Vienna 4 days -entertainment recommendations? day trip to Zurich possible?
 

We are flying into Frankfurt Thurs June 28th and are planning right now to take a 5:25 pm flight that evening to Vienna. We are booked for 4 nights at the Vienna Hilton (not Hilton Plaza). We want to experience local entertainment (have never been to an Opera performance) - I think we will miss Vienna Boy's Choir.. We want real seats not standing room only tickets.

We are up for and advice on restaurants near the hotel or easily reached by local transportation. We want to plan ahead and not be left with fewer options due to late planning once we arrive in Vienna.

Is is possible to take a day drip to Zurich or a Switzerland city?

IMHO Zurich is the last place you want to go - it's primarily a business city and there isn't really that much to see/do. You don;t mention the rest of your trip - but if you want a day trip from Vienna then head to Salzburg - which is a charming town with lots to see and do and will get you near;/into the mountains (Vienna is on the central european plain.)

As for opera tickets - I'm not sure if June is he correct season - it isn;t most places. You should contact your hotel concierge now to find out what entertainments are available that time of year - and ask them to reserve tickets (operas usually/often sell out far in advance - except perhaps for standing room).

Check Swiss train website sbb.ch/en for train times but Vienna to Zurich for the day sounds crazy to me, especially if you've only four days.

Just checked myself - 9 to 10 hours Vienna to Zurich one way.

<i>Is is possible to take a day drip to Zurich or a Switzerland city? </i>

Only by plane.

surely you jest!
That trip to Zurich takes just over 8 hours each way. Do you have a good map?

Take the train/boat combo trip to Melk Abbey.

The Vienna State Opera season ends on June 30

schedule

www.wiener-staatsoper.at

you can order tickets on line.

Best restaurant in Vienna is the the Stadt Park near your hotel

Steirereck

reservations needed.

They also have a secondary less formal dining at the same location
The Meierei

Not far from the hotel is Cafe Oberlaa-

pastry plus food.

easy walk to Cafe Schwarzenberg on the Ringstrasse .

for sightseeing
check

www.wien.info

Thanks for the restaurant and opera information.

Our trip in total as it stands:
arrive Frankfurt june 28th - FRA to Vienna
depart on Mon 7/1 for Tallinn (from Vienna right now)
Tallinn 7/1 - 7/7 for a group convention
7/7 - 7/14 Royal Carribean cruise out of Stockholm
(stops Latvcia, Gadke, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Visby)
7/14 - 7/17 - city ??
7/17 - Frankfurt Hilton Airport
7/18 flight back to U.S.

If we went to Zurich we would fly but it sounds like Salburg is the better option :)

you have only 2 whole days [June 29th and 30th] plus bits of june 28 th and July 1st, depending on what time you arrive and leave. Honestly, you really don't have time to be racing off to Salzburg, let alone Zurich. A half-day trip to Melk would be about it.

There is loads to see and do in Vienna - over 100 museums, the Cathedral, concerts, art galleries, the Ring, the horses, Palaces, etc. etc. etc. Why go there if you don't want to stay long enough to see them?

as for your extra week in July, are you ending back in Stockholm? do you want to see more of Scandanavia? or go back to Germany ? what about Munich? or Switzerland, since you seem keen to see Zurich?

Agree that since you really only have 2 days in Vienna going anywhere else doesn;t make a lot of sense (you gave the impression you have 4 full days in Vienna - when yuo really have 2 full days and part of 2 others - barely enough to scrtch the surface - esp since you want to do evening entertainments and presumably won't be up at 7 am the following days.

I suggest that you stay in Stockholm after disembarking your cruise on July 14 and fly from there to Frankfurt on July 17. After all, you only have three nights/two full days to spend between your cruise and the date when you have to be back in Frankfurt.

You are all correct we will get to Vienna on Thurs around lunch time and leave there early afternoon on Monday.

post cruise we are considering Copenhagen at this point. For Tues July 17th we will take a flight from whatever we are to get there around 4 pm to meet some friends for dinner.