VIENNA | City Guide - 3 days in Vienna 🇦🇹
3 days in Vienna is part of an 8 days trip through Christmas Markets in Europe!
Vienna was the last city we visited before coming home so spend Christmas with our family! At this moment we were full of Christmas In our soul and in our eyes! Austria is beautiful, and the Christmas lights, ornaments merge very well with the architectural features of the city!
With a very good transportation system (subway and buses) you'll find your way pretty easy in Vienna, jumping around from one point to another!
Here you'll find what to visit, whether if it's free or paid, and the right order. This way you'll save up some time to get more relaxed nights! If you have any question you can leave it in the comments :) we look forward to hearing from you!
Day 1 - 🔴 | Day 2 - 🟠 | Day 3 - 🟢
Day 1
1. St Charles Church (Karlskirche)
€: Free | Time: 60 min | ★★★✩✩
Dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo, a saint invoked during times of plague, Karlskirche was built in 1737 and remains Vienna's most important Baroque religious building. This vast building is crowned by a magnificent 72-meter dome and is famous for its twin 33-meter Triumphal Pillars
2. Albertina
€: Paid Entrance | Time: 90 min | ★★★✩✩
The Albertina is a museum, It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs, and architectural drawings. Apart from the graphics collection the museum has recently acquired on permanent loan two significant collections of Impressionist and early 20th-century art, some of which will be on permanent display. The museum also houses temporary exhibitions.
And from their balcony you can take a foto of the Opera House!
3. Volksgarten + Vienna Natural History Museum
€: Free | Time: 60 min | ★★★★✩
Best known for its huge Dinosaur Hall and for the world's largest exhibit of meteorites, which includes the Tissint meteorite from Mars that fell in Morocco in 2011, Vienna's Natural History Museum is a fascinating place to visit. This fascinating venue also has a digital planetarium where you can see intriguing films about the earth and its development.
4. Hofburg Palace
€: Free - Paid Entrance | Time: 120 min | ★★★✩✩
The Hofburg Palace is a huge palatial complex that pays tribute to the power and influence of the Habsburg dynasty and served as the main winter palace for the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for hundreds of years. Today the complex is home to the offices of the president of Austria and serves as a presidential base. Visitors can admire the beauty and style of the baroque architecture, take a tour through the imperial apartments or visit one of the detailed museums in the complex.
Its main attractions are:
- The Imperial Apartments
- the Sisi Museum
- the Silver Collection
- other notable sites within the complex (Imperial Chapel - Burgkapelle - and the Hofburg Treasury)
5. The Sacher Café
€: Free | Time: 40 min | ★★★★★
The Café Sacher offers the perfect setting to sample the typical Viennese coffeehouse atmosphere – complete with a slice of Original Sacher-Torte. One of the most known cakes of austria. Take some time out of your day to make room for a moment of indulgence with their delicious classics. Whatever the time of day, the Café Sacher will offer you a tasteful retreat and a culinary safe haven. Traditional Viennese dishes and coffee selections await you with a smile.
6. Christmas Markets
€: Free | Time: 120 min | ★★★★★
Around the city you'll find amazing Christmas Markets, there you can try delicious food, connect with local people, and find some of the Austrian Christmas spirit! You'll be able to discover small Christmas markets, and then big ones, with everything you can imagine!
Day 2
1. Belvedere Palace
€: Free | Time: 120 min | ★★★★★
Belvedere Palace is really two splendid Baroque buildings: the Lower (Unteres) Belvedere and the Upper (Oberes) Belvedere.
Highlights of the Upper Palace include:
- the Ground Floor Hall, with its statues
- Ceremonial Staircase, with its rich stucco relief and frescoes
- the Marble Hall, a stunning two-story hall with numerous period sculptures, paintings, and ceiling frescoes.
The Lower Palace also boasts:
- a Marble Hall, this one noted for its oval plaster medallions and rich ceiling fresco
- a Marble Gallery built to house a collection of historic statues
- the Winter Palace, a Baroque building that once housed the Court Treasury
- Orangery
- the Palace Stables (home to the Medieval Treasury) Belvedere Gardens and Fountains linking the two palaces.
2. Wiener Musikverein
€: Paid Entrance | Time: 60 min | ★★✩✩✩
The Wiener Musikverein (Viennese Music Association), commonly shortened to Musikverein, is a concert hall in the Innere Stadt borough of Vienna. It is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The "Great Hall" (Großer Saal), due to its highly regarded acoustics, is considered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with Berlin's Konzerthaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Boston's Symphony Hall.
3. Vienna State Opera
€: Paid Entrance | Time: 60 min | ★★★★✩
Opera and fine architecture are synonymous with Vienna, and the Vienna State Opera provides both in abundance.
This outstanding building is located centrally in the Innere Stadt district and is considered one of the finest Opera Houses in the world. Daily guided tours are available which last around 40 minutes and give a good overview of the building.
4. Rathaus - Vienna City Hall
€: Free - Paid Entrance | Time: 60 min | ★★★✩✩
The Rathaus was constructed in the 1800s in a Neo-Gothic style to accommodate the offices of the mayor for an ever-increasing city population (serves as the city's administrative center).
Guided tours are available on the inside of the Town Hall on certain days, and this is well worthwhile just to see the extravagant style of the rooms and what it must be like to work inside such a wonderful building.
5. Café Central
€: Free | Time: 30 min | ★★★★✩
Vienna’s most venerable cafe commands a queue to rival any London hotspot. Opened in 1876, it’s always been a favorite with brainy locals.
Tuck into fluffy pancakes or warm apfelstrudel dusted with icing sugar and pick up some custard-filled cremeschnitte slices.
6. Collegial and Parish Church of St. Peter - Peterskirche
€: Free | Time: 60 min | ★★★✩✩
The Peterskirche (English: St. Peter's Church) is a Baroque Roman Catholic parish church in Vienna, Austria. It was transferred in 1970 by the Archbishop of Vienna Franz Cardinal König to the priests of the Opus Dei.
7. St Stephen’s Cathedral
€: Paid Entrance | Time: 60 min | ★★★✩✩
This monolithic structure stands proud in the Stephensplatz and has been the most important church in Vienna and Austria since its construction. The beauty of this building is undeniable and its huge tower dominates the Vienna skyline and stands as the tallest church tower in Austria. Inside the church, there are a total of 18 altars, several smaller chapels, and even some tombs and catacombs.
Day 3
1. Prater Amusement Park
€: Free - Paid Entrance | Time: 120 min | ★★★★★
It's free to enter the Park, then you pay to go on the rides.
Inside the park is a multitude of rides and stalls including a huge Ferris wheel, bumper cars, carousels, and hair-raising rollercoasters.
2. Schönbrunn Palace
€: Free - Paid Entrance | Time: 120 min | ★★★★★
The gardens are free, but if you want to enter you'll have to pay.
Standing since the 1600’s and holding a major role of cultural importance in Austria, the Schonbrunn Palace is a colossal 1441 room structure and complex that is the main tourist attraction in Vienna.
The Habsburgs have held residence here for many years and indeed emperors of Austria have been born in the palace too. Inside the palace are an assortment of rooms all fully furnished and decorated in the original style – You can enjoy a tour through the rooms and admire the sumptuous furnishings and see how Austrian royalty lived.
3. The End
Time to go to the airport and find our way home, to our lovely city, Porto - Portugal 😍
Where to Sleep?
We stayed in a nice 3 Stars Motel called Motel One Wien-Prater. This time we didn't have breakfast... a beginner's mistake. This Motel is really really good, and Motel is only in the name, cuz is a normal 3 stars hotel! This is near Prater Park (near is like your windows are above the Park 🤣 ), but you won't hear a thing. This motel is near the subway and is super good considering the price/quality. A good option for sure, a new breaking of the stigma of Motels. Next time, include breakfast!