travel Tour - Freud - 1pm to 3:30pm
Albertina Museum - 4pm
Vienna State Opera - 6pm

Wednesday:
Context Travel Tour - Ringstrasse - 10am to 12:30pm
Schonbrunn Palace - 1:15pm
Leopold Museum - 3:30pm
Prater - 5pm
Kunsthistorisches - 7pm

I would like to see Hunderwasserhaus, but am having trouble trying to fit it into the schedule.

I would love any feedback about its feasibility, order, etc.

Holly

fourfortravel

On Wednesday you seem to be backtracking a bit, and perhaps shortchanging your sights of interest. Schönbrunn to Leopold will take ~30 minutes on the U-Bahn, so, assuming you've purchased your ticket online beforehand you've ~2 hours to tour the palace (which takes an hour), the gardens, maze, labyrinth, and walk to the Gloriette. That's quite a bit.

Accounting for travel time to Prater, you'll have about 75 minutes at Leopold.

From Prater you backtrack to KHM (which is near Leopold), but unless you have a private, after-hours tour, the museum will be closed. Why not see KHM after Leopold, then spend the evening at Prater?

Keiracaitlyn

I had thought KHM is open until 9pm on Wednesdays, which is why I put it on that day. But I just looked again and it is open late on Thursday instead.

I could move Prater to Monday evening. That is still going to leave me short on time needed to see Schonbrunn and the museums on Wednesday though, it sounds like.

di2315

You've set a great itinerary to see classical Vienna, but by missing out on Hundertwasser, you are missing the modern contrast.

Google spittelau waste incineration plant to see what I mean!
Di

nytraveler

I'm sorry but for me this would be way too structured. We much prefer to play things by ear - except for places requiring set reservations. And then spend some time just exploring. And we don;t generally do tours except for walking tours of a limited area.

Also it seems like you are missing a couple of hours at Schoenbrunn.

But it'd your trip and if you're happy with it - go for it.

(Don't miss the Venus of Willendorf, 25,000 years old, if you can help - but believe it's in the Naturhistorisches museum.)

fourfortravel

Could you drop the Context Tour on Monday? You could spend the afternoon at Schönbrunn, leaving Wednesday free for the KHM and Leopold. Also in MuseumsQartier (where the Leopold is location) is Architetekturzentrum Wien (azw.at), which offers a pictorial history of Vienna's architecture and interesting temporary exhibits (last summer it exhibited Hitler's architectural plans for Vienna). AZW is open daily until 1900.

Keiracaitlyn

Di, yes absolutely! I am trying to figure out where to put it on my itinerary. Any suggestions?

NYtraveler...I understand your point. My first trip to a city is always highly structured and "hit the ground running". On subsequent trips, my pace slows down tremendously to soak in more of the atmosphere. Context tours are small 3-6 people, and they add such life and color to what I'm viewing that I have throughly enjoyed them in other cities. I'm not a fan of the large group walking tours that are very generic. I will look into seeing the Venus!

Fourfortravel, yes I can change anything on my schedule except the Freud tour on Tuesday. Dropping the tour on Monday to see Schonbrunn sounds like a good idea, and leaves room for the museums on Wednesday. I will definitely look into AZW. Thank you for the recommendations!

fourfortravel

Hundertwasser Haus is a private residence, so you can only see the exterior. If you're a morning person, it's easy enough to reach by 0830 (or earlier) on Wednesday to enjoy from the outside. It looks like your Ringstraße tour meets at Palais Coburg, which is about a 15-20 minute tram ride, with connection, from Hundertwasser, so you would have about 30 minutes or so to explore the village which opens at 0900, and that's really more than enough time. You would not have time to tour KunstHaus Wien, though. 'Tis an ambitious schedule, but it would work for someone who hits the ground running.

Hope this is helpful.

Keiracaitlyn

Thanks for all the feedback! Here is my second draft:

Monday:
St Stephan's cathedral - 8am
Hofburg Palace/Imperial Treasury/Butterfly House - 9am to 12:30pm
Schonbrunn Palace - 1:30pm
Prater - 6pm

Tuesday:
Karlskirche - 9am
Belvedere Palace - 10am
Context Travel Tour - Freud - 1pm to 3:30pm
Albertina Museum - 4pm
Vienna State Opera - 6pm

Wednesday:
Hundertwasser Haus - 8am
Context Travel Tour - Ringstrasse - 10am to 12:30pm
Kunsthistorisches - 1:30pm
Leopold Museum - 4:30pm
Architetekturzentrum Wien 6pm
Naturhistorisches museum - 7:30pm

fourfortravel

Your itinerary is ambitious, but you seem to have a good spirit about it. If you have not already considered the Vienna Card, take a look at the attraction discounts to see if the ROI is worth it (plus, it covers your transportation within Vienna and offers a minuscule discount on the most expensive airport transfer). At the Albertina, Belvedere, Butterfly House, Hofburg, KHM, Leopold, Natural History, and other destinations on your itinerary there are admission discounts, albeit it also almost negligible in some cases, but it could all add up!

Keiracaitlyn

Yes, I plan to get the Vienna Card with travel option, since it gives me free entrance to about half of things I plan to see (KHM, Leopold, Albertina, St. Stephan's cathedral, Freud museum, Naturhistorisches museum, etc.) as well as access to the on-off bus.

My itinerary is very ambitious; although I make these detailed plans, I always give myself permission to change my mind and slow down as needed!

annhig

Does the Vienna card cover the Hofburg and the Schoenbrunn? if not get a Sissi ticket which covers both and will get up past the long queues at the Scheonbrun. it covers mostly everything there[ including all the rooms of the palace] apart from the zoo.

I wouldn't dream of criticising your style but IMO you are missing something by not spending at least a little time in a cafe or Heurige [tavern selling its own wine] just sitting and drinking in the atmosphere.

hope you enjoy your trip, in any event.

Tabernash2

The Lipizzaner stallions may not be performing on weekends, but you can still see them at their Morning Exercise with Music. It is held in the same beautiful indoor arena w/chandeliers, as the performances.

Tickets are sold there, I don't know if you can buy on-line. First come, first served. General admission. I think they are about $17/each, which includes a tour of the stables.

DD and I attended the Morning Exercise and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the younger horses being trained, and some more mature stallions learning new maneuvers.

They do not perform the 'airs above the ground' moves, in the exercises. The Riding School reserves the those, the hardest work for the horses, to the weekend shows.

It's well worth attending. If you go, try to get a seat on the ground level, so you can see better, than from above looking down. I'd love to be one of the people who get to sit in front of the fireplace in the royal box seats.

Tabernash2

You probably don't want any new ideas, with your busy schedule.
But, I wanted to recommend seeing the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg, which are beautiful and extraordinarily lavish, as you can imagine.

Museums get boring to me. I prefer seeing the art and artistic items in their homes, as they were used and enjoyed. Makes it much more relatable, IMO.

https://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing...ial-apartments

One tickets gets admission to the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum, and the Royal Silver collection.

Sorry to confuse the subject!! I liked Vienna a lot, and get to return this September. Yay.

Keiracaitlyn

Annhig, you bring up good points. However, I am highly allergic to cigarette smoke (well, any kind of smoke), so I'm not likely to dwell in places that allow smoking like cafes. I saw that Austria is working towards a ban by 2018, so perhaps when I return for the more leisurely focus on music, I will be able to better enjoy the cafes. I do not drink coffee, but I realize other beverages can be purchased there. Is there a completely non-smoking one that you would recommend? I did see that Cafe Central and Palmenhaus were recommended elsewhere.

Also, I do not drink alcohol, so a tavern holds little appeal for me.

Tabernash2, thank you for the info about the morning exercises.I will probably still postpone it until return trip, but now I can think on it a little more, or have it as an alternative activity.

I agree that museums can get a bit boring after a bit. I will look at the Imperial Apartments too while there.

Keiracaitlyn

For clarification, I am getting the Vienna Pass with travel option, not the Vienna Card.

annhig

some cafes do have outside areas I believe, Keirracaitlyn, but I can't help you with any smoke free ones - Four4travel who lives in Vienna may have better information than I. I feel your pain -whilst I am not allergic I have got used to no smoking in public places and it's difficult to cope when things are different.

As for Heurige - the atmosphere is quite uniquely Viennese IMO but if you don't drink at all then it may not be for you.

fourfortravel

Viennese cafes...you'll find that most of the popular cafes within the InnerStadt are now "Nicht Rauchen" (smoke-free) indoors (that includes Hawelka, Landtmann, Central, Griensteidl, etc.), but the outside tables may still be fair game for the most part.

As for Viennese establishments being entirely, "smoke free" by 2018, I'll be curious to see where that goes. The measures in place are not even enforced as it is, and the push to delay the smoking ban to 2018 passed by a wide margin. And with the pending possibility of establishments being able to set their own dates for outside seating between 1 November and 30 March, restaurant owners will be loathe to lose the business of smoking customers, especially because they pay a permit fee for the outdoor space. At the height of the Christmas market season that translates to serious revenue loss.

Further, the Viennese Cafe is a declared UNESCO treasure; part of that culture is allowing patrons (not to be confused with tourists) the ability to puff away while lingering over their torte and cafe. Other travelers to Vienna are troubled by the presence of dogs everywhere, including restaurants. It is what it is.

I agree with annhig about the heuriger; part of the experience is savoring a particular vintner's wines while enjoying good food in the company of friends in the garden (and, off the top of my head, I can not think of a traditional heuriger that would "dare" declare their garden a smoke-free zone.)