October 2026 Long Weekend-ish Itinerary for Vienna & timeline for when to book

Posted by ResponsibleBee (USA) on 11/17/25 06:24 PM

Hello Fellow Travelers: You have already all been so kind with your advice. I am trying to put together a Vienna itinerary (about 4 days) for a me and my husband. Would you please help me?

My husbands "must sees/must dos" as far as he has advised me, include,

(1) seeing an 11 AM Performance of the Spanish Riding School at the Hofburg ( I will call them "the Fancy Horses" for short for the rest of this post, yes I know that's a little silly, and yes, it's not a must see for everyone, but my husband likes horses, and has said he'd like to see them),
(2) eating some nice food, including, a nice apfel strudel.
(3) seeing some impressive imperial palaces and other imperial stuff (themes of this trip include, empires and eating).
(4) listening to some elegant music.

*** Any insights about when to set my alarms and calendars to make sure I secure tickets and reservations to the 11am Fancy Horse Performance, plus, concerts, plus, entry to museums, plus, reserving tables, in a reasonable fashion? ***

EDIT: We expect to be staying at the Hotel Austria.

EDIT: We expect to be staying from about the 16th to the 20th October.

EDIT: We have no mobility issues, other than being generally out of shape.

Here's what I have so far.

ROME-VIENNA Day 1
Friday

Fly into Vienna, and check in to the hotel, get settled.
Figure out where to eat dinner and maybe an apfel strudel on a Friday night. Maybe take a stroll or a little self-guided walking tour of the Inner City.

Day 2: Saturday
AM - 11 AM- Hold for a Fancy Horse Performance - Hofburg. If we can see the Fancy horses on Saturday, then I would probably plan to go to Mass on Sunday at a Church that offers a nice choir or musical experience.
AFT See a Palace… maybe… Schonbrunn or Belvedere or Hofburg, depending on where we start?
EVE Dinner TBD: Opera? Musikverein Concert? Depends what's playing I suppose?

Day 3: Sunday

AM 11 AM- try to see the fancy horse performance, or, alternatively, if we secured Saturday tickets, go to Mass somewhere lovely.
AFT See a Palace… maybe… Schonbrunn or Belvedere or Hofburg, depending on where we start?
EVE Dinner TBD: Opera? Musikverein Concert? Depends what's playing I suppose?

Day 4 Monday
AM See a Palace… maybe… Schonbrunn or Belvedere or whichever is left out of the three we haven't seen?
AFT Go out of the city to a Wine Garden? Or is that weird to do on a Monday afternoon?
EVE Dinner TBD: Opera? Musikverein Concert? Depends what's playing I suppose? Or is three nights of music too much and it's time to switch things up and try something new?

Day 5: Tuesday

Have a nice breakfast and a coffee. Time of departure to next destination, TBD.

Thanks in advance for your assistance and kindness.

Posted by Lexma

Denver

11/17/25 07:02 PM

866 posts

We recently (October) had a lovely five nights in Vienna. We are big art lovers, so spent a lot of time at the various art museums, which we really enjoyed. We didn't purchase any of those tickets in advance.

Except, we should have purchased tickets for the Upper (Alte) Belvedere online, in advance, though probably would have needed to do so only a couple of days in advance. This is the museum that has Klimt's "The Kiss," plus many other great works, including other pieces by Klimt. (We purchased our tickets there, day of, and the next timed entrance was an hour away, so not fatal, but it was a bit of a chilly day to walk in the gardens for an hour.)

Also, we should have purchased tickets to Schonbrunn (not Schonberg) a couple of days ahead of time, too. I think we purchased them the morning of, and had fewer choices for entrance times.

We went to a performance of the Opera (Barber of Seville), at the Opera House. The Opera House is magnificent, and we were glad that we went, but have to admit, we're not big opera enthusiasts.

We also went to a performance at the Musikverien, and both agreed that this was our favorite performance of the trip (we also went to a performance in Salzburg). Note that here, you are required to check your coat, so include time for doing that.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Vienna. Despite the cool weather, there were many, many people out and about, especially in the pedestrian area of the city. Quite a few cafes had outdoor seating, with the non-energy-efficient heater lamps (particularly near St. Stephansdom). The coffeehouses were warm and cozy, and we happily visited those. We preferred those that weren't so much on the tourist radars, so I would suggest Cafe Hawelka, Cafe Tirolerhof (Rick Steves suggest), and Cafe Sperl.

Also, Rick Steves walking tours were very helpful!