Vienna

cjmcork

Hi folks,

have a bucket load of annual leave to take and am going to try to do a bit of travel - always fancied the idea of Vienna - anyone got any reports - language, currency, cost of holidaying there.......would be travelling solo if that helps with responses......thinking of going mid-October time.

Tombo2001

Was there twice, about ten years ago.

I know that's not saying much; but against that I've been to probably 30 or 40 European cities, and Vienna is the one that surprised me the most in terms of how nice it is.

At the time it was very good value.

Very pretty, and a lot going for it in terms of café culture, good museums, and history.

Not much of a nightlife is the only thing I'd say against it. Or maybe you need to know where to go.....anyways.....

That's my tuppence.

munchkin_utd

re lingo, Vienna has plenty of tourists, the headquarters of Nato and Opec along with big UN representations and other things like that, so yea, plenty of English spoken.

currency ? Seriously ? I'm shocked you couldnt google it let alone know that it is the least of your issues for obvious reasons. But costwise its grand. Probably a little cheaper than Dublin and theres more places to eat at a reasonable cost (not that that'd be hard).

I visited Vienna twice on my own and hadnt a problem. Not that I can imagine what the problem would be, but there wasnt one anyhow.

roundymac

Very nice, A bit pricy if you don't shop around. If you are bored(:D) you can always do a train trip to Bratislava.

cjmcork

super stuff - thanks - that Wikipedia page was just WAY too long for me to commit to! Not much one for nightlife, more the sights to see and the lovely building......and the waltzing in the street, though that's probably like the Aran jumpers here..............

Marcusm

cjmcork wrote: »

super stuff - thanks - that Wikipedia page was just WAY too long for me to commit to! Not much one for nightlife, more the sights to see and the lovely building......and the waltzing in the street, though that's probably like the Aran jumpers here..............

Was in Vienna in January with a day trip to Bratislava. Vienna was gorgeous even though it was very cold at that time of year. Lots of beautiful buildings, galleries, museums etc. It's a beautiful city redolent with treasures from the times of empire. Don't bother going to Hotel Sacher for a torte.


Bratislava was pretty enough but clearly 20 years behind in some development. I suspect that EBRD money was well spent in late 90s but that there has been little domestic investment in tourism since then. The castleand old town were the main attractions.

munchkin_utd

roundymac wrote: »

Very nice, A bit pricy if you don't shop around. If you are bored(:D) you can always do a train trip to Bratislava.

indeed, and after a half hour there you'd realise that you really should have stayed in Vienna and not gone to a city which is grand, but is not a proper capital (boulevards, monumental buildings, palaces, centuries of wealth and riches etc) and never was designed as such

Snoopy1

munchkin_utd wrote: »

indeed, and after a half hour there you'd realise that you really should have stayed in Vienna and not gone to a city which is grand, but is not a proper capital (boulevards, monumental buildings, palaces, centuries of wealth and riches etc) and never was designed as such

I love Vienna I went there on my own. I got a coach to Salzburg one day and another to Budapest. Great way to see things
Also spent a lot of money in swarorski (might be spelt wrong)

Mr rebel

Vienna is gorgeous. Even if you aren't really into theatre or ballet, I would still very much recommend a visit to the Vienna State Opera as it is such a beautiful building and a real experience. I feel like one can't visit Vienna without a trip to the opera anyway
Schonbrunn Palace is also lovely with stunning gardens.
Personally, I'd avoid Bratislava at all costs....very depressing place.

CelticRambler

One of my favourite cities. I've been five (maybe six?) times over the last twenty-five years and it's always been as good as I remembered it from the previous visit. Every season has its special feel; for me, though, there's nothing that compares with the Advent to New Year (Sylvester) period. I was incredibly fortunate to find myself in the wrong place at the right time while queuing for the opera when it started to snow, thanks to which I managed to get a standing-room ticket for the NY Eve performance of Die Fledermaus (3€, right behind the 200€ seats. )

I wouldn't do day trips from Vienna to anywhere else, though. There's already so much to see and do in Vienna. Check out Wikitravel instead of Wikipedia for more ideas.

I spent half a day in Bratislava and agree with the sentiments above - that's about as much as it deserves. Many more interesting cities in Eastern Europe.

Salzburg is nice. If you're not into Mozart or the Sound of Music, it's probably only worth a day's visit. However, if you've got the time and the interest, I'd strongly recommend doing the whole line of the northern alps, starting at St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Bregenz (Austria) [two towns founded by the Irish columbanus missionaries], continuing through the Tyrol to Innsbruck (another Irish town!) then Salzburg, then Vienna (where the "Schottenkirche" marks the end of the monastic trail). Great landscapes and great urban architecture all the way. Do it by train and it'll be a wonderful experience.

If you had the chance, making a detour from the above route to visit the Grossglockner glacier is also worth the effort.

As no-one has yet answered outright, Austria is in the Eurozone, and in Vienna they speak a version of German that's pretty accessible if you've done it at school. They also speak English! At the St.Gallen/Bregenz end of the country, the dialect is more difficult to understand, but you can get by with a mixture of English, pidgin German and sign-language.

miamee

I've only spent a day in Vienna and it was beautiful - I'm definitely going back. However I spent a few days in Bratislava and I have to disagree with the more negative comments about it. It is definitely like a step back to the 80s no doubt, you absolutely feel like you are in an Eastern European country and it's very different to other parts of Europe that you might be used to but the old town is picturesque and the river side is beautiful. While there I went to see an ice hockey match in their very modern stadium and it was great fun - I'm not normally much of a sports fan but that is one of their most popular sports. So it's not all bad if you do decide to spend some time there. It's also miles cheaper than Vienna