Vienna - How long to stay & What to see

Funny you should ask this - our last trip out of 12 cities we visited Vienna was the one I was ill-prepared for. There was no particular reason for this I just did not do much homework on it. Well - turns out the city is the sight! We - especially my husband - fell in love with it! It is a beautiful city and was not jam packed and did not have that rush-rush feeling that many cities do.

The museums and the palaces are very nice - clearly it was good to be a Habsburg! My favorite thing was attending the Sunday service at the Hofburg Chapel and hearing the Vienna Boys Choir - that has been something I have wanted to do since I was a small girl.

Don't miss the ferris wheel in Prater like we did! No worries though - we will see it next year when we return and spend more time in this lovely city.

I am certain Miss Emily from Vienna will post and share about her beautiful city - she is very generous with information.

Lots of traditional Viennese cafes or Kaffeehauser. I recommend going to one of the Cafe Aida chain first - it isn't the most atmospheric but they have a very useful menu guide with diagrams to explain all the different types of coffee that are available and the usual names for them.

You can easily do a week or a fortnight and still have more to see. The old medieval central area is very compact, but there are important sights outside that require a tram or U-Bahn trip.

The city has a huge number of art museums, and if you have any specific stylistic preferences I suggest doing some research in a guide book to see what would be best.

Vienna is an imperial city with the majority of building dating from the late 1800's as the Emperor at that time demolished the medieval structures and walls. The city prides itself on its café culture, its wine/heurigen, Klimt/Freud/Empress Sisi, its art/museums and its music. The sites are very compact and easy to reach entirely on foot, with the exception of Schonbrunn Palace, which you should not miss. Public transportation is exceptionally good and clean. I would say that a minimum of 3 full days is needed, but more would be ideal.

I would strongly suggest that you buy the Vienna Eyewitness Guide to get a feel for the city and its sights. Perhaps once you have done your research, you can come back to us with a rough itinerary or list of sights you want to see. I would be happy to provide feedback.

To specifically answer your questions:

1. Are there nice museums? Yes, many. Kunsthistoriches Museum is considered to be one of the more important art museums in the world, particularly for Northern Renaissance art. The Albertina has an exceptional collection of Impressionist and early Modern works. The Belvedere houses the large collection of Klimt and other Art Nouveau works. There are many more...

2. Is Vienna like Paris, in being chic, pretty, romantic, lots of pretty cafes, tea rooms, etc? Sort of, but not exactly.

3. Do people love Vienna like they do Paris? Hard to say as this is very subjective. Personally, I prefer Paris.

4. Is the city compact like Florence or very spread out? It is compact in all respects.

What Emily and others said. I was in Vienna for only four days, wish I had stayed twice as long. Stay as close to the historic center as possible - I didn't and wish I had.

Have stayed in Vienna from 1 month to 10 days at a time...never run out of new things to do and see. It is a wonderful city. I recommend at least 1 week or more.

ann,

you will find that Vienna is different like any other city. It has its charms like any other place in the world.

you may want to look at some guide books or google "whats there to do and see in Vienna" and see what floats your boat.

Just be aware that you wont be able to do and see everything anywhere. Even where you live you probably havent "been there, done that" with everything either. No different when you travel.

When i was in Vienna several weeks ago, i didnt step foot in a tea room or a fancy cafe. Those werent important to my trip this time around and i wanted to spend more time wondering around the city. I also had to look for some extra clothes to wear so i was spending some time for that too. But If you travel to "compare" A vs B, or is looking for A better than B, i think you will be disappointed in many places you go to. I understand its normal (maybe) to do comparisons too. Look at Vienna as Vienna and discover what it has to offer.

Compactness. I found that Vienna was spread out more than Krakow. Guess what, Its probably less spread out than other citys and more so than others too. I dont look at sprawl. I look at where the things i want to do and see are located. If the public transporation system is good and meets my needs, then it sprawl or being spreadout isnt an issue. I thought the public transportation system was great and i was able to get around once i figured out where the trams went and didnt. Most of what i wanted was in the center part of town with the exceptions of a couple palaces so that was an easy trip.

by the way, ive been to both Paris and London and several other places. When i get a chance i will go back to most of not all of the places ive been to since i havent "been there, done that" in every place i have visited. On my trips back home, i try to stop in London if i have a day or 2 left over and so far ive been able to do that. I like going back to London since i can get around really easy and they speak english. I find that after a month on the road going to places where english isnt spoken as the primary language, i have a yearning to hear it and immerse myself in it and London fits that bill. I know that many other placed do to, but for now, I try to make a trip back there. Next time it maybe Paris, but who knows.

happy trails.
happy trails.

I just spent a full week in Vienna and felt that was a good chunk of time--I got very familiar very quickly with the layout and mastered their wonderfully efficient transit system, and the Innere Stadt is compact and very walkable, which is where the main things are to see and easy to take transit to sites slightly outside. I can see myself happily returning to Vienna again and again. My itinerary included lots of museums--Albertina, MAK, Leopold (my favourite), Belvedere, Secession, Schonnbrunn, Wien Stadt, Hofburg Apts and Sisi Museum, and since I love the movie The Third Man I visited that museum as well. I enjoyed visiting the Prater and riding the Riesenrad, the Naschmarkt for food and the attached Flohmarkt (fleamarket) on Saturday because I love poking through old stuff, took a walking tour and a day trip on the Danube to Melk, plus allowed plenty of time to just wander at will with my map. Lovely parks to relax in, beautiful architecture to enjoy, very friendly people.

I'm a museum junkie, so if you aren't then I recommend researching what the museums offer to best decide if you want to visit them--the ones I chose were for specific genres of art. If you don't have 7 days then perhaps at least maybe 4.

Personally I love Vienna (not as much as Paris, but close). Was just there for the second time for 4 days this past July. I've not been to all the museums but several of them and they are world class. I'm a sucker for the Impressionists so loved the Albertina and the former palace that it is housed in is small but walking through the state rooms was amazing also. I took the day trip to Melk to see the Abbey and was blown away, it was breathtaking. Took the train to Melk, then the boat on the Danube to Krems, then the train back to Vienna - a lovely way to spend a day if the weather is good. I took a half-day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia and enjoyed it also. Like Ray I was not into the coffee houses and cafes but if you like that sort of thing, Vienna is the place to do it. If you go, be sure to get out of the city to a heurigen, they are so much fun. I still have lots of 1st-time places to get to so may not go back, but if someone I was traveling with wanted to go there I would be thrilled to go back with them.

Hi,

Both Paris and Vienna can be said to be romantic. That aspect is in both cities. There are fans of both Paris and Vienna, does not have to be exclusively one or the other. My first impressions of Vienna in 1971 and 1977 were that it was an exciting and fascinating city but also a depressing one at that. My first impressions of Paris in 1973 and 1977 were that it was captivating, fascinating, and all that but minus the depressing aspect. Still, it's great going back each time to Paris, obviously, and to Vienna, depressing or not, still attracted to the place. The subway (U-Bahn) makes it very easy to get around in Vienna. For a first time visit to Vienna, I suggest four full days, minimum, to be reserved, ie very easy to spend a week in Vienna just as you would in Paris.