Two Nights/One Day in Vienna

It would depend on your interests, but we had only one full day in Vienna on our tour, and I felt that we got to see quite a bit. We took a walk around the main center of town and saw st. Stephen's Cathedral and then viewed the outside of the Imperial Palace, the Opera house, and the museums in the area. We went into the Austrian National Library, as I'm a book lover. Then we spent about 1.5 hours in Kunsthistorisches Museum, though I imagine you could spend all day there. We ate a quick lunch in the museum cafe and then strolled through the Volk's garden, which I highly recommend on a nice day. So beautiful, and so many different types of roses we'd never seen before. Then we had coffee and pastries at Demel and rode the subway out to Schonbrunn Palace to wander through the gardens, though we didn't have time to go inside. We did all this and were still ready to meet our group at 530 for our farewell dinner. There is so much you could do, but we very much enjoyed our day there! It is a beautiful city just to wander around and look at gardens and architecture, even if you don't have enough time to go inside a lot of sites.

thanks, that gives me a start. I would still like to hear from others regarding places to stay, tours, and restaurants.

I always stay at K&T Boardinghouse. If it's good enough for Rick Steves to stay there, it's good enough for me. And the location's great.

http://www.ktboardinghouse.at/index.php/en

I had one day in Vienna once and I spent it at Schoenbrunn palace (took the U bahn there from my hotel, the Intercontinental), then took the U Bahn to St Stephens Cathedral, where I also had a nice dinner (sorry, forget the name of the place, but the schnitzel was great), then found a great bar near my hotel to....unwind..took me til 4am to unwind at this dive, Die Dondrine.

If I had two nights and one day in Vienna, I would stay at the Hotel Rathaus Wien & Design. In the morning I would go the Kuntshistorische Museum. Then I would go to the Belvedere - eating lunch at their cafe. This plan works for me because I love art.

I thought Pension Wild was very nice - it's just outside the ring close to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The only warning is that the cheapest rooms have shared bathrooms, and the next level up have en-suite showers but shared toilets.

If you would like a nice hotel with an amazing breakfast and perfect location, I would recommend Hotel Am Stephansplatz which is right across from St. Stephens cathedral - the center of the Inner Ring. If you're arriving by train at the Westbahnhof station, take the U3 (metro) at the station, to the Stephansplatz stop. As you come up on the escalator, the hotel & the cathedral will be right there.

We were in Vienna again last year for 5 days. If I just had one day, I would spend most of the time outdoors - walk the Ringstrasse to some of the parks, admire the gorgeous architecture, go see the Imperial Treasury jewels at the Hofburg Palace, stop in a café for their work-of-art desserts, and maybe take the metro out to the Schonbrunn gardens & walk up to the Gloriette for some photo ops. Afterwards, maybe take a horse & carriage ride and finish with a nice dinner or tickets to the Opera House for some event or a classical concert at a church.

The restaurant famous for their schnitzel is Figlmuller. I ordered the pork schnitzel, and my husband ordered turkey meat made in the same manner. Both were fantastic!

Another vote for K&T Boardinghouse -- and ask Tina for directions to the restaurant with the gigantic schnitzel (believe her when she suggests sharing one!)
Rick's audio tour of the Ring trolley trip, St. Stephen's Cathedral, guided tour of the Opera. And plan to go back to Vienna.

First, don't stay near a train station. Vienna is compact with an excellent transportation system, so you can be in the center in 5-10 minutes from the major stations. No need to take a cab, use the subway.

I would stay in the First District, which is the area inside the Ring. Not knowing your budget, I would suggest the Bristol, Imperial, the Guesthouse, Konig Von Ungarn or the Sacher if your budget allows. If you want something less expensive, the K+K is a solid choice as is the 25 Hours Hotel (just outside the Ring, but in a good location).

If I had one day in Vienna, here's what I would do:

Early breakfast and stroll at the Naschmarkt, looking at the Majolikahaus and Secession buildings from the outside; half-day visit to Schonbrunn; subway back to the center for this self-guided tour (http://www.viennawurstelstand.com/index.php/discover-vienna/viennas-old-city-center-self-guided-tour-cobblestones-and-secret-alleyways/) having a Kasekrainer at the Bitzinger Wurstelstand next to the Opera along the way followed by cake at coffee at Demel. At the end of the tour, I'd head to Schwedenplatz and hop on Tram 1 in the direction of Stefan-Fadinger-Platz for a view of the Ring, getting off at the Opera. At that point, a glass of wine and dinner at the Palmenhaus would be in order.