I am finalizing the Vienna segment of a trip for my husband and I in mid- September. we will have 2 nights, 1.5 days in Vienna before heading to Budapest. I realize it is a short stay and we cannot dive deeply into many sights. We hope to do the RS center city walking tour when we first arrive, St Stephens cathedral, naschmarket for a lunch and Kunsthistorischers art museum, it is open late one of the nights we will be there. Any thoughts on reserving a tour of the Opera or can it be seen briefly on our own. From what I've read the palace and Hofburg treasury are the most recommended to see, I am confused as to the best way to do this. Is an Audio guide acceptable, should we take a tour, are skip the line tickets necessary? I'll make a few dinner reservations and am considering these from forum recommendations: Puerstner, Amerling Beisl and filgmuller. We also hope to see an evening concert at St Anne's church and visit a Heuriger in Nussdorf. WOW I'm tired already just typing our itinerary, we will probably not get half of these sites seen but I am hopeful and appreciate all of your advice over the months in planning this special trip!!
Posted by
Pennsylvania
213 posts
We visited the Hofburg last month (June 2023). We didn’t get tickets in advance, just bought them that morning. The ticket for the palace (Imperial Apartments) was combined with the Sisi Museum, and it included an audio guide, no extra charge. We arrived close to the opening time and didn’t encounter any long lines for tickets. I thought the audio guide was helpful (I wasn’t wishing we had booked a guided tour). We didn’t visit the Treasury.
Posted by
Phoenix🌵
2734 posts
Erin, you won’t have enough time to do it all. Prioritize what you want to see. Which “palace” are you referring to? Sisi’s palace is all about her and Franz Joseph but worth a visit. Schonbrunn Palace is fantastic. Belvedere Palace to me was the least impressive and I’m not a huge Klimt art fan. Kunsthistorisches Museum not only has old masters but also decorative art and clocks; worth a visit. The jewels, coronation robes and decorative art in the Treasury was the most impressive of the three treasuries I visited.
Annakirche concert was great, on period instruments. You can buy tickets online same day as the performance; festival seating so be there when the doors open. I also went to a ballet at the opera house. The Opera House tour was just so-so.
I spent 7 days in Vienna in June, 2 with a RS tour, 5 on my own. I bought museum passes so I didn’t worry about timed entries. Besides the opera, the only fixed time tickets I had were the Lippizan performance and schooling. Public transportation is great. Download the Wien Mobile app for easy purchase.
I don’t have restaurant recommendations for you. I ate when I was hungry at whatever was handy and looked decent or fun. Emily posted several recommendations in the past year so use the search feature to find her posts.
Have a great trip! I hope you love Vienna as much as I did.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
6318 posts
Erin, I just bought a ticket to the complex and used the audio guide and found that perfectly acceptable. I don't know if there will be long lines in mid-September. I was there around the same time and did not find any lines when I went, but that was a while ago and things change.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
6318 posts
I would definitely recommend Figlmüller - I stopped there and had a wonderful dinner. I did not make reservations but wound up sharing a table with 2 people from Israel, which was fun. Wonderful wiener schnitzel! And huge! I remember it covered my plate. :)
Posted by
OP
Huntersville
65 posts
I was referring to Sisi’s palace and the treasury, glad to hear purchasing tkts day of and using an audio guide has worked for others but now I'm considering skipping it. I've just read about the State Hall of the Austrian Nat. Library, it looks amazing and more our style, especially with limited time to see Vienna. Does anyone have any feedback on this place? Also, I am reconsidering doing our own walking tour when we arrive, we want to use our time efficiently and won't have a lot of extra time to wander around if we get off course. has anyone taken a good walking tour that would be similar to RS center city walk that you could recommend?
thank you so much for all of your advice!!
Posted by
1906 posts
Here is a little folder, targeted at short-time visitors. It gives you a good overview of the main sights in Vienna, suggesting two walks in the city center. Select from the walks what appeals to you most.
(Ignore the very last page which is not up to date, as this folder has not be reprinted since 2020 due to Corona times without tourists in Vienna.)