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Please critique my final itinerary (I hope)

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We are a 70-year-old couple, and our travel style is changing. I used to cram every minute full, but I'm trying to keep a more normal pace and work in rest stops throughout the day. I'm trying to learn to be okay with not seeing everything, but just enjoy what I can see without exhausting ourselves. After Austria we have a week in Switzerland. I would so appreciate your expertise and opinions.
Thanks,
Laurie

ITINERARY – Austria
Arrive 9/9/26 8:20am (9 hour flight)
Hotel Altstadt Vienna, 7th District
11:00 lunch at Ulrich (around the corner)
Walk over to Museum Quartier and people watch?
OR (if raining)
Visit the Leopold Museum (2-3 hours) (1/2 mile from hotel)
3:00 – check in, relax
5:00 – explore neighborhood, dinner
Early to bed

Day 2 – Thurs Sept 10
Breakfast at hotel
Kunsthistorisches Museum café 11:45 reservation (.6 mile from hotel)
Get audio guide
(That's all I've planned for this day)

Day 3 – Fri 9/11
Morning: Karmelitermarkt, or Kutschkermarkt (which one?)
Rest at hotel
3:15 Self-guided art nouveau walk
6:30 dinner at Zur Herknerin

Day 4 – Sat 9/12
11:00 Attend the Spanish Riding School Morning Performance, 70 minutes
1:30 lunch at Vollpension Schleifmühlgasse (1 mile, 20 minute walk from Spanish Riding School)
Rest up at hotel
7:00 LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Vienna Opera House
Snack at intermission

Day 5 – Sunday 9/13
Sleep in
Belvedere Palace
Pack and dinner

Day 6 – Monday, Sept 14
10:30 taxi To the central train station
Departure to Salzburg (2 nights) 11:28 am
Wien Hbf (Bahnsteige 3-12)
Arrive 13:53 2H 25min
Hotel & Villa Auersperg, Classic Garden
Mozart residence:
daily from 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | last admission 30 minutes before closure

Day 7 – Tues, Sept 15 (So this day got crazy, but tickets have already been purchased before I knew we had to get up so early the next day)
Museum of the Art of the Lost Generation
Mozart’s birthplace
Edel Weis Cooking School - 4:30 – 6:00 (16:30-18:00) Apple Strudel & Prezel cooking class incl lunch
Mozart Concert at Marabelle Palace (.5 mile from cooking school)
The concert starts at 08:00 pm in the Marble Hall at Mirabell Palace, Mirabellplatz

Day 8 Wed, Sept 16
6:56 am Salzburg to Luzern, transfer in Zurich
 

Posted by
6214 posts

Three comments -

  1. Saturday is the better day for the markets. I’d go to Karmelitermarkt.

  2. You keep referring to walking distances. The 48a bus runs towards the center on Burggasse and from the center in Neustiftgasse. The buses are clean, air conditioned and easy to use. Do yourself a favor and use the bus (and trams and subway) to get around. No one walks everywhere.

  3. Schönbrunn? You absolutely must put it on your list. I’d do Schönbrunn over the Spanish Riding School every time. At least on Thursday you could easily fit it in. Walk the gardens and visit the Carriage Museum. The National Library is also missing from your itinerary as is a traditional coffeehouse.

Posted by
2889 posts

Three more comments:

Day 1
Ask for an early check-in at the hotel.
Don't go to bed early, no matter how tired you are, force yourself to accommodate to the different time zone. That's the fastest way to overcome the jet lag. E.g., do an evening walk in the city center.

Day 4
Arrive at the Staatsoper early. Ask the usher where the bar - closest to your seats - for a snack is, go there and make a reservation for the intermission (also possible in advance).
https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/food-drink/

Posted by
68 posts

Thanks so much, Emily, for your great suggestions. I think I'll replace the Vollpension lunch with the Karmelitermarkt, on Saturday and try and fit in Cafe Tirolerhof, which you recommended, for a traditional cafe experience. I'd rather not stand in a long line at the more tourist-popular ones. Can I ask why you prefer Karmelitermarkt over the others? Also, reservations and orders have been placed at the opera for a snack (which will probably be our dinner.)

I feel like adding Schönbrunn to Thursday would be too long of a day after visiting the Kunst Museum. Maybe I can play that by ear and see if we have the energy. The only other possibility would be replacing the Belvedere Palace on Sunday with Schonbrunn but I really want to see "The Kiss." Also, tickets are already bought and paid for for the Spanish Riding School. The only tickets I haven't purchased yet is Belvedere.
Thanks again! I really appreciate it.

Posted by
6214 posts

Karmelitermarkt is larger and more interesting.

Please do visit Vollpension, it is special.

Honestly, the idea of coming to Vienna and not seeing Schönbrunn is unforgivable.

If you go to Belvedere, then go to Cafe Goldegg instead of Tirolerhof. Goldegg is a fantastic, no tourist, traditional coffeehouse one block away.

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