Best deal in Vienna for sights and reservations

Hi!

I'll be there at the same time, but for five days. What I do in planning a trip is make a spreadsheet of all the museums I want to see, and enter their ticket prices. Then I enter the price of a museum pass, and add up the entry fees. If the pass costs the same or less than the ticket total, or is just a few (<10) euros more, I buy it. I'm willing to pay a small premium in exchange for skipping ticket lines, but in fact passes have always saved me money, as I am a heavy museum-goer. I found the Vienna Card wouldn't help me much, whereas the Vienna Pass (€99 for a 72-hour pass) offers me substantial savings. Watch for a sale on those, they seem to be 10% off at least one week a month. There's no incentive for you to buy it unless it's on sale, and if no sale rolls around again before you leave, you can get it at the tourist office in the airport when you arrive.

I also always spring for a transit pass because I prefer the simplicity of being able to use the subway or tram without fumbling with my ticket or risking violating some arcane ticket rules.

Vienna's system of passes and transit kind of sucks, sorry to say. There's the Easy Pass, the Vienna Pass, the Vienna Card, and then transit is separate for some of them, and there's no 5- or 7-day unlimited transit pass. (There's a weekly pass, but it's only good Monday to Monday, and the 8-day card where the days don't need to be consecutive is expensive.) So much easier when there's just one all-inclusive price. The Stockholm Card was like that.

Servus! See you at the Prater.

Thank you. See you in Vienna!

Multi day passes for public transportation are easily available - 24 , 48 , and 72 hour passes , buy at any station from the agent or from stand alone kiosks . information - https://www.wienerlinien.at/eportal3/ep/channelView.do?pageTypeId=66533&channelId=-47643

Here is a good article comparing the Vienna Pass with the Vienna Card:

http://www.city-walks.info/Vienna/Pass-Card.html

Generally, the consensus is that the Vienna Pass rarely pays off. The Vienna Card includes a 72 hour transport pass and gives discounts at some attractions. Depending on what sites you want to visit, buying a normal 72 hour transport pass might be cheaper.

Some general comments about what you want to see:

Risenrad - it's ok, but definitely wouldn't be at the top of my list.

Hofburg vs. Schonbrunn - only visit one of this on the inside (my preference is Schonbrunn). To see both inside would be very redundant. See both from the outside for certain.

St. Stephan's - I'd suggest looking inside and climbing one of the towers. Won't take long.

Opera House - I found the tour to be a waste of money. Just look at it from the outside.

Museum of Natural History - I dread visiting this museum. It will be baking in there in the summer and it is a lot of dead, stuffed animals.

Karlskirche - you just look at it from the outside, won't take long.

Parliament - I've never been on a tour inside and haven't really ever wanted to do so. It isn't really an old or historic building.

"Old Town" Vienna - The center of Vienna really isn't old, but it is worthwhile to wander around. I suggest one of the self-guided tours from frommers.com.

Danube Canal Boat Ride - Please don't do this. Waste of money and ugly scenery, unless you like looking at large industrial buildings.

What I see missing from your list:

Belvedere
Naschmarkt
Rathaus (food and film festival for dinner)
Many cafes

Museum of Natural History - I dread visiting this museum. It will be baking in there in the summer and it is a lot of dead, stuffed animals.

Emily, just to be precise, I am not trashing your opinion, I just don't share it.

The Museum of Natural History puts a lot of effort do get rid of its meanwhile unsubstantial, oldfashioned image. Especially the temporary exhibitions are worth visitig, e.g. the one about the beginning of the universe.

http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/en

Maybe I'll go over and check it out. It's been a few months since I've been there. All the dead animals in cases and lack of English descriptions of what I am looking at has always been off-putting. I take my kids there often to see the dinosaur bones and I have annual passes for us all.

Emily, not to digress too far, and I'm not sure how old your kids are, but mine are in their teens now and consistently I find that we always gravitate to the gems and minerals ("they're MINERALS, Marie!") room in natural history museums. The Field, DC, the one in London, here in NY. The old-school dioramas are also worth a second look, even from a technical perspective. I never realized how incredibly detailed they are--even my 16 year old is delighted looking for bugs and tiny creatures. And then we talk about how the set dressings were made, considering that everything other than the taxidermied animals is artificial. Amazing works of art. The dinosaur bones are kind of meh compared with that.

Ok... thanks for posting the comparison article. I'm heading over to read it now. It becomes hard to choose when you're staying a little longer--I have five full days. As I mentioned, there's no one good travel pass. Maybe I'll try to cluster my U-bahn-intensive activities in the first three days and do walkable things the last two to save a little money. And I am planning to see art museums rather than Hapsburg palaces.

Getting really excited... five weeks to go!

Everyone has their must-dos and sees--when I visited Vienna for the second time this April the first thing I did was ride the Riesenrad again.

I not only enjoyed the Risenrad, but the whole of the Prater amusement park. It was fun to see the ethnic mix, as well as a non-tourist side of the city.

I have my maps spread out on my bed to make notes and plan (4 weeks out), and Before Sunrise on TV, and I've added the Riesenrad to my list...

I've ridden the Ferris Wheel more times than I can count. Still think it is a total tourist trap in its current incarnation. The way they make you walk through that gift shop is so tacky. As for the Prater itself, my kids don't even like going there. Shady rides.