3 days in Vienna June - 1st time visiting

We went last Dec. and stayed at Hotel Austria. Centrally located, comfortable, restaurant nearby, near a major metro stop. Breakfast room and an awesome breakfast included in the price ($483 for 3 nights, but this was the off season). But DON'T book transport from the airport thru them. Take a taxi. If you miss your pickup like we did, they will make you pay for it anyway. The front desk staff all spoke excellent English and were very helpful telling us how to take the metro, which turned out to be super easy (and we had no idea how before this). We didn't bother with a transit pass. The ticket kiosks take credit cards and have instructions in English. We walked and took the metro everywhere, including out to the Schonbrunn and to Prater Park to ride the Ferris wheel. There are also the city trams, which, as it turns out, sometimes have the ticket purchasing machine ON the train (have Euro coins). We aren't foodies; we ate wherever it was convenient wherever it looked good. I highly recommend Rick Steves' pocket Vienna guide. It was our bible, we used it constantly and it was super helpful. We absolutely LOVED Vienna. You will have an awesome time.

The best location is the city center, referred to as the First District or the Innerestadt. The majority of the attractions in Vienna are in this district, but so are the most expensive hotels. If you can provide your budget, I'd be happy to have a look at your dates on booking.com and make some recommendations.

To get around Vienna, a lot can be accomplished by foot as the city center is compact. For sites outside of the center or if your hotel is not in the center, then a transportation pass would make sense (I do not recommend buying tickets as you go as described above as this will be more expensive and more time consuming). You should buy a 7 day pass for your dates as a 72-hour pass won't be long enough and the weekly pass starts on Mondays. You can buy the 7 day pass here from Wiener Linien, the official website of Vienna's public transportation system - https://www.wienerlinien.at/web/wl-en/tickets/7-days-vienna. This pass will allow you to use all modes of transportation - subway, trams, buses - to get you to wherever you need to go. The cost for the entire 7 days is 17.10 Euro, which is a bargain.

As for restaurants, I would recommend Plachutta, Figlmueller, Puerstner, Palmenhaus, Glacis Beisl, Amerlingbeisl, Lugeck. For coffeehouses, I would recommend Sperl, Gerstner (2nd floor), Prueckel and Diglas on Wollzeile.

We loved eating at Palmenhaus, best schnitzel ever. lunch is less expensive than dinner.
St. Stephan’s cathedral has an audio guide, the crypt, treasury of the Teutonic order, and north and/or south tower climbs. Their website has all the info and times. Stephanskirche.at. Just an FYI, when you go down and through the crypt you end up exiting outside. You might want to plan this for last.

I just returned (May 18, 2023) after nine nights in Vienna. My favorite place to eat: Vapiano, with one near the opera house and one just off of Mariahilferstrasse. Also try Le Bol, a cute little place where locals eat. Both places have more vegetable options than traditional Viennese eateries. I used the tram to go everywhere (except Schönbrunn), and it’s very easy, but try to avoid it at rush hour. Loved the Rick Steves city tram ride. As for sights, I saw three operas, which were, of course, outstanding, and the opera’s cafe was delightful for a spritzer at intermissions. Do not miss both the upper and lower Belvederes!
Also, just to give you a heads-up: Flying home from Vienna to Munich to U.S., passport control at the Munich Airport was a MESS—long, slow lines and the ‘self-checkthrough’ passport gates were incredibly unreliable (with not enough passport agents or airport agents to help with the situation), the problem being that the machine passport scanners didn’t work for at least 30% of us. This means that while you’re repeatedly scanning your passport, you’re holding up all the people behind you and potentially missing your connecting flight. I had to go to the back of another line, wait yet again for my turn with a passport agent, then sprint to get to my gate and made it about a minute before they closed the flight.

We didn't bother with a transit pass.

Buying a ticket for every individual ride instead of a transit pass is the most expensive way of using public transport in Vienna, i.e., after just 7 individual rides you have reached the break even point compared to a 7-day-pass. You should use public transport (tram, subway, bus, S-train) extensively to to get as much mileage out of your short stay.

I second Emily's advice to get the flexible 7-day-pass (not the calendar week pass), although the required online purchase is a bit cumbersome as you have to create an account first.

Here is a little folder, targeted at short-time visitors; best to have it printed. It gives you a good overview of the main sights in Vienna, suggesting two walks in the city center. (Ignore the very last page which is not up to date, as this folder has not be reprinted since 2020 due to Corona times without tourists in Vienna.)

Another vote for Hotel Austria. Charming hotel and wonderful breakfast. Super easy to walk or take tram to anywhere in the city.

I just returned (May 18, 2023) after nine nights in Vienna. My
favorite place to eat: Vapiano, with one near the opera house and one
just off of Mariahilferstrasse.

My kid loves Vapiano. It's a big chain with many locations across Europe. It's also nothing special in the sense that you ought not go out of your way to seek it out. It's more like you look at your phone when you are hungry and have no plans and don't want an involved meal but also not fast food. Oh, there's a Vapiano, sure let's.

The crypt tour at Steffl is IMO not worth it. You do see some old bones but not so impressive, lot of people and overly long.

The food market stalls in front of town hall are fun though!

Up until recently there were Vapiano locations also in the US. It is nothing special in my opinion.

Hank - food stalls in front of the town hall? Are you talking about the Food and Film festival that happens in July and August where restaurants set up pop ups and films are shown each night? Or maybe the Christmas Market?

My family is here in Vienna right now! We are staying at the Hotel Beethoven. I would highly recommend! It is just outside the first district near the Opera House. So charming and friendly staff. If you book directly on their website, they give every guest a free drink ticket from the beautiful bar that is here. Breakfast is wonderful. All of the usuals, plus made to order eggs, coffee and pancakes. They have a pretty room on the 2nd floor that has tea, coffee and cakes every afternoon. They also offer a free classical concert each weekend. Each floor of the hotel has a different theme.

Emily aren't there outdoor food stalls in the Rathausplatz? I remember eating lunch there twice last August ...

Maybe that was a temporary thing? Thanks!

Thank all the suggestions

Hank - it is only July and August, so temporary - https://filmfestival-rathausplatz.at/en/

Thanks Emily, appreciate it.

We just returned from a great visit in Vienna. My best advice-----follow whatever Emily recommends! She was a great help and we took her advise for getting the 72 hour pass (and NOT using CAT to get to airport). We stayed (with our points so we didn't have to pay) at the Vienna Marriott right across from city park. It was wonderful. My sister had done a semester in Vienna back in 1984 and told us to have a Kasekrainer in her honor. A kasekrainer is a sausage filled with small chunks of cheese that is stuffed into a hollowed-out long bulky bread. It was FANTASTIC. We enjoyed strolling through the park and then hit the street cart just oustide the park (by the flower shops across from the Stubentor U=bahn station) on more than one afternoon!
Someone recommended we make reservations to eat at Figlmuller's (https://www.figlmueller.at/en/reservations/). There are 2 locations close to each other. We picked the Bäckerstraβe location because we were told this one had beer but the other did not (but they had wine!). Our meal was delicious. White Asparagus was in season and served w/ Hollandaise sauce w/ parsley potatoes. If it's still in season while you are in Austria and it's a special on a menu, try it. It's delicious.

My hubby and I attended the 10:15 mass at St. Stephen's church on Sunday. The mass was beautiful with organ, stringed instruments and chorus. The mass was in German but there is a Saturday vigil mass in English if interested. We had taken the elevator up the north tower the day before (you can take elevator up north tower which is not as high, but allows outdoor viewing) and skipped the south tower (which has 300+ steps, is higher, but you view through windows vs outdoors).

If you (or, in my case, my husband!) have any interest in clocks, there is a museum that has LOTS of clocks with descriptions in German and English. We enjoyed it. Uhrenmuseum
Schulhof 2
1010 Vienna
Austria

We also toured SCHÖNBRUNN PALACE. We did the "Grand Tour" which allowed us to see more rooms than the tour one
step below. Price close enough so we opted for Grand. Intereseting as you go through the rooms w/ audio cassette in English. The best part for us was acually roaming the gardens behind the palace after (we did not pay for the garden tour but walked through the free section). Beautiful walk through different gardens, trees, fountains etc. I would recommend. We have seen the Newport RI mansions many times and this place was like Newport x 100 in terms of size!

Final tip: We went to this spot for dessert 2 nights in a row. YUMMY. Ferrari Gelato, Annagasse 3-3a, Innere Stadt 1010 Wien. Try the Aurora (coffee) gelato.

I hope you have a wonderful trip. Vienna is such a beautiful city. We were very happy we went!
Joanne

Thank you for all the great suggestions. I am narrowing in between Hotel Austria and Hotel Beethoven. For Hotel Austria hotel, what is pro and cons for Hotel Austria in first district/Innere Stadt vs. in Belvedere? I am a walker and had been doing some long waking in a few European cities but safety is my priority over convenience. Also I will be staying in a hotel near Mess Wien for business starting June 21st - 24th. Wondering if able to hop over to Innere Stadt for one or two operas, concerts after meetings ended at 5/6pm. . Thank you again.

My wife and I are going to be in Vienna on June 18-22 with the RS Berlin Prague and Vienna tour. I have been all over Europe in the last 16 years but for some reason never made it to Vienna so I am very excited to finally go there. We are going to stay in Vienna for 2 extra days after the tour because there is so much to see and do. Thanks for posting this because the answers have givn us answers also on the things to see and do in our spare time and the time after the tour. Have a GREAT trip.

Emily I sent you a PM. Thank you.