Vienna – September 2, 2017
Planning
Our main goal of the trip was to see Vienna and to also spend some time in Budapest and Prague. We looked first at river cruises but found them to be too expensive. Besides that, Prague isn’t on the Danube so we would either need to exclude it, or we would need to take a land transfer from Nuremberg in order to get to Prague from the other cities. We then explored taking the train to all 3 destinations and found that each leg would only cost around $100 for the two of us. Taking the train would also provide the flexibility of staying as long as we wanted in each of the three stops. Since Vienna sat between Budapest and Prague, if we traveled to each of the 3 cities in succession, then the leg between Budapest and Prague would be very long, approximately 6 and a half hours. We really didn’t look forward to an entire day of travelling on the train so instead we decided to make Vienna the focal point and to return to it after visits to the other two cities. The four legs ended up to be about $450 for the two of us.
A couple of helpful details about the OBB ticket purchase. For 6 Euros, we were able to reserve a seat, otherwise there was no guarantee that you would have a seat during the trip. We definitely didn’t want to be caught without a seat for the 3+ hour train rides, and also, we would be able to choose seats together that were convenient for us. We chose side by side seats that were very close to a luggage rack. We still had a small window for change, since the tickets were refundable as long as you didn’t click the “Get tickets now” button on the website to print them out. We didn’t do that until right before the trip. We found tickets for the train here.
We chose to use the train to get between Vienna, Budapest, and Prague
We ended up getting 3 separate hotels in Vienna. One for the main initial stay, one when arriving back from Budapest, and one for when we arrived back from Prague. The last two stays were only for a single night. We booked our initial stay at the Vienna Marriott. The Marriott is right across the street from Stadtpark and more importantly sits right on the tram line that circles the inner city of Vienna. This tram will get you to all of the main sites located in Vienna. It was also a short walk to the underground train station as well. Our second hotel was at the Guesthouse Vienna, which was very conveniently located right across the street from the Albertina museum. Compared to the western feel of the Marriott, the Guesthouse felt much more like a European Boutique hotel with only 39 rooms. Our final stay was at the Vienna Hilton. This hotel is located right across the street from the express train station that took us back to the airport. The station has a full check-in area where we could check in and drop off our bags. Awesome location when getting up early to head back home. When we arrived in Vienna, we came to this same station, and walked across the park to our Marriott hotel.
Express train from the airport. Station was a 15 minute walk from the Marriott
This trip had alot of moving parts to it and we needed to make sure that we had everything properly planned. We used our trusty poster board with stickers to lay out the activities for each of the days including the travel days by train to the different cities. This simple, non techie planner allowed us to make easy changes to our daily schedule. This was also the first trip that we utilized our Google Map trip planner. We used a different layer for each day of our trip showing train stops and places to visit for that day. We also had another layer that we used just for restaurants. This allowed us to quickly bring up our Google map on our phone to see where the best pre-researched places to eat were in any given area.
Our very non-technical planning board for the trip.
Vienna
We had done some Vienna early preparation before the actual trip. We found the Vienna Pass that gave us access to several attractions for 99 Euros. We also purchased the Vienna Travel Card from the same company. This card gave us access to all of the Vienna transportation services for a 72 hour period. The 72 hour travel card was 16.50 Euros. There were shorter durations for this card, but the 72 hours matched the length of our stay so we went with it.
From the Airport, we caught the express train or City Airport Train (CAT) into Vienna. The train station was on the other side of the Stadtpark from our hotel so we walked across the park with our bags to the Marriott. It was an easy walk, and the park was filled with people.
After checking in and grabbing a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant, we set out to make use of the rest of our day. As we usually like to do, we try to take some sort of guided transportation that would give us a feel of the area. We decided to take the Ring Tram, which is a tourist tram that takes you around the perimeter of the central city. Almost all of Vienna’s attractions are located close to this ring, which at one time was Vienna’s outer wall. The tram has an audio recording that gives you information as you pass the different sites. The walk to the Ring Tram stop was about 10 minutes and the tram ride which looped us around the city’s ring was about 30 minutes. Note, that this ride would normally cost around 12 Euros each time you take it and is not part of the Travel Pass. One free ride on it did come with the standard Vienna pass so we used that. From that point forward, we would be taking Trams 1 and 2 to travel on this same path around the inner city.
Catch the Ring tram near Schwedenplatz about a 10 minute walk from the Marriott
Things to see
Hofburg Palace
As mentioned above, the Ringstrasse circles the city of Vienna. You can take trams 1 and 2 to effectively cover the entire ring. Tram 2 is what we took from our hotel to get to Hofburg Palace. Hofburg Palace will likely be one of your first stops when visiting Vienna. You can buy a single admission ticket into the Royal Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Silver Collection. You can also gain entrance by having a Vienna Pass, which we had purchased for the trip. All of these separate museum areas gave us a very interesting history of the day to day life of the royal family. The Sisi museum was especially interesting since it was devoted to Austria’s beloved Sisi, Empress Elisabeth of Austria who was the wife of Franz Joseph. The museum and her rooms were beautifully presented and did a great job in telling her life story in an engaging way.
The beautiful exterior of the Hofburg Palace
The Imperial Silver Collection was also very impressive. This tour further reinforced the opulence of this family and displayed beautiful dinner services, center pieces and plates that were used by the royal family. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in the other two sections of the museum. They were only allowed in the Imperial Silver Collection.
Table settings and center pieces in the Imperial Silver Collection
With a separate ticket, you can also visit the Imperial Treasury. This museum contains the crown jewels of the Hapsburg dynasty. As you might expect, we saw jewel covered crowns, necklaces and other pieces of beautiful jewelry. Also, swords and various garments worn by the royal family.
Part of the collection at the Imperial Treasury
For us, the most interesting things to see were the religious items that the Hapsburgs were able to collect. We saw thorns from Christ’s crown, a spike from his cross, and a piece of the cross that was used to crucify him.
One of the religious items included part of the cross used to crucify Jesus
We also came across the mythical Unicorn horn. The horn, which is actually a Narwhal tusk, was thought to be a Unicorn Horn and was very valuable in the 17th century.
Thought to be a Unicorn Horn, this was actually a Narwhal tusk
After our visit to the Hofburg Palace, we started walking toward the Albertina Museum. On our walk, we found a beautiful garden behind the Hofburg, containing the iconic statue of Mozart. This walk through the peaceful green park was much nicer than taking the busy street.
The Mozart Statue behind the Hofburg Palace
While walking, we were also able to find a great restaurant called the Brasserie Palmenhaus. The restaurant is set up like an indoor nursery with numerous plants growing inside and windows up above and around the restaurant. The Schnitzel here was huge and easily covered the plate.
Great food at the Brasserie Palmenhaus restaurant
Albertina Museum
The Albertina Museum was once one of the Habsburg’s largest residential palaces. It now hosts a great collection of paintings by some of the most famous artists in the world. There are plenty of modern works by Picasso, Monet, Degas, and others in their permanent collection. We especially enjoyed the work by Monet and Matisse. We only had the afternoon, but you could easily spend the entire day looking through the museum.
Portrait of a Lady with Cape and Hat by Klimpt
Parrot Tulips by Matisse
One of the paintings that we really enjoyed was the Water Lily Pond by Monet. I’m always amazed by all of the impressionists how they can create something so beautiful with their well placed brush strokes. I sometimes like to photograph these paintings up close just to capture the brush strokes in detail. I also like, for some reason, to photograph their signature on the paintings as well.
The Water Lily Pond by Monet
There are several Palace state rooms that are restored to their original state. These beautiful rooms would probably be worth seeing on their own, but provides an additional incentive to visit this museum.
Beautiful Staterooms at the Albertina
Across the Ringstrasse from the Hofburg, you will find the Kunsthistorisches Museum. This is another beautiful museum contained in a palatial building. We went there to see the famous Salt Cellar by Cellini. This is a golden salt cellar from the 16th century and its estimated worth is about $65 million dollars. It was stolen and went missing until it was found again in a forest near Vienna. The museum also holds other fabulous pieces of art as well.
Salt Cellar by Cellini
Tower of Babel by Bruegel
Across the plaza is the Natural history museum. The museum contains pretty standard exhibits for a natural history museum like rocks and fossils. If you’re in the area, it’s worth a look inside just for the amazing architecture of the building, especially in the main staircase. Both the Kunsthistorisches and Natural History museums have amazing grand staircase areas that alone make them worthwhile to visit. Once again, having the Vienna Pass allows you to drop in to some of these museums without worrying about staying long enough to get your money’s worth.
Beautiful Grand Staircases at the Kunsthistorisches and the Natural History Museum
St. Stephen’s Cathedral is right in the heart of downtown Vienna and was an easy walk from our hotel. This medieval Gothic Cathedral has phenomenal looking architecture both inside and out. It is one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe and was erected on the ruins of two previously existing churches during the period 1137 – 1147. We didn’t have time, but you can apparently walk up the spiral staircase to the top of the tower for some great views of Vienna.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Also in central Vienna is St. Peter’s Catholic Church. To be honest, from the outside this church doesn’t look very impressive. It is small, with a blue dome between two small towers. However, when you walk inside, you’re eyes will widen at the beautiful baroque interior. You’ll find intricate design and detail throughout the church and the fresco on the dome is spectacular.
St. Peter’s Catholic Church
The Metro/Underground train system in Vienna works well, and is similar to what you would find in other large cities in Europe. Each metro line is numbered and is clearly designated in the underground terminals. Just follow the signs to whatever endpoint that your stop is on.
Schonbrunn Palace
For Schonbrunn Palace, catch the Green line (U4) at Stadtpark, which is right around the corner from the Marriott, and get off at the Schonbrunn stop, which is only a few minute walk from the front entrance. Make sure to see all of the gardens when you’re at Schonbrunn. There is a train that will take you around the entire perimeter of the gardens. The view from the top of the hill back to the Palace is worth the $10 Euro for the train. You can also hike to the top of the hill if you have the time. We chose to take the train up the hill, then walked back down to get a close up view of the gardens.
Take the train to the top of the hill for spectacular views of Schonbrunn Palace.
Belvedere Palace
On the way back from Schonbrunn, we transferred to a Metro train that took us to the Quartier Belvedere station. From there it was a 15 minute walk to Belvedere Palace. The Belvedere is split into two buildings, the upper and lower Belvedere, with a large garden separating the two. The Garden between the two baroque palaces is gorgeous and well maintained. Several statues line the path between the buildings.
The Belvedere Palace
Beautiful Garden separates the upper and lower Belvedere Palaces
Beautiful Interior of the Belvedere Palace
We were mostly interested in the Upper Belvedere since it contained the work by Klimt, namely one of his most famous pieces of art, The Kiss. As expected, this display was especially crowded. There was a tour group in front of it and they took turns with different groups standing right in front of it for pictures. Finally, they moved on and we had some time to see it up close and to take some pictures.
The Kiss by Klimpt
There is a restaurant that had great Yelp reviews that was right outside the Belvedere called the Salm Brau. It was a bit early for dinner, but since we were near the restaurant, we decided to go ahead and have dinner. Since it was early, we had no trouble being seated since the restaurant was only half full. The Yelp reviews said that this restaurant was a meat lovers paradise. It didn’t disappoint, our Ribs and Meat sampler plate were fantastic. This is a great place to eat if you’re near the Belvedere.
Great meal at the Salm Brau
Melk Abbey
We took one tour while we were in Vienna, and that was to Melk Abbey. This was an all day tour, starting with a bus ride to Spitz, where we caught a boat that took us directly to Melk Abbey. We considered putting together our own self guided trip, but decided that the 158 Euros for both of us was worth it. The bus ride was scenic as we passed through the grape vineyards along the Danube. We were then treated to a boat ride up the Danube that included a really good lunch. When we arrived at Melk, we took a short bus ride up the hill to the Abbey.
Departing our boat in Melk
The Melk Abbey tour was great, especially the library which was set up in 1735 and holds roughly 80000 leather bound medieval manuscripts, many of them hand written. The Baroque architecture of the Abbey is stunning and the ceiling frescoes are beautiful.
A view of the Abbey and the surrounding area from atop the viewing platform.
Beautiful interior architecture and ceiling frescoes
The views from the Abbey of the surrounding areas were spectacular. There is a viewing platform near the entrance. Climb the stairs to the top for some fantastic views of the town and Wachau valley below. You can walk into the gardens to the back of the abbey for a great view of the Danube.
Views of Melk from Melk Abbey
The Food
There are a countless number of cafes in Vienna but to play the part of tourist, we were interested in trying out the famous ones like Landtmanns, Cafe Central, cafe Mozart, and Cafe Sacher. In all of these cafes, you can expect to get coffee along with an amazing selection of sweets.
Make sure to visit all of the famous cafes in Vienna
Coffee and dessert at Cafe Mozart
We also found some really good restaurants in Vienna as well. Reinthaler’s Beisl is conveniently located near Stephansplatz in the inner city and provides traditional Viennese food. We tried the sausage and of course the schnitzel and it was outstanding.
Dinner at Reinthalers Beisl
On our travel day, we took a cab to the train station. There, everything was well marked and we easily found our platform for the train to Budapest. The train was comfortable, and there was plenty of room on the train. We were still happy that we had pre-purchased our seats so we didn’t need to worry about finding seats during the trip. We put our luggage on the provided racks, and had seats near our luggage for the entire trip. We were off on the next leg of our journey.
Comfortable ride to Budapest with convenient luggage racks
