We are going to have a 10 hr layover at Vienna airport on Tuesday, Dec. 19th. from 8:40am - 6:20 pm. I am thinking that with deboarding, storing luggage, a 25 minute bus ride into the city each way along with some wait time and coming back in time to check in for our flight to Basel, we could have about 5 x 7 hours to do a little exploring. This is, of course, assuming our flight arrives on time.
Assuming we WILL have 5 - 7 hours to explore, what would you do?
Take the next train you can catch to go from the airport to the city; the train station is right underneath the arrival hall. The ticket is €4.40 and entitles you to continue your ride on the subway or tram.
Take a RJ/RJX, S7, or REX train, but NOT a CAT train.
RJ/RJX trains will go to Vienna's main train station (Wien Hbf), from where subway U1 (red line) will bring you in less than 10 minutes to Stephansplatz, the very center of the city.
S7 or REX trains will go to Wien Mitte train station, from where subway U3 (orange line) will bring you in less than 5 minutes to Stephansplatz as well.
Here is a little folder, targeted at short-time visitors. On pages 2 and 3 it gives you a good overview of the main sights in Vienna, suggesting two walks in the city center. (Ignore page 4 which is not up to date, as this folder has not been reprinted since 2020.)
wmt1 - thanks! This is wonderful!!
As noted above you want the train, not the bus. You also really want to visit a Christmas market or two. I suggest Karlsplatz and Spittelberg.
A Christmas market would be nice, but I’d rather see Vienna. We’ll be doing Christmas markets in France and Germany 😁
