Vienna trip report
 

I just got back last night from a 7 day trip to Vienna and Prague.

I will start with Vienna on this thread and write another on Prague later.

First of all I LOVED Vienna. My trip started alone, I was meeting my friend at the hotel. On the plane I met a young Swiss girl who told me that the bus would be the best way to get to my hotel. She went with me to the bus and walked me to my hotel. The bus cost 6 Euro and was a beautiful, short walk to the Konig Von Ungarn. The bus stop was Schwedenplatz.

The Hotel Konig Von Ungarn: This was awesome. I loved the staff, the location, and the room. Only complaint was a wimpy hairdryer. Another great thing about this hotel is that they do not overcharge for phone calls. I could call home direct for 20 cents a minute. Double room was 188 euro.

My flight arrived at 7:05, and I was in my room by 8:20. This was partly due to the fact that I took fodorite advice and had only carryon luggage.

Sights in Vienna: This is not of course, a complete list of all I did in Vienna or all the sights, just the ones I have a comment on.

Hofburg: Great to just walk around. If you can only do one thing, The Sisi museum is combined with the Silberkammer and Imperial apartments. I loved it. Cost: 7.50

Kunsthistorisches museum: I'm not a real art lover, or should I say I wasn't before I went to this museum. The audio guide brought it to life. We spent 3 hours there and I regretted not having more time.
Thanks to Elaine for suggesting the Bruegel room if you were short on time. The atmosphere alone was worth the trip to the museum.

Schonnbrunn: I loved it. My only tip is that if you are on a budget, you can go to Schonnbrunn and walk all around, go up to the Gloriette and gardens all for free. You just can't go inside or climb the steps up the Gloriette. I went in and it was worth the ticket, so I do recommend going in.

Museumsquarter: Even if you aren't going to the museums, this area is a great place to wander- relax on the contemporary pink "chairs" and look around. Then make sure you go to the Spittelburg quarter to wander around, it is behind the Museumsquarter.

Spanish riding school: I went to the practice, you don't need to buy tickets ahead of time. If I had it to do over, I would splurge for tickets to the actual show. I loved just being in the arena but the horses don't do any jumps and although there is music they are not performing to the music. It was still worth it and I would recommend seeing this.

Day trip: Melk abbey, Durnstein and Krems. We got lucky and hooked up with 4 other women who had book a driver for this trip so we tagged along. The driver took us to Melk, showing us Vienna sights and telling us history tidbits along the way. After some time at Melk, he put us on the boat to Durnstein. Then he showed us around Durnstein and dropped us off at the Hotel Schloss Durnstein for lunch. After lunch we wandered on our own, shopped and went to the prison on the hill where Richard the lion hearted was kept. It was worth the hike.

Next, he drove us to Krems where we stayed for a about an hour before heading back. It was a great day.

The days that I was in Vienna were April 30-May 3 and it was uncrowded and the weather was perfect- high 60's to 75 with about 20 minutes of rain.

Staying near Stephansdom was great because at night they had entertainment outside- acrobats, mimes and musicians, and we went into Stephansdom (free) about 4 times, seeing something new every time.

One more random, jet-lagged, comment.
The tap water in Vienna is delicious and safe. I filled my water bottle daily from the hotel room, as advised by hotel staff.

Hi
Glad you enjoyed your visit. It wasn't I who recommended the Bruegel room specifically, but yes,, the Kunst museum has many treasures and is well worth a visit.

You know, when I got back from Vienna I posted here that I liked it but wasn't thrilled. Very cold weather and snow may have affected my feelings, not sure.
But since I've been back I've been thinking that I will definitely give it another try some day. Welcome back.

Elaine,
Even if you weren't the one who recommended that room, I found your reports to be very useful. I am pretty sure it was you who said the English audio guide at Prague castle was useless, and I got it anyway. You were right, it was useless! One reason that I didn't go into too much detail on this report is that your reports really provide all the necessary info. I just added some of my individual thoughts.

I probably preferred Vienna to Prague. That was because I got scammed in Prague and hated my hotel. Little things like that, and weather, will often cloud your perception of a place.
Also, Prague was hosting the World ice hockey championships and was crowded.
Everything was just perfect in Vienna.
I still liked Prague a lot and would highly recommend it but would just do it differently next time.
Terry

HI
Have you posted your Prague report separately? I'm curious about which hotel you didn't like.

Yes, I WAS the one who recommended against the audio guide at Prague Castle, at least we now have two recommendations against it.

I, like you, am not an art lover. But I, like you, am considering a change of heart after the K-H-Museum.
Did you have lunch there? Nice ambiance.
Their audio guide seemed to me to make a tremendous difference in appreciating the art. Kudos to the museum staff for describing 100% of the paintings on the audio guide. other museums in the world take note: it seems like many museums only have selected items on the audio.
Glad you enjoyed Vienna as much as we did.

Elaine,
I have been too jet lagged to write my Prague report. It will be longer than the Vienna report and I need to be awake. I want to really think before I bash this hotel(pension) as I may have hated it because the Konig Von Ungarn was so nice. I'll try to put it together tomorrow.

Tomboy, Glad to see you enjoyed the Kunst museum too. I wouldn't have gone at all but the friend I was with really wanted to. We didn't have lunch there because we arrived just before 3 and had to leave at 6:00. That would have been nice.

I think the great audioguides in Vienna were the reason I didn't listen to Elaine's advice about Prague castle. I didn't understand
how they could be bad. The audioguide at the Sisi museum and Imperial apartments was also interesting.