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What to do after Bolzano? (also, any Wiener Philharmoniker ticket secrets?)

Posted by (Philadelphia) on

In March, I'm planning to go on a tour in the Dolomites, which ends in Bolzano on Thursday 3/13 at 3pm. I'll take a day to see Bolzano sights before the tour, so I can leave right away. I'm game to take a few more vacation days, but some of the obvious places to go afterwards aren't entirely appealing to me: I've been to Venice and Munich multiple times; I bought the RS Italy book and feel meh about Milan and Verona.

I'm thinking Austria--some possibilities I'm considering:
- Innsbruck. Could get there by train Thursday evening and stay 1 day/2 nights. I'm not sure there is a lot to do here, considering I've seen the Golden Roof before and will be snow-sportsed-out.
- Salzburg. I think I could get there Thursday, too, but it would be late (10pm?). I visited here 30+ years ago, which I figure doesn't count anymore. I'm not particularly into the Sound of Music and for classical music, Vienna might be better. The gardens look lovely in summer photos... but my trip is in March. Not sold on this, either.
- Vienna. I'd fly home from here. Could stop at Innsbruck or Salzburg en route, or stay Thursday night in Bolzano and go straight to Vienna on the morning direct train. Have also been here, 25+ years ago. I think there's a lot here that I'd enjoy seeing.

Can anyone weigh in?
- Would you make a beeline for Vienna or stop somewhere on the way?
- In terms of timing, how would the Kunsthistorisches Museum compare with, say, the Alte Pinakothek or Rijksmuseum? (I'd give either of those basically a full day.)
- What should I do about music? (Dates March 14-18 2025 ish) I am a pretty hardcore classical fan (no Vivaldi in a church, please). I would love to see the subscription concert that the Wiener Philharmoniker is doing on March 15/16/17 but the non-subscriber tickets for that aren't on sale until 3/10 and I don't know if I could time snagging a ticket--on my phone--while on an active tour. Alternately, on the 18th, there is a non-subscription version of that program as well as an appealing Lieder program. Tickets for those two go on sale 12/2. Should I get up at 3am EST to snag a ticket to one of those, or can I wait a few hours? (I've also checked the schedule for the Wiener Staatsoper and none of the works during my visits are favorites of mine; though perhaps I could get a cheaper ticket for a free evening once I figure out other music plans.)
- Would you commit to a multicity airfare itinerary now based on guessing about music, or wait to try your luck on 12/2 and buy plane tickets immediately after that?

Posted by
1151 posts

Re tix for the Philharmoniker - is the demand really so high? If you look at the calendar for November, most events still have plenty of tickets, i.e. the Schubert program on Nov. 7.

Posted by
37 posts

Oh, I don't know! Perhaps I am projecting my keenness to get tickets onto others. But there are other threads in this forum that I found via search making it seem like it takes some planning. Here in Philly, you would not be able to get last-second tickets to a program directed by Yannick, and we don't even have many music tourists!

Forgot to mention: I know the RS guides suggest Stehplätze but I think that's for folks a bit jünger than myself. ;) I'd be looking for an assigned seats to any of these events.

Posted by
53 posts

My experience with tickets for the Musikverein was that anything in the Golden Hall is going to be very hard to come by. I was there in December, likely November won't be as bad.

Posted by
37 posts

Thanks for the vote for the beeline!

And, just to be clear, I think marckcw was using November as an example of tickets being available shortly before the event date... I'd actually be going in March.

Posted by
2216 posts

Should I get up at 3am EST to snag a ticket to one of those, ...

Absolutely. Start a few minutes earlier, select the right page for ordering, refresh the page every 30 seconds, and book your tickets the very moment when booking commences.

You should have created an account for Musikverein as a prerequiste and been logged in already when starting the procedure outlined above.

Posted by
27929 posts

It has been 50(!) years since I visited the Alte Pinakothek and the Rijksmuseum, so I can't compare time spent in those museums to my July 2024 experience at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, but it may help you to know the Kunsthistorisches is basically divided into three parts: traditional fine art (painting and sculpture), decorative arts and antiquities. It will help if you're not nuts about all three. [Edited to insert key missing word, "not".]

Alas for those who don't have unlimited time available, Vienna has many good art museums. I went to nearly all of them, but I had to extend my stay twice, ending up with 17 days in the city (not all the time in art museums, of course).

Posted by
1951 posts

Re: Kunsthistorisches Museum compared to Alte Pinakothek.

There is overlap, but IMO the Alte Pinakothek is the superior collection. The AP rolls up and smokes every other museum on the planet for its given focus (northern European Baroque-era painting). This is not to say the Kunsthistorisches museum is not a great day out in a quite impressive building.

But to me, If I could go to just one art museum in Vienna, it would be the Belvedere. There is no other collection in the world like it, the art famous, important, tremendously beautiful, and closely associated with Vienna.

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