Solo trip to Venice and Vienna

This plan does not make sense - spending 2 of your 7 days on an exhausting journey. Vienna is quite far from Venice and they are not natural pairs. Save Vienna for another trip. If you want to visit a second city, choose something closer to Venice.

I agree with Emily. Vienna doesn't make sense within your time constraints. You can use your extra days for day trips from Venice or 2-3 days in another, closer, city.

For your time allowance, the only way to even consider Vienna and Venice , is to fly into one and out the other

I agree that this doesn't make any sense at all. You should pair your visit to Venice with a few days in a nearby city such as Florence, Verona, the Dolomites, Ljubljana, Pula, etc. Going all the way to Vienna and back will basically wipe out 2 days of your trip. Not worth it IMHO.
For suggestions on what to see it would help to know your interests...are you looking for museums and history, music and art, or are you more into dining and shopping? Each of these places offer MANY options so knowing what you would like to focus on would help.
To get from the airport in Venice to Santa Lucia Station the ferry is one option. About $10 and about an hour to get there. A taxi will cost quite a bit more but will get you there in about 15 minutes. Bus #5 is about $2 and will get you there in about 1/2 hour. You can also take a private water taxi but unless you have people to split the cost with it's quite expensive.

I have to chime in with a slightly different take on this. If those are the two cities you really want to see, I say go for it.

On the first trip my wife and I took to Europe, she had a concert in Paris. She is a classical pianist, and so a trip to Vienna was a priority. I wanted to go to Venice because I had been there before and felt it was one of the most romantic places I had ever been, and I really wanted her to see it. I also wanted to go to Switzerland because we just love the mountains and hiking. So we took an overnight train from Paris to Venice, and then later another overnight from Venice to Vienna. Then Vienna to Switzerland and finally back to Paris.

Rick Steves often mentions overnight trains as a way to travel distances without using up your sightseeing time, and I know plenty of people seem to like it. Unfortunately for me, I discovered that I couldn't sleep on the trains, so it ended up not being a good choice for me and we have never tried it again (we ended up changing our third train from Vienna to Switzerland to a day train, with a stop in Salzburg, because of that).

But it might be a great idea for you, as long as you are comfortable with the idea of sleeping on the train.

One thing I would say, however. Unless you have a really great deal on roundtrip airfare to/from Venice, I don't see any reason to make the train trip twice. Why not just fly into Venice, spend your time there, take the train to Vienna and then flight out from there.

Regarding your third question, just search this forum for other threads regarding the airport. The various options have been covered extensively in other threads.

Thank you all for the advice. It's not often that I get to come to Europe so I am trying to see two cities (and countries) that I have heard so much about. I will look into Florence and other cities around as well.

The over night train is a great idea (I sleep like a baby). Are they usually private compartments or set up like a plane? As I mentioned I am a solo female traveler (first international trip alone) so trying to be cautious.

My interests are plays, dance (maybe a show?), good food that will not break the bank (open to street vendors), wine, good views and maybe a museum or two.

I am looking into hostels that are fairly central so if you have any recommendations I am all ears!

Emily, Venice is a bit of a trick to enjoy well - for good food, study Rick's suggestions and definitely explore the rest of Venice away from San Marco. Don't judge the rest of Italy based on Venice tho - Venice was a historically independent city-state and Venetians identify as Venetians first, Italians second. As far as itinerary, if you are intrigued by these cities, then just go for it. I believe Vienna is more likely to meet your desires for entertainment especially. Train travel can be fun and you'll learn quite a lot for your next trip!

Am I missing something here? Austrian Airlines seems to have multiple 1-hour flights a day, from Venice to Vienna. There are also flights that connect through Munich, two 1-hour flights plus transfer time, maybe cheaper that way. Jiggylu, neat handle by the way, you say the long train trip is beautiful, but of course a night train would miss all, or almost all, of that beauty. Two long train rides within one week would not be very attractive to me, daytime or nighttime.

If you can I would look at the open-jaw flight options so that you don't have to back track or waste any time on your trip... I have had good luck with Austrian Air on multiple destination flights so that I never have to waste time on vacation. I have taken the night train from Venice to Vienna. You can certainly book a sleeping cabin for one person. I will cost more.

For places to stay in Venice I have had really good luck with Airbnb. Hotels can be expensive. There is a hostel on Giudecca Island in Venice. https://generatorhostels.com/destinations/venice I have not stayed there but have visited the bar when staying on Giudecca.

I have three all time favorite restaurants in Venice that I always go to.... First is CoVino, small, fun, slow-food (farm to table) is where I go most of the time. Serving lunch or dinner (two seatings) it is always best to reserve ahead. New takes on Venice traditional dishes.... love this place!!! http://www.covinovenezia.com/

Osteria Oliva Nera is near by CoVino and is more traditional. It is family owned and operated and Isa makes the worlds best lasagna. She also has a couple of apartment for rent. http://www.olivanera.com/en/restaurant-in-venice/

Local is a more modern and upscale place.... Owned by a brother/sister combo they have a great place to grab lunch or dinner!!! Great wines and food. http://www.ristorantelocal.com/

lots of museums and places to visit in Venice.... Murano is great if you are into glass art. Burano is the VERY colorful island known for lace. It is a little further to get to so if you have a short amount of time in Venice you might not have time to get there an back without having to sacrifice many other sites to see.

First, do what you want to do. I view each trip in the prism that you may only get one chance at doing that. If you want those two cities, do them.

Venice and Vienna make a lot of sense. I did that. But I used Austrian Air to fly from Vienna into Venice. It was a regional jet (ugh) but it shaved time off my trip and was only a couple of hours.

For me, it was part of a month-plus-long trip that took me into Bologna and included nights in Siena, Florence, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Venice, Sorrento and ended with me flying out from Rome.

Venice was one my favorites, along with Florence, Budapest, Paris and the Amalfi Coast (in no order). From the sextet orchestras playing in the square at night to the cathedral to the canals. There are also many sidetrips which can be interesting; I did Verona.

Interestingly enough, Vienna was my least favorite (I speak German better than any language except for English, so Language was not the issue). I would still say the cathedral was definitely a to-do in Vienna, and the schnitzel was fine. But I enjoyed by trip to Salzburg miles more than Vienna.

I tend to route my trips to where I am flying out is saved for the end. So I would try to get to Vienna first and close with Venice. It makes it easier when you head out.

LeeGee - you had a month. The OP has 7 days and needs to fly in and out of Venice. Do you think it makes sense for the OP to spend 2 of their 7 days on a trans-Central Europe voyage? Not really.

Thank you all for the (varying) suggestions and advice. Decided to visit both cities and opted to fly between cities since it made more sense with time constraints. I am high energy and will take full advantage of my time there. The restaurant suggestions sound like just what I'm looking for!
I'm looking for a hostel or apartment close to st mark square and an apartment in Vienna (I have a friend from Denmark joining me there yay!).
Once again thank you and if you have any other fun suggestions I'm all ears.

But Emily, it didn't take me a month to do Venice and Vienna combined. It took me six days counting the flight. If you really want to do something, or do two somethings, I see no harm in taking a flight that takes -- what? -- 1.5 hours?

fyi I found a gem bnb right in venice behind the academia and it is less than $100 a night. It is advertised as Single Independent room in venice run by a lady named Silvia

Hello Elisem, What's the name of the BnB you are mentioning and does it include breakfast? A would appreciate a little more information. I will be in Venice Oct 5, 6 .

Maybe Ur time is too short.u cnt see everything well.. I am also going to Venice from France. middle of the October 2017.

I did stay in the Venice Generator Hostel mentioned by BobMilano. It is on the separate island, as he mentioned, but is only one vaporetto stop from St. Mark's. In addition if you reserve early enough you may have a room that looks over at St. Mark's. The disadvantage is that sometimes coming back, you have a fairly long vaporetto trip, but that depends on timing and where you start. The Generator has some comfortable lounge chairs and a decent breakfast, also 1 or 2 dinner options is you just want to come back in the evening. It's new-ish, quite clean and safe. I highly recommend it.

Marsowarg I am sorry I missed seeing this until now, but here is the info for the airbnb stay I spoke of.

No breakfast, but it says that There is no access to the kitchen and no breakfast service, but the room is provided with a little fridge, a coffee machine and a water kettle, and all the necessary to prepare a cup of coffee, tea or infusion.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10861511 'Single Independent room in Venice'