Vienna, the capital of Austria, is a lovely city to visit for any occasion. Whether you want to spend your birthday here, plan a romantic trip with your significant other, escape with the girls (or boys), you’ll be spoiled for choices.

Just like any major capital, Vienna offers different things at different times of the year. Winter is, without a doubt, the time of Christmas Markets. So you’d want to plan your trip between mid-November and late December; or maybe even celebrate New Year’s Eve here.

I’ve always wanted to travel on my birthday and 33 seemed a good number for that to happen. Back in 2012, wee started planning early and decided to make a dream of mine come true: visit the Christmas Market in Vienna.

Luckily I found Hotel Gelblergasse which offered low rates over the week. So, I reserved a double room for 151 euros / 4 nights / 2 pax between Dec 2 and Dec 6, 2013. The hotel turned out to be the most boring hotel I’ve ever had the “pleasure” to stay in. But it was clean, located close to public transportation, and was affordable.

If you plan to visit Vienna in December 2023, expect to pay from 52 euros / 2 pax / 1 night (Dec 2-3) in a double room with bathroom en-suite.

3 Days in Vienna during Winter: Our Suggested Itinerary

Day 1 and Day 5 were lost in transit; which meant we had 3 days to visit most of Vienna’s sights. Since I’ve been to Vienna before – albeit in the summer of 2008 – I took on the challenge of mixing free things to do in Vienna with more expensive ones – the museums I never had a chance to visit on my earlier visit.

Day 2 started off with breakfast which was 5 euros / pax. I decided to try it on one morning and see whether it’s worth it or not. It was.

The second decision was to get Vienna Card Card (19.90 euro/pax) which offered 72 h of transportation and discount at some museums and sights. I am certain that Vienna Card is one of the few which is actually worth to buy.

Vienna Card offers more than 210 discounts and free travel by underground (U-Bahn), bus and tram for 72 hours. Also, families should know that one child up to the age of 15 to travel free with an accompanied adult on Vienna public transportation. You can get Vienna card from your hotel or at the tourist information center on Albertinaplatz, the tourist information point at the airport or at the information points of the Vienna Lines (i.e. Stephansplatz, Karlsplatz, Westbahnhof, Landstraße / Wien Mitte). You can also buy it online.

Then we were off to the center…on foot. Since we wanted to have validity for our trip to the train station on Dec 6, we only activated the card after 10 a.m. on Dec 3rd. So we followed the route of tram 43. We used the map we got with the cards and also the software Alex had installed on his Nokia phone (which does NOT need internet access for navigation).

First stop: the City Hall and the deserted Christmas market in front of it. It was too early in the morning for any activity.

Vienna City Hall (or the Town Hall) was built between 1872 and 1883. The tower stands at 98m and has a knight on top of it. The park (Rathauspark) is actually a garden with several monuments…and which from mid-November to Christmas Eve transforms itself in the Christmas Market we know today.

After taking too many photos in the area, we walked to the Parliament. I asked about the tour (5 euros/pax on Wed & Fri) but quickly decided against it.

The Austrian Parliament building is located on the Ringstrasse, near Hofburg. The building was built between 1874 and 1883 in Greek revival style. The Athena Fountain in front of the Parliament was erected between 1883 and 1902. The four figures at the foot of Athena are allegorical representations of the four most important rivers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Danube, Inn, Elbe, and Vltava). On the sides, cupids ride dolphins. The four bronze statues of horse tamers represent the suppression of passion, an important precondition for successful parliamentary cooperation.

It was late enough to start using our Vienna cards so decided to hop on the metro and stop at Stephansplatz as I wanted to check out the Stefansdom. Back in 2008 , it was my favorite place in Vienna. It is free to visit part of it but to get to the tower, you’d have to pay (combined tickets are available). Somehow, though, it seemed less impressive by now – I believe that’s because I’ve had the pleasure of seeing plenty of other interesting churches meantime.

Stefansdom or St. Stephen’s Cathedral stands on the ruins of two earlier churches. The current Romanesque and Gothic form dates from 1339-1365. The cathedral’s south tower (136 m) is the highest point in the Viennese skyline. At the top of it stands the double-eagle imperial emblem with the Habsburg-Lorraine coat of arms on its chest. The north tower stands at only 68m (initially it was intended to mirror the south one but things didn’t work according to plan). The cathedral is very well known for its tiled roof. On the south side of the building, the tiles form a mosaic of the double-headed eagle; while on the north side the coats of arms of the city of Vienna and the Republic of Austria are depicted.

From here we went to the metro stop only to find an interesting piece of history here (the foundations of an older church in the same place). Then we took the metro all the way to the Technical Museum . We made it there and used the card to get the discount, paying 8 euros / pax instead of 10 euro. We spent 5 hours in the museum, having a blast!

Tired we made our way back to the same U-bahn (metro) station, got off at Alser Strasse, took the exit as it said on the hotel’s website and found a new store to check out. We got the food for the night and after we ate and checked our emails – we took the travel router as we knew we’d had cable internet in the room – we went to sleep. Just like the night before, we ended up sleeping very early.

Day 3 is always our busiest when we travel. It was our 2nd full day in Vienna. The plan was to check out more museums.

We decided pro-breakfast again and then we had one very idea on our heads: Natural History Museum. Thankfully it was easily reached by tram and a short walk. Plus we got another discount, paying 8 euros/ pax instead of 10 euros.

The museum was packed with kids even so early in the morning (it had just opened). We ended up spending only 3 hours here. From here we wanted to visit the Papyrus Museum (me) and the Globe Museum (Alex …and me). So we threw in Esperanto Museum as it was part of a combined ticket.

Right in front of the Natural History Museum is another – smaller – Christmas Market which was open but we only browsed it.

The Papyrus Museum is housed in the National Library, inside Hofburg Palace . We got a combined ticket, went to the bathroom and then to the museum. Unfortunately only part of the info is in English but, nevertheless, it is absolutely amazing. We found old Egyptian papyri, Greek ones, and so many interesting things to be seen. When we exited the museum we were offered two papyrus gifts.

Next stop was the Globe Museum and Alex’s phone helped again. We found the building quite easily – thanks to the flag which always is there at an official institution – and using our tickets we entered the Esperanto Museum, first.

Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. It started life in 1887 and the goal was to create an easy-to-learn, politically neutral language. The first World Congress of Esperanto was organized in France in 1905, while Google translate added it as the 64th language in 2012. It is currently used as the language of instruction of the International Academy of Sciences in San Marino. The museum won’t take a lot of time to visit but make sure to watch the history video.

From here we made our way up to Globe Museum (in the same building), where we started with reading a lot about how globes are made and how they evolved. Then we went through the exhibits and we were wow-ed by them. There are 240 original globes in the museum, each extremely interesting.

Tired and hungry, we made our way to the first U-bahn entrance we saw and made it back to the hotel via the store to pick something to eat. Rested, and with the hope of a not so cold evening, it was time to explore a Christmas Market: the one in front of the Town Hall. And of course, we had to get mulled wine, which, by the way, was amazing.

Several gusts of wind later, we called it quits and made our way back to the hotel.

The 3rd full day in the city was my birthday so Alex told me I was to decide what we’d be doing. He wanted to see the Danube, so first stop after breakfast was Donaupark (Danube Park) with its Danube tower. We weren’t contemplating going up in it because of the wind and fog but I figured it would be fun to go. Too bad Alex wasn’t so impressed by the area – well, truth be told, neither was I, guess I’ve changed a lot since 2008.

Danube Tower (Donauturm) opened in April 1964 and is the tallest structure in Austria (252 m). If you wanted to know what hills you can see in the background, those are Leopoldsberg and Kahlenberg. The high-speed elevators take visitors to the 150m viewing platform. I was there back in 2008 and although it was summer the wind was unbearable (therefore you might imagine why I decided to skip it now). There are also two revolving restaurants (at 161.2 m and 169.4 m).

We made it back to the metro stop and decided to exit at Karlplatz, but were too lazy to go out and check the surroundings. We changed lines to get on U4 all the way to Schonbrunn. Once there it was easy to follow the crowds and signs to get to the entrance.

First stop: Christmas Market. Goals: get a magnet, something to eat and wine/cider/punch. I didn’t find a magnet – so had to make it to the Town Hall again for that – but we got huge pretzels and cider.

We kept the mugs, just like the night before. We heard English and Hungarian around us rather than German. We debated whether to go the zoo or visit the palace but opted for a walk in the garden and walking to Gloriette, which yes, it is closed over the winter so you cannot go to the top. But the views walking to the base of the Gloriette were lovely and it was a sunny day.

Schonbrunn Palace is a former 1,441 room Rococo summer residence of the Habsburgs. Since the 1960s it is one of the most important tourist attractions in Vienna. The site is huge and includes, aside from the palace itself, the gardens (where you can also find the palm house and the Zoo), 32 sculptures, Gloriette, and the Roman ruins.

Gloriette is the largest known structure of its kind (a building in a garden erected on a site that is elevated in respect to the surroundings) and was built in 1775 as the last building constructed in the garden. It was a lookout point and was used as a dining hall and festival hall. Today it houses a café and an observation deck (open only during summer).

The Neptune fountain lies in between the palace and the Gloriette, at the foot of the hill on which the Gloriette stands on.

The Roman ruins – of which I only know from research for the book I wrote recently – were actually erected in 1778 as a new structural feature in the garden.

After going by the Town Hall Christmas Market to get the magnet and other souvenirs for family, it was time to go to the hotel and enjoy an evening with Facebook and CNN – cause the choice of English channels was really limited.

Overall, Vienna 2013 was a nice experience. As Alex said, we most likely won’t get back to the city. Our hearts stay with Budapest, where we did make a long stop on the way back home.

Vienna is not a cheap place to visit and the free activities are very limited – particularly during winter. Sure, it is home to very colorful Christmas markets which are to be enjoyed at least once.

(c) All photos by Alex and Cristina P. for Looknwalk.info and cannot be used without permission.

Note: this post for was first published in Jan 2014. It was updated with accommodation prices in August 2023.
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