Things to do in Vienna: our travel guide to visit the austrian capital

Welcome to the city of Vienna! The capital of Austria but also one of the most beautiful cities in Europe if you ask me. With Benoit we lived in Vienna for 2 years between 2011 and 2013 and now we go back there very regularly to meet our Viennese friends but also to visit again this city that we love so much in all year round.

Are you planning a trip to Vienna for the holidays? Whether you are planning a few days getaway or a longer stay, you should find all the information you need on this page to prepare your trip to Vienna. At the end of the page you will also find all the articles we have written about our beloved little town of Vienna.

Map of our articles of Vienna

In all we stayed 2 years in Vienna (between 2011 and 2013) and have returned many times since. In order to make it a little easier for you to read our articles, we suggest you discover all our articles about Vienna in the map below.

Here is the map with all our articles about Vienna:

Show the map

The city of Vienna in some facts and numbers

Vienna is the capital of Austria. It is located in the very east of the country and is only a few dozen kilometers from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

Population: about 1.8 million inhabitants

It is by far the largest city in Austria (the whole country has only 8.8 million inhabitants) but strangely enough I have never felt Vienna to be such a "big" city. In fact Vienna is divided into many districts and some of them almost give us the impression of being in small towns apart... In short, I, who am not a big fan of cities, have never had the impression of living in a "big city" in Vienna.

Weather in Vienna

We don't necessarily think about it because Vienna is very "westernized" both by its reputation and modernity but geographically it is 100km further east than Prague (you would have said that????). In short, the climate in Vienna is definitely continental!

What does that mean? It means that in summer it is hot, very hot even sometimes! But on the other hand, winters tend to be quite cold believe me... Days at -5 / -10° are not an exception in the middle of January! Moreover, its geographical location also makes it quite exposed to the winds, so in winter it tends to accentuate the feeling of cold even more...

What's the best time to visit Vienna?

With what I just told you above, you probably think I'm going to tell you to avoid winter, right? Well, I'm going to do the opposite! Vienna in winter is really beautifull and fun! Once equipped with a good jacket and warm (and waterproof) shoes I always found that the city had a special charm during the coldest months of the year... Christmas decorations, Christmas markets, ice rinks in the city center, mulled wine stands everywhere and the best of all: the days when the city is covered with a fine white coat!

But then I can understand that visiting a city by -10° is not everyone's cup of tea... ;) The city also has its charms in summer when all Viennese and tourists relax on the banks of the Danube for a beer or a BBQ or in autumn when the wine season begins.

In order to help you make your decision about what's the best time to visit Vienna, I have prepared a series of articles about Vienna in the 4 seasons. Each article contains a short list of favorite activities to do over the months:

• Vienna in summer
• Vienna in autumn
• Vienna in winter
• Vienna in spring

Metro in Vienna: how to move around the city

To visit Vienna is really very easy! All you need is two things: your legs and a metro card! There are many buses running in Vienna but frankly if you are visiting the easiest way will really be to limit yourself to the metro network which is very well developed and super efficient!

Map of the metro lines in Vienna:

Options to buy the metro tickets

In Vienna I always found that they didn't make it much easier for tourists to explain the ticket machines... so here's a little table with prices to help you find your way around it.

As you can see above, the weekly card is the most cost-effective if you stay more than 3 days, but you should be wary because it is only valid from Monday to Monday and not from the validation day. Concretely if you buy it on a Saturday it will only be valid until Monday and therefore at this price it is better to take a 48H card...

Options to come to Vienna

Vienna has a very well connected airport and you can easily find really cheap flight tickets to Vienna from most European cities (for example, it is possible to find round-trip flights for less than 35€ from Paris).

The easiest way is to check out Skyscanner again. The more flexible you are on the dates, the more likely you are to find a cheap flight.

Personally when I try to go to Vienna I try, as much as possible, to take my tickets 2 to 3 months before the departure.

See prices on Skyscanner

Once you arrive at Vienna airport you have several options to reach the city center.

1. Taxi -> count 36€ (fixed price) between the airport and the centre (max 4 passengers)
2. CAT express train: the special airport express train... It's by far the fastest, but personally I find it too expensive and I admit I almost never take it. 12€ one way or 21€ round trip for 16 minutes of travel (circulates every 30 minutes)
3. The normal train: they don't advertise it much at the airport, but it does exist! It takes 25 minutes (compared to 16 minutes for the CAT) and also circulates every 30 minutes. Ticket price: 4,1€ (you can see why I never take the CAT) ;)
4. Buses (Vienna Airport Lines). Convenient if you have to go directly to the Donauzentrum or Schwedenplatz, but on the other hand it is 8€ the trip and 40 minutes of travel time.

Of course there are also the options of train and bus to come to Vienna which are certainly a little slower but much more ecological. So we really recommend that you take a look at the Flixbus site or the very good Seat61 site for trains.

Vienna in 3 days or a Week-end: things to see and do

Vienna is a beautiful city and it has a lot to offer whether it is for lovers of architecture, history, music, art or simply beautiful cities! We have written a lot of articles on the blog to help you plan your trip, including the seasonal articles we told you about earlier.

If "seasonal" activities are not your thing or if you simply prefer to focus on "the great classics" of Vienna then I suggest you take a look at our article A long Weekend in Vienna. We made a detailed program suggestion over 2 or 3 days including all the unmissable ones (in our opinion).

A few words of German vocabulary in Austria

In Austria, German is officially spoken. So the good news is that if you have done German at school you will have no trouble making yourself understood. On the other hand, be prepared to be a little surprised by some expressions and formulations... ;)

The Austrian accent can sometimes take very different forms, but the "pure" Viennese is quite difficult to understand for someone who is not 100% German-speaking. When I was working in Vienna I will always remember my first week of work when I left for the supermarket at noon and asked my colleagues if they needed something (I am 100% German-speaking, so to speak).

One of them answers me then: "Moii, das isch da lieb. Na i krieg gern ä wurschtkäs semmel und ä almdudler. Sollts kei haben nim was anders, ist ma Wurscht wa"

At that moment I stared at him for a long time waiting to see if he was going to laugh thinking he had made a joke on me by telling me nonsense... But no, he just wanted me to get him a bun with meat and a drink. :) There you go...