4 Days in Vienna: An Itinerary

"Slow down, you crazy child"... Stop and take in the scenery. You've come all this way, you might as well see the sights!

We went on a 4 day city break to Vienna, and it was wonderful. The sun was bright, the architecture was impressive and there was vegan ice-cream everywhere (fantastic news, for me!)

If you are looking for a short city-break, Vienna is a lovely place to visit and take in some history - though you might want to wear decent trainers and keep some extra pocket money! It felt safe, inviting, and has a lot of culture to offer, but is probably the second most expensive place in Europe we have visited so far.

DAY 1: Getting acquainted with the area

We flew from Heathrow Airport (direct flights, as Bristol only offered connecting) and decided to acquaint ourselves with the area and get our bearings. I made a map of monuments we could see on the way to our accommodation, a lovely AirBnb in Wein, about 30 minutes walk from the centre. (You'll soon learn that my partner and I like to walk wherever we can on holiday, but did note the frequent underground connections if you want to get somewhere quicker!)

We navigated to the city centre, and slap bang in the middle of it was Stephansdom, the Cathedral in Stephansplatz square, also known for its high-end boutiques and horse-drawn carriages (we did not ride in one of these, but they certainly added to the atmosphere, as well as the smell!)

St Stephan's Cathedral

We window shopped the designer clothing and bags, whilst headed to the Museum Quarter, where we found a delicious vegan ice cream stand called Veganista, who offered an array of exotic flavours, like carrot (I played it safe with Hazelnut).

Our accommodation was a few streets behind another main shopping street in the Neubau district. This had all your more recognisable shops like H+M, Tiger, TK Maxx, as well as about five lingerie shops and some trendy hidden courtyard bars.

We had dinner at a really nice Vietnamese restaurant called Tata (a tradition of ours to go to Europe and eat Asian food) which was a few streets back from all the business. There were, however, lots of brightly lit street food vendors on the main stretch if you fancy something on-the-go.

DAY 2: Monument sightseeing

We were woken by the sound of church bells. We were warned by our AirBnb host, but if you are staying in the centre of the Neubau district, there are church bells that ring at 5pm and 7am every day!

We went sightseeing in the morning, completing a self-planned tour of all the monumental buildings a big loop from Neubau to Schwedenplatz and back to Stephenplatz. We saw the Parliament Building and City Hall, then made our way to the river for a boat tour.

The Parliament Building

We actually ended up having lunch on a boat restaurant instead of traversing the canal, at an elegant place called Motto am Fluss, who offered some delicious small plates whilst we watched the boat tours go by on the canal.

After we'd rested a while, we walked back into the center to Stephansdom so we could climb the 343 steps to the top of the tower! It was an awkward, dizzying climb, not one to be done with backpacks and coats, as the stairs up are also the stairs down! The Cathedral also has a gallery, a treasury and a catacombs tour that can be included in one ticket. There is a ticket office in the gallery just across from the back of the Cathedral.

We then ventured on to the Hofburg, where there are numerous galleries, and found the central library. It cost 11 euros for entry, but was such a stunning venue that it was worth it. The book collections are in their thousands, with intricate paintings detailed all over the ceiling. There was also an exhibition in the library hall about Vienna's political history, which was interesting.

Vienna Central Library

A short walk from here, back to the museum quarter, we found a jazzy rooftop bar above the Leopold Museum, accessible by a glass elevator. There were so many art galleries here to choose from, but do keep in mind that some are closed on Tuesdays!

This is not something we had pre-planned, so were caught out when the ones we had decided to see were shut, and the other ones like the Kunshistoriches Museum, was considerably expensive. So, a drink on the roof in the sunshine worked for us very nicely! Why miss all that sunshine being indoors?

Libelle Rooftop Bar

After a brief sit down in the Burggarten, a lovely local park behind the museum quarter, we had a nice but pricey dinner in the Palmenhaus. This was a beautiful venue for dinner inside a glass room with lots of plants, but very much a tourist trap.

DAY 3: Schonbrunn Palace

A trip to the Shonbrunn Palace. Now, we walked the forty minutes there and forty minutes back, but it is definitely more accessible by public transport if you don't want to commit that much of your day to walking. You'll need to save your feet for the palace itself anyway, as the grounds are so expansive you can spend hours there!

Our all-inclusive tickets (I'd recommend pre-booking tickets to avoid the queues) gave us access to the palace itself equipped with audio-guide, then on to the summer gardens, orangery, and maze. There is another summer house where you can get refreshments, within the grounds about 25 minutes walk from the palace.

Schonbrunn Palace Hall

We found some food in a traditional Viennese cafe within the grounds, Stockl & Dinnertheater, sitting happily on the outskirts away from the touristy places.

It was such a nice walk in beautiful weather, I think we spent about three hours there, but you could easily bring a picnic and spend the day exploring. The grounds are so big they also accommodate a zoo!

Schonbrunn Palace Gardens

After that, we did a bit of shopping! Not in the high-end boutiques, as that's no really us, but in the Neubau district, where we had another vegan ice cream (peanut butter or matcha flavour anyone?)

For dinner on our final night, we went to XO Grill, as recommended by foodie vloggers TopJaw as one of the best burger places in Vienna. Whilst it was reasonably priced and had a hipster yet fast food vibe, I must say the burgers were delicious. They weren't huge portions, but they packed a lot of flavour into a really different kind of menu (of course, you can go traditional beef, not chicken, and their vegan burgers are Japanese inspired using miso aubergine or tempura mushroom - WOW).

We then went to see The Lumineers at the Weiner Stadthalle stadium, because how could you go to a city so rich in music history and not see a gig! (A particular highlight was when they covered Vienna by Billy Joel - another 'must' on a trip to Vienna to listen to this on repeat!)

Weiner Stadthalle Stadium

DAY 4: TV Tower

We had to pack in one more tradition before we went home! This was the one day we allowed ourselves to take an Uber, as we were too far away on foot to visit the TV tower. We always do something high up with a view on our last day, to see the places we've been from above and ponder the ground we have covered.

The TV Tower in Vienna has the thrilling addition of a slide on the outside of the building, for you thrill-seekers out there, I cannot speak for myself... I did not know either that there is a rotating 360 degree restaurant at the top, so we could take in the view from all around whilst sharing some sweet pastries. There is a fairly large park to walk around as well, so again could suffice as another whole day out and away from the city hubbub.

All in all, a great trip if you want to experience some culture. It is up there with one of the most expensive places we've visited so far, but that was mainly for food purposes. We had a kitchenette in our accommodation so relied mostly on eating out. Between that and ticket prices for attractions, we spent roughly £600 between us, hence why we cut down on some of the experiences.

We did a lot of our sightseeing from the outside, walking around the city an taking it in from afar, but there are plenty of museums and galleries and concert halls that could fill an itinerary - perhaps a fifth days would allow for more leisurely time to really take it all in.

However, if you're quite happy with a relaxed walking bumble around the city like us, ooing and awing at the buildings and eating ice cream every day, it's also great for that too. It is definitely a place rich in history, great food, with lots of culture, accompanied by the smell of horses.

"When will you realise? Vienna waits for you."

-Vienna by Billy Joel