VIENNA is a private guide necessary?
 

Would love some feedback on private guide for Vienna. Is it necssary? We will be there for 5 days in late June. Our first visit. Seems to me that there are so many attractions that we can just buy a ticket and take the tour offered and there are also many organized tours that I see offered as well.
Thanks for any and all comments, suggestions!!


Thanks, Judi

Of course not--that is why they have guide books.

I was in Vienna solo last year. I found the city very easy to navigate and it's pretty compact. I did everything on my own and saw pretty much everything I set out to see. I don't think private guides are necessarry, but if you want to use one or go on some walking tours, do what you feel comfortable with. Just don't forget to spend some time(okay a LOT of time) in the cafes. Thay have the best cakes in the world there!

Hi judi,

we spent 4 nights in vienna last summer and [apart from Biblical quantities of rain] had a pretty good time, without any need for a guide, private or otherwise. As well as the standard HOHO tour buses there is a fantastic public transport system, including the trams that go round the Innerstadt. you can get either tickets that cover the transport and give discounts on the museums, or ones that just cover the transport, which we thought were proably better.

one really good deal was the "Sissi" ticket available at the Hofburg palace. as well as covering the Hofburg, it gets you into the treasury [we weren't too bothered] and more importantly into the Schoenbrunn palace, thus avoiding the appalling queues that build up there. And it came at quite a good discount on the normal entry prices.

we also liked the emperor's furniture depository and our trip out to the top of the Kalhenberg followed by a walk through the vinyards stopping off at the Heuriger [wine taverns] to taste the local wines.

Get a good guide book and I'm sure you'll be fine.

regards, ann

Ps - if you click on my screen name, you can find my trip report from our visit to Vienna last year, which you may find helpful.

For Vienna there is no reason for a private guide - or even a tour IMHO. Most of the sights are in the center, are easily walked to - and there is a tram around the ringroad that will take you to several museums, palaces etc. We had no problem with our trusty guidebooks and a mini menu reader (although many of the dishes are obvious, with the same names in English). If you decide to visit Melk you might want to take the tour - which for us was a boat one way and a bus the other. (We would have driven ourselves if we had a car - but it was just some days in Vienna attached to a business trip.)