Advice on parking in Vienna (Also, the hazards of Priceline :)

Well, I looked up what Stevesy has to say on this topic, and his new "Vienna, Salzburg & Tirol" guidebook says "...leave it in an expensive garage."

This has me worried...

This may not be much help but in 2007 we spent five days in Vienna. We parked our car in one of those multi-storied parking garages and took the subway to town center. It was simple. We arrived during the week and the garage was quite full and pretty empty when we picked the car up (which I'm thinking was Saturday). The car was fine. We paid with a credit card. Sorry, but I can't remember the name of the lot. Maybe you could email the Austrian consulate and perhaps get a response before you leave.

20 Euros a day for parking is, I'm sorry to inform you, quite reasonable for a hotel. They charge that much here in San Francisco.

Devra -- If nothing else, that gives me hope that the practice of leaving the car there for multiple days is OK.

I will call them tomorrow and bust out some broken German and see how that goes.

Clearly I have been spoiled by the more Stevesian mode of travel!
I think 20 E per day is crazy go nuts.

Park and ride is not that unusual across Europe. We used it for three nights in Amsterdam a couple of years ago and had no problems. We had paid in advance for the rental and added the city in a late change of plans and had to do something with the car. I do not know about park and ride in Vienna, but, if it checks out as promoted, I would spring for it under the same circumstances. Of course it is better to take the train and rent when leaving the city, but that is not always an option

Roy-- Awesome! That is reassuring to hear. I really just thought this was so simple that it couldn't be true! How is that hotel making 20E a day off of anyone when this is so cheap and elegant of a solution :)

(And why doesn't Stevesy write about it in his brand new book??)

I tried calling the garage just now to confirm, but they don't open the office til 8am. I even worked out how to ask my question in German! But I'm sure it will be fine. Even if it's not fine, it's another story to add to our bundle of "crazy travel mishaps" :)

It may not be a money maker for the hotel. It just may be the going rate. We recently parked in a garage recommended by our hotel in Chicago. It was $22 a day with in and out privileges. We could have tried elsewhere, or risked it on the street, but this was easier. Had we been downtown it would have been more. Why should the hotel pay for your parking when not everyone brings a car? Now, the recent practice of some suburban hotels with huge lots charging for parking is ridiculous.

Parking is free on the weekends in Vienna. We were there on a sunday and parked a block away from the opera house...right in front of the hertz rental car agency. If you are there just for the weekend parking is free.!!!

"...Also,the Hazards of Priceline"....sigh...I know so many people who are scared of Priceline and seeing this in the title will frighten them more. I think Priceline is fabulous. I love getting $350+ a night hotels for less than $100 a night. Sure, parking is extra in a big city 4 or 5 star hotel. But I always check out the hotel's garage prices, then compare that to the nearby public parking garages and lots, which are usually much cheaper. Many times, I just phone ahead to the hotel and ask the desk person the prices of nearby garages. About 90% of the time they give me the information I need. Otherwise I look it up online or search the neighbhorhood when I arrive. Just because the hotel offers convenient, expensive parking doesn't mean your car has to be spoiled and pampered and stay there, too.

Well, if anyone's curious how it all went down, here's my update: it all went pretty smoothly. We arrived at the P+R garage about 10 minutes before the last u-bahn left the station for the night, thanks to a few land slides blocking the autostrada and messing up traffic on the way there... but we made it. Parking was 9 euros for 3 days. Pretty sweet!!! The garage at Huetteldorf is new and monitored by cameras and it felt very secure. It was a great spot for an approach to the city from the west.

Mala -- Thanks for the tip, but I would rather avoid that if possible. I had read that the on-street parking was free on the weekends, but I didn't know what time we'd be leaving on Monday, and I didn't know how tight the parking would be in our neighborhood. We also already had our car broken into once (which was lame for them because they didn't get anything out of it) and once is plenty enough! ha! And I definitely prefer not to drive in to city centers when at all possible! :)

Terry -- Interesting point. I would hope that wouldn't discourage anyone from using Priceline. I guess this can just be a friendly reminder to others maybe....? It's like Ryanair where you just have to keep all your rules straight and be flexible. I am planning way too many trips at any given moment to always keep everything straight, so I messed up on this, and it was really last minute to boot so I panicked. So I came on here to ask if anyone had experience with this P+R business because it seemed "too good to be true," you know? I guess I could have called the hotel and asked, but that seems a little gauche to me. I'm basically asking them how not to spend money at their business. Awkward! I really should have just called the garage during their business hours and gotten my answer that way.

nevermind.

Tamara, it looks like your experience with park and ride in Vienna, except for the landslides enroute, was about the same as mine in Amsterdam. I am glad things worked out so well for you.