Vienna in Winter

In November 2016, my wife and I spent a few day in Vienna. It was beautiful.

This was a very easy going kind of vacation. Mostly walking around, enjoying the view. We're not museum people and we don't see shows or operas.

Before we begin, a few words on public transport there. It's very convenient. They have underground trains, buses, and trams. They have regular tickets as well as tickets for 24, 48, and 72 hours. Make sure the ticket is stamped before you ride.

Thursday - Arrival
We said goodbye to the kids and towards noon, we headed for the airport. Our flight pleasant and arrived on time.

We booked a ride to our Hotel in advance. 25€ for the two of us. The driver was there waiting when we exited.

We booked a room at Hotel Am Konzerthaus Vienna MGallery. It's located quite well (about 10 minutes walk from the center). The room was very nice and the staff was professional. We didn't order the room with breakfast.

We dropped our bags in the room, and at about 21:00 we went for a walk. It was a little chilly out (about 6°C) and it was wet but not raining. A few minutes walk and were at the Ring. It's basically a road that circles the old town Vienna. The ring is split into different streets. We found ourselves at Kärntner Ring which is a section with many hotels and shops.

After a few more minutes walk, we came to Kärntner Straße. A street off the ring filled with more shops and leads up to St. Stephen's Cathedral. This was Christmas season and the streets were filled with lights and decorations, but we must have come late, because most of the lights were out.

We continued down the street until we got to the cathedral. We were pretty hungry by this time, so we sat at one of the restaurants. The food was tasty, but the portions were quite small and overpriced, in my opinion. We wandered around a bit more, and went back to the hotel.

Friday - Shopping and Markets

We woke up after a good night's sleep. We didn't order breakfast with the Hotel. So we got ready and went out for a day of shopping.

Just outside the city is a shopping mall called SCS which has about 350 shops in it. The mall opens at 09:30 and is closed on Sundays. Because the mall is outside of the city, the regular transport tickets don't apply. But there are different ways of getting there. We took the Baden Bahn tram there. We took it mainly because it let's you see parts of Vienna outside the tourist areas. Also, in the other ways of getting there you need to change at stations, which is a hassle when carrying shopping bags around in the cold. We arrived at the mall, got a bite to eat, and then spend the next few hours there.

By the time we'd done shopping and had schlepped all the goodies back to the hotel, it was already 15:00. We decided to walk to the Naschmarkt, which is one of the more popular markets in the city. At this time of year, it already gets dark at around 15:30-ish. We wandered around the market, but didn't end up buying anything. It's quite nice there at night.

After the Market, we headed to Karlsplatz. I'm not sure whats there during the year, but Christmas time, it's one of the main Christmas markets that are spread around the city. There are loads of stalls and it's very nice decorated. The stalls mostly sell holiday nick-nacks, decorations, souvenirs, local foods and hot drinks. We got there just after 17:00 and it was packed with people. There was a great festive vibe going on. 

When we were done there, it was still early, so we walked to Kärntner Straße to see what it looks like with lights on. We were not disappointed. 

Saturday  - A walk about the old town
We woke up to a lovely morning. It was still a bit chilly (about 7 degrees). We left the hotel at about 08:00. Today was about walking around town mostly and seeing the sites. I had planned all the stops in advanced. We started by going back to Karlsplatz which is a must see in the day time too.

From there we returned to the Ring and ate breakfast at the Chilai restaurant which was recommended by a friend. It was quite tasty, and they do have a nice selection. From there we walked along Kärntner Ring and saw the Opera House.

We continued onward and Kärntner Ring became Opernring. There we entered the Burggarten which is an impressive garden even in winter.

Opernring turned to Burgring. There we walked past Neue Burg, Austria's national library.

Burgring turned to Universitätsring. There we saw the House of Parliament.

After that we arrived at the Rathaus, the City Hall and the seat of local government of Vienna. He we came to Vienna's largest Christmas market. An endless amount of stalls with nick-nacks, souvenirs, decorations, food, drink, etc. They had also turned part of the plaza into a an ice skating rink.

From there, we came off the Ring and turned towards Hoffman Palace and to Michaelerplatz. We hopped on a horse and carriage, which we shared with a German couple. It was pretty cold, so the driver provided us with some blankets. I didn't ask when the last time they were washed was The ride was very charming and the driver took us through all sorts of pretty alleys which we would never have though of going through ourselves. He also pointed out a few places worth mentioning like old restaurants and Mozart's house.

After the horse ride, we continued on our merry way though some more alleys until we reach the cathedral at Stephansplatz which is on the Kärntner Straße. So we got to see that during the day as well. There we say a christian ceremony and my wife even tried some of the hot cider.

From there we continued until we reached the river.

We walked along the river and turned right at some stage and then found ourselves at the Wien Mitte mall. We had lunch, did a bit more shopping and continued to Stadtpark. A lush green park with many statues of famous composers, the most famous being Strauss.

By this time, we'd walked pretty much around the town, and were in fact just ten minutes from the hotel. We went back for a rest, but the day was not over yet.

We wanted to see the Christmas market at the Rathaus in the evening, so we walked to Karlsplatz to catch the subway which took us to the City Hall. The place was packed! Another festive evening. All the stalls were brightly lit with decorations. the ice rink was filled with skaters. We ate a Viennese waffle and I tried a Langos (a fried focaccia - delicious)  

Sunday - Schönbrunn Palace and Prater
We woke up to another nice chilly day. We got up and went out and headed towards the train station at Karzlplatz. On the way, we had breakfast again at Chilai. Today we had planned to visit the Schonbrunn Palace and the large famous ferris wheel at Prater. At first we decided to go to Prater, but discovered that the opening time written on Google were wrong. So we ot back on the train and headed for Schonbrunn Palace. 

We preordered out tickets (it saves time). The tour of the palace was very good with each room more impressive thatn the previous. We ordered the Audio guide to get an understanding of what we're looking at. The gardens were equally impressive and this was winter. In the summer, it's told, that they are magnificent and has often been called the Versailles of Austria. Sadly we weren't allowed to take pictures from inside, so sadly I have to rely on my memory.

The palace has it's own zoo as well. Our tickets included a tour of the zoo. It was quite nice to see, but because of the cold, many of the animals we trying to keep warm and we didn;t get to see too many of them.

There was also a Christmas market on the palace grounds, so we walked around there too.

Rain started coming down, so we left the palace, got back on the train, and headed back to Prater. Prater itself is an amusement park, but instead of buying a ticket at the entrance, you pay per ride. The main attraction being the large ferris wheel. A ride on it takes about 20 minutes to go around and you get quite a view of the city. Is it worth 10 Euro per ticket? Probably not.

After the ride, we had lunch at the restaurant below. It was very tasty.

We returned to the hotel for a rest. In the evening it was very cold and we went out in search of authentic Viennese cuisine. One of the hotel staff has recommended a place, but when we got there and looked at the menu, it wasn't so much what we were looking for. So we returned to the Ring and had a look around there, but couldn't find anything. We walked towards the cathedral area, but couldn't find what we were looking for. Don't get me wrong, there is no shortage of restaurants, we were just looking for something special.

Suddenly, peeping out from one of the alleys behind the cathedral, we saw Gutenberg. It was perfect. Good taste, great service, perfect atmosphere.

We returned to the hotel and hat a good night's sleep. Our driver fetched at 07:30 and took us to the airport. From there we headed home.