A few random tips from our recent trip to Salzburg and Vienna:
We flew into Vienna and wanted to take a train straight to Salzburg. To save time, we used the following service based on a forum poster: http://airport-taxi-wien.wien/en/ Even though our flight got in an hour early and we breezed through passport control, the driver was there. My husband thought I was quite something having a driver holding a sign with my name. The cost to get from the airport to the WestBahnhopf train station was at least 10 Euros cheaper than a taxi as we came in during rush hour traffic.
Also after researching the travel forum, we determine that the WestBahn train made the most sense. This allowed us to just get on the first available train and not worry about buying tickets at the station or paying really high prices. I wasn’t sure whether we could use our credit card on the train. We have the chip, but it is not pin enabled. We were able to use the card, but we definitely needed the chip. (Credit cards are accepted much less frequently than in the U.S. At any food stand or places selling inexpensive goods, we had to use cash.)
We did the Fraulein Maria bicycle tour in Salzburg and had a good time. Even if you’re not a Sound of Music fan, it would be fun. It was interesting to bike through the residential areas out of the city center and you get some non Sound of Music trivia. I would also recommend eating/drinking at the Augustine Beer Garden. It was a beautiful evening and there were a lot of locals meeting for a drink or dinner.
Vienna was beautiful and it was easy to get to most of the main sites. We got the Sisi ticket so that we could be flexible in visiting Schonbrunn Palace and didn’t have to be constrained by an entrance time. Because of that we also had access to the Imperial Apartments. If you decide to do both, try to do the apartments first. They did not seem as impressive as they clearly are after seeing the majesty of Schonbrunn. We decided to go because we had some time before going to high mass at the Augustine Church. We were there at 9 a.m. Sunday and we were literally the only visitors in the apartments. We walked quickly through the Sisi museum and had the apartments to ourselves. I’m not sure if this is unique to Sunday, but if you can visit then, it’s an interesting experience.
For the 11:00 high mass at the Augustine Church, you will likely get a seat if you are there a half hour early. That is about when the main pews were full. You can sit in the pews at the front that are on the platform with the altar, but you might feel a bit like you are on display.
The other tip for Vienna is to be careful of mass times at St Stephens. St Stephens has A LOT of masses both Saturday evening and Sunday. There were very few hours to tour on Sunday and if you can fit it in another day it would be a good idea.
The free wifi in the city was great and we could catch up on news, email etc when we’d stop for a pastry or coffee.