Help with Vienna Itinerary

• Kunthistorisches Museum
• Opera
• Music
• Heurigen (wine restaurants)

LATE NOTE - Maybe read The Hare With Amber Eyes and see if that stimulates any additional places to visit, if you have any interest in Vienna’s Jewish community and what happened at the time of the Anschluss and from 1938-45. There is a Jewish History Museum, but we did not make it there in our brief visit to Vienna.

Thank you for the suggestions. I am looking for a show at Opera on the day we arrive,

We saw a couple of videos about the Kunsthistorisches, and my husband did not find it interesting, so I took it out of my plans. :)

When will you stay in Vienna? What are you really interested in?

I would skip Hofburg palace (not the Treasury) if you visit Schönbrunn palace anyway. Don't select the Grand Tour unless you are an aficionado of 17th century furniture and room decoration.

Whatever was in those videos, if you have any interest in art at all (which apparently you do, otherwise why go to the Belvedere), you're making a big mistake missing the Kunstmuseum. I would recommend changing either your itinerary or your spouse to include it (just kidding about the latter). One of the world's very best museums (I especially like the Bruegels, but there's much else, except modern art), and the building is very opulent also. For quite a different kind of museum, if any interest in military history, Austria's military history museum (not far from Hauptbahnhof) is very good and extensive, especially regarding the First World War (car in which Franz Ferdinand was assassinated for example). For daytrips, we liked Bratislava although some think (not without reason) that if you have limited time in Vienna stick to that. Also the Wachau valley of course but I haven't made it there.

I agree with Slate, the Kunsthistorisches is one of the great art museums. If you have just a passing interest in art, you shouldn’t skip it. The building is beautiful too. I would add the Albertina and St. Charles's Church to your list. For the Opera, you could take a guided tour instead of a show.

Re Kunthistorisches Museum …

Aside from the impressive collection of canvases (Raphael, Caravaggio, Dutch Masters), the Central Staircase is noteworthy for the Klimt frescoes very high up on the walls, amidst the capitols of the columns.

Unfortunately they are a bit high to see well, ordinarily. We were lucky to have been there when a special scaffolding, the Stairway to Klimt, had been erected.

And, the restaurant in the museum is quite elegant.

Re Kunthistorisches Museum …

Also a highlight is the "Kunstkammer" presenting masterpieces of artisanship.

If you stand in the entrance hall on ground floor and look up, you will notice a big hole in the floor of the upper level, so you can view through up to the cupola resting on the top of the building. There are no columns or pillars supporting the floor around the hole, a masterpiece of structural engineering of the 19th century. (In Vienna steel beams were never used for buildings.)

Hopefully you are arriving from somewhere else in Europe rather than directly from the US. I think most people, me certainly included, would not be able to do a day of sightseeing, especially one described as starting in the morning with important sights, and then stay awake for even one minute of the Opera on arrival day of a transatlantic flight.

Thanks everyone, for your inputs.

Yes, we will arrive from Prague after spending 5 days there.
I guess Kunsthistorisches is back on schedule on day 2 evening :). I told my husband he is in danger of being changed :)

...we will arrive from Prague after spending 5 days there.

Why did you decide to spend more time in Prague than in Vienna? I have been in both cities more than once, and my impression is that Vienna has more to offer (but I am a museum guy).