3days in vienna

What are you interested in? Art, history, landscapes, architecture, food and drink, clubbing?

History and landscape mostly and a little architecture would be nice :)

My itinerary for seeing most of the major attractions over three days are as follows, the time frame to get between attractions is an estimate (compiled from Google and my friends who've been there), and the prices are current last time I checked (between a week to a month ago as I was planning).

Day 1:

Austrian National Library (7 euro), then 16 minute walk to Karlskirche (church), a 10 minute walk to the Maria Teresa Monument, a 30 minute (I can't remember bus or walk) to Prater (kind of like a museum park place but there's also some good views of the city I'm told and it's just a fun place to be).

If you loop back to the library instead of going to Prater or afterward, it's a 20 minute walk to the Naschmarkt (a market). There's 3 tram lines in the central Ringstrasse loop, the yellow one is most popular with tourists (I'm told) and easy to get between places.

The St Stephen's church is a 12 minute walk from the library (5 euros). A 24 minute walk will take you to see the Hindertwasser Village.

The Schonbrunn Palace is a huge attraction. It's 13.30 euros and inside there's the Roman Ruins, and two other major attractions I want to see inside but I can't read my own handwriting from my notes! From the palace, it's a 4 minute walk to the carriage museum (still part of Schonbrunn). After, it'll take a 40 minute ride to Belvedere Palace (26 euro).

Day 2:

The Narrenturm (old hospital building), then a 14 minute walk to the Kunsthistorisches Wen Museums.

If you want to get out of thee city, there's an hour train from the central station to the Liechstenstien castle, then a 17 minute walk to the Seagotte Hintebrul (underground lake).

My third day in Vienna is a daytrip to Bratislava but if I can't get to all those places in 2 days then it's a buffer for me.

I suggest you download a map of attractions map guide that'll let you visualize and physically orientate where the attractions and how closely they're clustered so you can plan how to see them in order. It's how I plan my sightseeing and worked for me in the past.

There's 3 tram lines in the central Ringstrasse loop, the yellow one is most popular with tourists (I'm told) and easy to get between places.

The "yellow one" is a specialist sightseeing tour that charges extra high fares. Normal tram routes 1 and 2 both use the Ring, but do not go all the way round, so you need to change at some point to do a complete circuit.

I think Schonnbrunn is a must see, in my opinion. Note that the Roman Ruins are not actual Roman ruins, but rather, is a sculpture built in 1778 (still pretty cool). The grounds are stunning, the palace is gorgeous, the views from the top of the Gloriette of Vienna are fantastic. I'd plan to get there when it opens, as it is quite popular. It's a very easy metro ride outside of the city center (take the Ubahn to the Schonnbrunn stop). Plan to spend at least a couple of hours there.

After that, I think it really depends on what your interests are. Vienna has many excellent museums. Both the Kunsthistoriches (art history) and the Naturhistoriches (natural history) museums are excellent. The Hofburg museum/apartments/treasury (apartment is maybe the greatest understatement of all-time) are great (but this could possibly be a little much in the way of ornate palaces if you are doing Schonnbrunn too).

Definitely see St. Stephen's Cathedral, it's historically significant, and Rick's book does a great job of detailing the high points inside.

If you can see a show at the Opera (we were unable to), I would do it if this interests you. Alternatively, take a tour of it, which we did. It can be tricky to get tickets - check the schedule to the left of the operahouse (when facing the front) for when when tickets go on sale, and get in line 30 minutes early.

Another thing I'd highly recommend is getting out of the city center and enjoying an evening at a heuriger for dinner. These are family run wineries/restaurants on the outskirts of Vienna proper. Most have ample outdoor seating and often feature live music. The wine is great, the food is great - follow Rick's advice on picking one. We went to two in our three nights in Vienna!

If you aren't sick of palaces, Belvedere Palace is really beautiful too, we really enjoyed it.

If you like food markets, check out the Naschmarkt (southwest of Karlsplatz) - this is an interesting way to spend an hour or so, and plenty of good places to get lunch.

This isn't our thing, but the Lipizzaner horse show and the Vienna boys choir are typically popular.

Last, with only three days, I would skip Bratislava. Nothing against the city, it has its own charms, but devoting only 2 days to Vienna doesn't do it justice.

MrsEB - of course they would welcome you! They are open seating.

With just 3 days in Vienna, I can't believe anyone would recommend doing a day trip elsewhere.
Vienna is a feast for lovers of architecture. You should look at the TI site. They have a list of walking tours. They have several different themes, and I think you would get an efficient introduction to the city by taking one or more.
If you want to do it yourself, one amazing architectural walk is to start at the Secession, then walk towards the Naschmarkt and then along Wienzeile. A banquet of Jugendstil buildings! I could almost have believed I was in Barcelona.
The Belvedere Palace has a fine collection of art, especially Klimt. The gardens are beautiful, too. I'd put it on the must-see list, since Klimt is such an icon for Vienna.
Eating a pastry in one of the many cafes is also quintessential Vienna. Demel is good, and you can catch sight of some their employees at work, stretching strudel dough or decorating cakes.

Mrs EB,

I travel alone too and have also experienced the cold shoulder at times - one time I even had a restaurant host tell me there were no tables available and then immediately seat the party for four behind me in line. But it's always seemed to have been about taking up a table for two (or even four) with just one meal sold. So I guess with shared tables, all we take up is one place and that's fine! I'm off to central Europe next month.