Back from Vienna, beautiful place.

[soooexcited!]

Just home from 3 nights in Vienna with my friend. Will post a mini trippie as I go. This trip was to celebrate our 50th birthdays. We had a fantastic time and what a stunning place. Flew Lauda (Ryanair) Stansted to Vienna. Caught the train and then metro to Scottenring where our hotel was. Getting train tickets and working out the route was a little confusing. Couldnt find any staff to ask for help. It was fine once we sussed it. Reiss City Hotel was perfect for us. Spotless decent sized twin bed room. Full sized fridge brilliant shower perfect location. There was a fully equipped shared kitchen with complimentary coffee tea cake and fruit. Also had a laundry room that was free to use. Booked via booking.com. Couldn't fault it.

[Fuellady]

I'd be very interested to hear more about your trip to Vienna. We almost booked last week for a few days away in March but decided not to as we felt we didn't know enough about what to do there and couldn't find much info online.

[Guest]

Following along. It's on my wish list !

[soooexcited!]

Getting around Vienna is so easy apart from our first night tired and walking in the dark😆 We got lost but knowing where everything is now it's hard to understand why. You can buy transport tickets at train stations tobacconists and on some of the newer trams. Tickets are valid for 24,48 or 72 hours and cover all trains trams and buses within the city zone. Our 72 hour ticket cost €17.10 each and must be validated in one of the blue machines onboard or at the station before first use. They operate an honesty system on the transport so you hop on and hop off no conductor as such. They do have undercover ticket inspectors riding the trams. We absolutely loved the trams the older ones were so lovely. Vienna city is flat and easy to walk just watch out for the bikes on the cycle paths which have a habit of changing from pedestrian lanes to bikes. It's so much quicker to travel around even if just going a few stops. The D tram does a loop around the city. We got on at Sclikgasse and went 3 stops to Rathaus (city hall) most days.

The prettiest Christmas market was outside the Rathaus. Complete with large ice skating trail rink and children's area. There was a nativity trail which was cute. To be honest once we had seen one Christmas market you had seen them all. Most stalls sold the same things. Gluhwein by the bucket extremely potent stuff, bratwurst and the same Christmas decorations jewellery cheese toys etc. It's all mass produced stuff with the odd stall of beautiful handmade things.

We hadn't gone for the markets alone and there's so much to see in Vienna.

[HiddenMickey35]

Originally Posted by soooexcited!

Getting around Vienna is so easy apart from our first night tired and walking in the dark😆 We got lost but knowing where everything is now it's hard to understand why. You can buy transport tickets at train stations tobacconists and on some of the newer trams. Tickets are valid for 24,48 or 72 hours and cover all trains trams and buses within the city zone. Our 72 hour ticket cost €17.10 each and must be validated in one of the blue machines onboard or at the station before first use. They operate an honesty system on the transport so you hop on and hop off no conductor as such. They do have undercover ticket inspectors riding the trams. We absolutely loved the trams the older ones were so lovely. Vienna city is flat and easy to walk just watch out for the bikes on the cycle paths which have a habit of changing from pedestrian lanes to bikes. It's so much quicker to travel around even if just going a few stops. The D tram does a loop around the city. We got on at Sclikgasse and went 3 stops to Rathausplatz (city hall) most days.

The prettiest Christmas market was outside the Rathausplatz. Complete with large ice skating trail rink and children's area. There was a nativity trail which was cute. To be honest once we had seen one Christmas market you had seen them all. Most stalls sold the same things. Gluhwein by the bucket extremely potent stuff, bratwurst and the same Christmas decorations jewellery cheese toys etc. It's all mass produced stuff with the odd stall of beautiful handmade things.

We hadn't gone for the markets alone and there's so much to see in Vienna.

See more...

my friend told me that she think Vienna best and better than Venice!

anyway beautiful photos.

[soooexcited!]

Originally Posted by HiddenMickey35

my friend told me that she think Vienna best and better than Venice!

anyway beautiful photos.

See more...

I loved Venice but I think Vienna is stunning.

[DisneyDaffodil]

This looks beautiful, love the idea that one ticket covers all the transport within the city for the time period. Such a simple way of making it easy to get around as a tourist.

[soooexcited!]

Top of my list to go to was the Belvedere to see the Klimt collection. I've loved Klimt paintings for years and was also chuffed to see some beautiful Monet too. Some of the paintings made the hair on my neck stand up. Had to stifle a little giggle when a couple tried to recreate the Kiss for a selfie tho.

It was a beautiful place and another thing I had wanted to tick off my bucket list.

[soooexcited!]

Next on our list was a visit to the Spanish riding school. My friend has horses and I've grown up with my Mum having a passion for the lipizana horses. I pre booked the guided tour a few weeks before travel. This is a must as they take two small groups one English speaking one German at a time in opposite directions. The tour started in the main seated arena. The guide was brilliant and took her time to answer lots of questions. We carried on to the outside excercise area then across the road to the tack room and then stable block. There's no photography or touching of the horses allowed inside the main stables. We stood near the most stunning stallion inches away while we told him how gorgeous he was 😘. It was really good to hear the horse welfare is the top priority. They only perform at weekends and get rotated every 8 weeks so they can rest and play 250km away from Vienna. I knew the training was long but didn't realise how long and that the riders at the top of their career keep 5-6 horses until their retirement.

Over the Christmas season they hold a small Christmas market in the courtyard of the stable block. There's a circular bar in the middle. There's a ring of stables facing into the courtyard. The horses love having a nosey at what's going on and it was ok to take photos in here. They sit with their heads out under the heat lamps taking it all in.

It was a fantastic experience and one I'd totally recommend.

[Minnie18]

Looks really lovely, your photos are really good. Thanks for sharing.