Here’s the second part of my blog post about our adventures in Vienna! If you’ve missed the first part, you can find it here. Happy reading!
Day 3
Right after we woke up on day 3 of our trip, reality hit us hard: we realized that we only really had a day and a half left in Vienna, and still a lot of places that we wanted to see. Therefore, we figured out that we had to STEP IT UP and filled up our schedules with a lot of sightseeing.
First of all, we went to see the Schönnbrunn Palace, aka the summer residence of the Habsburgs, the imperial family. We had to wait a little bit to get our tickets, then we were given an exact time to enter the palace for our visit of the interiors. Quick tip: if you’re planning on visiting the Schönnbrunn, try to come early in the morning so you can get your ticket for the visit right away!
Once again, we visited 44 imperial apartments, and once again we couldn’t take pictures but every room was just majestic. All the ballrooms, the dining rooms, and even the bedrooms were still decorated as they used to be 300 years ago: isn’t that just insane?! After that, we visited the orangery, the huge gardens and the Gloriette, a building located on top of a hill which unveils a gorgeous view of the Palace and the city.
The view from the Gloriette.
The gardens.
The best part of the garden, however, was the labyrinth. Giulia and I tried to walk through it, but we immediately got lost. It’s harder than it looks!
For lunch, we ate a Viennese hot dog at a hot dog stand located in the garden. Sorry Chicago, but I have to admit that Viennese hot dogs are just SO much better than Chicago style hot dogs!
Once we finished our tour of the Schönnbrunn, we went straight to another palace, the Belvedere. This one, however, is now an art museum and not an imperial residence anymore. Among the paintings shown, there were a few that you might recognize:
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.
Judith and the Head of Holofernes by Gustav Klimt.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David.
Lastly, the palace was just as beautiful as the works of art it hosted.
After we were done with the Belvedere, we went back to the apartment, had a quick snack, then went out again to hit the Prater, one of the most popular amusement parks in the world!
Many of our friends who had been to Vienna before suggested we’d check out the Riesenrad, a 65m tall Ferris wheel: we waited in line for about an hour, but the view on the park (and the city!) from the wheel was just magical!
After we got out of the Ferris wheel, we ate something quick and inexpensive at one of the cheap eats spots at the park. Then we decided to go on one of the rides at Prater. It was scarier than we thought it would be, but so much fun!
Day 4
Our last morning started pretty early: we woke up knowing that we still needed to hit two spots in town that we wanted to check out: the Hotel Sacher – where the original Sachertorte was invented – and the Albertina museum. We decided to see them in that order, so we could have some Sachertorte for breakfast!
For those of you who still don’t know about this delicacy, Sachertorte is a Viennese chocolate cake with layers of apricot jam and chocolate icing. Its recipe is still kept a secret and originated in Vienna during imperial times at the Sacher Hotel. I am not a huge fan of chocolate, but let me tell you, this is one lovely cake indeed. It is delicious.
We went to the hotel and although it was only 8.30am, we had to wait about a half hour to get a table. However, it was so worth it, since our breakfast looked like this:
Once we ate our bodyweight in chocolate cake, we left the Hotel Sacher and went to the Albertina museum, which opened at 10am and was just across the street.
Once again, although the paintings and works of art shown in the museum were lovely, what hit us the most were the interiors. In fact, since we went right when it opened, the museum was pretty much empty: therefore, we walked through empty ballrooms and halls that were just majestic.
Our favorite exhibit was one that was titled Monet to Picasso: definitely a collection worth checking out! Once we got done, we went back to the apartment to get our bags and checked out of our Airbnb.
Lastly, before we left to the airport, we met up with Tina again to grab a bite. We had brunch at Salonplafond, a restaurant located within the MAK museum. It was delicious – as I always say, ask the locals whenever you can: they always have their favorite restaurants around the city, and you can trust them more than TripAdvisor!
After munching on eggs benedict and omelets, we said goodbye to Tina and took a cab to the airport. We flew back to Milan around 5pm, very happy about our time spent in Vienna; we definitely left our heart there!
Overall Impressions and Tips
We absolutely LOVED Vienna. It is one of the most elegant places I have ever seen. The beauty of this city lies in its imperial past, and you are reminded of its history at every street and every corner. It is lovely!
Now some tips and useful information for my fellow travelers who desire to check out this European gem.
Tip #1.
Vienna is a generally safe city. You can walk around without fearing to be mugged, catcalled or approached by anybody, even at night – as far as downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods are concerned. With that said, it’s better to always be aware of your surroundings, especially right now, especially in big, European cities.
Tip #2.
You don’t have to stay in a hotel downtown, but you should choose to stay somewhere that’s a 15-20-minute walk from the city center. We stayed in District 8 – a really nice area that I highly recommend – and the location was perfect: it was close to the subway, close to many monuments and museums, and walking distance from the downtown area. It was also a lot cheaper than staying in a hotel downtown would have been. Which brings us to Tip #3.
Tip #3.
Stay in an Airbnb. I have used Airbnb for the past year and I have to say that I oftentimes prefer it to hotels because it really gives you so much freedom. We ate a good 3-4 meals at our Airbnb during our 4-day stay in Vienna and we definitely saved some money by doing so. The Airbnb was also cheaper than a hotel itself, bigger than a hotel room and it made us feel like locals. I’m all for staying in hotels when it’s worth it, but I don’t think it is for a trip to Vienna. Look for an apartment (or a private room – even cheaper!) in a good location. That’s all you’re really going to need.
Tip #4.
Check discounts and promotions. Many museums offer student discounts, even for non-European students. However, there are also two options that I suggest you look into, the Vienna Pass and the Vienna City Card. The first one is €99 and grants you access to pretty much all museums in the city. The second one, the Vienna Card, is actually a subway pass, but if you show it when buying tickets in a museum, it usually grants you a small discount (€1-€3). We bought the Vienna City Card for €24.90, which gave us unlimited access to the subway for 72 hours and gave us discounts in almost all of the museums. We were pretty satisfied with it!
That is all for our trip to Vienna, hope you liked these posts! Let me know what you think of them and do message me if you’re planning on visiting the city and need some advice!