I've always been interested in going to Vienna and I know it's a beautiful and cultured place in the center of Europe. Can anyone tell me what there is to do there for
2 days? Are there enough sights and things to do there or would be be better skipping
Vienna and finding a more "stimulating"
place to visit. A friend of mine thinks it would not be interesting enough for her.
We are also considering going to Prague and Budapest on this 3 city trip.
I'm interested in feedback please.
natjgc

To my mind Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in the world plus with only 1.6M people it is also not too crowded. I was only able to spend a day there but if you look at the austrian web site for Vienna you wil see there are plenty of things to do not least to look at their beautiful buildings. Just put on your walking shoes and take in with your eyes what this city has to offer.

I believe I'm in the minority here, but of the 3 cities you mention, I would rate Vienna and Prague very close to a tie for #1, and Budapest a clear #3. I found Vienna to be a beautiful, clean city, with very friendly people, good food, great beer, and tons of things to see and do.

Saint Stephens's Cathedral, the Hufburg, Schonbrunn Palace (Austria's Versailles) are all great places to visit. There are many other attractions as well. It is a very musical city, with classical concerts galore. My 3 days there were very enjoyable, and not nearly enough.

Larry M,

What was it about Budapest that make it a #3 in your opinion?

I used to not care to look at art. One day my wife dragged me to the Kunst-historiche Museum. Something about the surroundings, the spacing, the audio phones, the arrangement of the art made me comfortable, and able to better appreciate it. I recommend it highly, even if (or perhaps especially if) you don't care for art.

Vienna is a city whose beauty I simply was not prepared for. As perfect a Baroque masterpiece it is, I would think it would be more popular with Americans. (People seem to go to Paris and Prague a whole lot more). I agree that the Kunsthistorisches museum is stunning. I could forget about the art and just stare at the ceilings! Honestly, in terms of the building itself, it outshines the Louvre in my opinion. And I agree that, in terms of architecture, Budapest, which I enjoyed very much, does not come close to Vienna or Prague.

Depending on what you like to do, I doubt you'll find a much more "stimulating" city than Vienna! The place just oozes culture! There's music everywhere and such beautiful art. You can see a large collection of Klimt works at the Secession Museum, and as far as I'm concerned, the Schonbrunn Palace is a MUST! Just walking the streets and soaking in the atmosphere from the architectural splendor is thrilling. We were there a couple of years ago and found a lovely little restaurant on a side street -- I can still remember how delicious the soup was! We also split a sacher torte, which is another MUST. The previous poster's suggestion about checking out the Vienna site is an excellent way to get started. If you are interested in classical music, you could consider the Musikvarein, from where the New Year's Night concerts are televised. We saw the Mozart Concert Orchestra in the Gold Room there (this orchestra does not restrict itself to Mozart, however). You can also take a look at that famous ferris wheel featured in "The Third Man." I wish I were going too! Happy trip!!

They have a neat new feature available at the Kunsthistorische museum--you can print your own personal catalogue of your favorite paintings from the audio guide. As you tour the museum and look at the paintings on the audio guide, if one really catches your eye, you can bookmark it (up to 27 paintings). Then when you return the audio guide, the staff can download your bookmarks and print out a catalogue with a high res (color) copy of the paintings and accompanying text (basically what you heard about the painting on the audio guide). You can also customize the title page of the catalogue--as in "Created by XXX for XXX" or a "A Gift from Vienna for XXX" or whatever. A nifty souvenir. They didn't have it available last year, or perhaps I hadn't noticed it. Anyway, I did one this year--it's pretty cheap to do. Printing/binding takes about 10 minutes.

natjgc - Re: Budapest, I agree with Guy that part of it is the architecture ... there are a number of massive brown and gray stone buildings that made me feel like I was in the Communist block circa 1953. Just something about the atmosphere that made the city somehow less warm than Vienna or Prague. The people were generally nice, but in my experience at least, much more reserved than the Viennese.

There are some very nice areas along the river, and Castle Hill is beautiful. I did not DISLIKE Budapest, but having been there once, would not particularly care to return.

I appreciate all of your responses, they are very helpful but does anyone know about Berlin and Dresden?? Have
any of you ever been there? That is another trip we are considering....
I really need feedbck on this question.

do a search here for Dresden and you will get lots of posts. We're lucky that one of our Fodorites (Ingo) lives in Dresden and provides very helpful info.

My opinions seem to differ from the previous posters. We visited Prague, Vienna and Budapest in 2003 and liked Vienna the least. However, we did enjoy those things we did while there. I felt the people of both Prague and Budapest to be much friendlier and willing to help visitors. Also, Vienna was much more expensive. Incidentally, I hated Sacher tort; it tasted like dimly chocolate flavored sawdust!

I have a very long file on our trip. If you would like it, please e-mail me: [email protected]

We had a wonderful three days in Vienna, and we missed many of the "sights." We walked and walked, took the bus/tram that circles the city center, toured the opera house (we were staying adjacent to it), sat on the main drag (pedestrian zone) for coffee and ambience, had dinner in outside tables at or near the Sacher, I forget which, but wonderful (rich) food; went to one of the museums, and--our absolutely favorite stop (but then I'm a shrink) was Sigmund Freud's home/museum, near the university. We also attended services at the cathedral and heard beautiful, enthralling music there. We got standing room tickets for the opera and got through the first half.

I'd love to go again; there's much more to see and do!

Also, from Vienna, it's very easy to take public transportation to one of the wine growing areas surrounding the city. It's great fun to visit one of the "heurigers" where they serve locally grown wine along with wonderful Austrian/Viennese food.

We loved our visit to Vienna a few years ago. I thought the city was beautiful and we had a great time exploring the city and ducking into cafes every few hours for delicious desserts and coffee. We really didn't do a lot except for walking, as it was very cold when we were there, but we still managed to have a great time and I would love to go back. You could certainly fill two days pretty easily.

Tracy

We loved our visit to Vienna a few years ago. I thought the city was beautiful and we had a great time exploring the city and ducking into cafes every few hours for delicious desserts and coffee. We really didn't do a lot except for walking, as it was very cold when we were there, but we still managed to have a great time and I would love to go back. You could certainly fill two days pretty easily.

Tracy

p.s. forgive me if this posted twice...having some computer problems!

Funny you should ask. I did this exact trip four years ago. Flew to Praha, train to Vienna, then Budapest. First: hotels. In Vienna and Budapest it was Starlight Suites. They were about $90 then when the dollar was worth about 1.25 Euros; now it's just the opposite.
In Praha we stayed in the extremely charming Jewish quarter--you can walk to the town square with the "Atomic Clock." I will post later when I remember the name of the hotel--it was great. All included breakfast and that was great.
Staff in all three spoke perfect English and were exceptionally accommodating (even let us check email on their computers).
Each location was perfect. You can read anywhere about the attractions, but locations X3 is key. In all cities, underground and trams are outstanding--get a city pass which includes discounts or free entry to museums and other stuff.
Ours was a musical trip so we went to opera in all cities and caught some great jazz in Praha.
DO NOT take taxis anywhere. Some are crooks, but even in Vienna you wind up going around the Ring so public transportation and walking are far better and much, much cheaper.
The Budapest zoo is not to be missed--nothing like it. And it's in an area where you can take to the baths, get a rub down and have a great time.
Get the DK guide to each city--they even have pictures of meals you might order--which are great.
Vienna's historisches museum is the best anywhere (if I spelled it correctly). The audio guide (in English of course) is extremely flexible, informative and, I think they are free (or extremely inexpensive). The building if gorgeous and the Bruegel collection is peerless (have lunch or tea there).
Whilst in Vienna, do not fail to go to Bratislava--it's less than an hour away, has great shopping and adds a lot of color to the trip.
You should also take a tour to Melk from Vienna cruising the Danube--special--I have never seen so much gold as I saw in the church there.
All the churches are spectacular.
Vienna is most expensive of the three, and Praha may be up there now because they have joined the European Union. Budapest is ridiculously inexpensive--we saw two operas and a ballet for less than $50!
Wear walking shoes--there is cobblestone everyone and even with the best shoes your feet will experience fatigue.
Praha is gorgeous--just walk around. It was untouched by the war and Maria Theresa liked pastels so the town looks like something in the tropics. There is a faux Eiffel Tower reached by fanicular that is fun with a great fake museum. Take the tram to go there and you will get a taste of the neighborhoods.
Budapest suffers from the Soviet years more than the other two; it's dingy and maybe somewhat dirty, and the only place where I saw bums. But still, it was charming--the most beautiful opera house I've ever seen.
Sorry this is so long, but I could go on and on--great trip. We did make arrangements through Paul Laifer Tours--they arranged for pick up and delivery, the Melk trip and short city tours--great value and saved a lot of fumbling around. They have hotel choices that should satisfy anyone.

The most wonderful of cities, but two days will not do it the justice it deserves. I recommend at the very least 4 days.