After more than a year of travelling through Asia, stepping off a long-haul flight from Kathmandu and into Vienna felt like coming home – even though it’s a city I’d never visited before!
I was there in April, and the timing couldn’t have been better. The weather was warm and clear, and the parks were filling up with locals making the most of the spring sunshine. Vienna had been sitting on my list of European cities to visit for a long time, and it more than delivered.
This first timer’s guide to Vienna is built around a two-day itinerary. We spent around ten days in Vienna in total, doing the bulk of our exploring over a weekend and evenings, and catching up on work bits during the week! Here are all the recommendations I’d give to you, including where to stay, which museums to see, where to eat, and some extra tips woven in.
Where to Stay in Vienna
The best base if it’s your first visit is undoubtedly the first district or the areas immediately surrounding it (you can look at the sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth districts). These are within walking distance of most sights and have a strong local neighbourhood feel. We stayed at the Vienna Westside Apartments, which gave us a good central base for exploring and just so happened to have a delicious bakery for some fresh burek next door at Boro Bäckerei!
Getting to Vienna
The City Airport Train (CAT) gets you to Wien Mitte-Landstraße station from Vienna airport in just 16 minutes and runs every 30 minutes. A single ticket costs €14.90. If you want to save a bit of cash, the S7 S-Bahn runs the same route with a handful of intermediate stops and takes around 23 minutes. It’s busier and more basic, but at €5.40 per adult, it does the same job for a fraction of the price!
Getting Around Vienna
The public transport in Vienna is probably one of the best I’ve ever experienced. The metro covers the city with its five lines, and the trams fill in any gaps. You can grab your tickets through the WienMobil app or at machines found in every station.
That said, if you’re focusing on the attractions in this itinerary, you probably won’t need to use pubic transport very much. The first district is small and super easy to explore on foot.
Your Map to Vienna
Feel free to save this Google Map to help on your trip! It lists all the places mentioned in the itinerary below, plus a couple of extras, so you’ve always got options.
To use it, open the map using the link below, then click the three dots at the top and “copy map” to save it to your own Google Maps. On the mobile app, you’ll then find it under “you”, where you can scroll down to “maps”.
2-Day Vienna Itinerary for First Timers
Day One: The Ninth District, the City Centre, and the Canal
Votive Church (Votivkirche)
Start at the Votive Church – entry is free, and the neo-Gothic exterior with its twin 99-metre towers is extraordinary. Built in 1879 as a gesture of thanks after Emperor Franz Joseph I survived an assassination attempt, it’s one of the most important neo-Gothic buildings in Europe.
This was my first proper walk of the trip, and I arrived at golden hour on a warm April evening. Locals had spilled into the Votivpark in front of the church. Inside, the soaring, vaulted interior has the calm, spacious feel of a medieval cathedral, and the stained-glass windows are exceptional on a sunny day. Best of all, it costs nothing to walk in.
You can also visit in the evening for the “Light of Creation” immersive evening light show, which transforms the gothic interior with projection mapping and a specially composed score. This is worth booking in advance if it appeals.
Walk South Along the Ringstrasse
From the Votive Church, walk south along the Ringstrasse, Vienna’s grand circular boulevard that links the city’s most imposing institutional buildings. You’ll pass the University of Vienna, the neo-Gothic Rathaus, the Burgtheater, and the Parliament building. This is a stretch worth doing on foot, but you can totally save your feet and take the tram to your next stop instead – both options are very scenic!
Volksgarten and Burggarten
As you approach the Hofburg Palace complex, two of Vienna’s most beautiful parks sit on either side of it. Volksgarten, on the western side, and Burggarten, on the eastern side.
Burggarten is also home to Palmenhaus Brasserie, and if the timing works, it makes an excellent breakfast stop. The setting is what it’s famous for: a grand Art Nouveau greenhouse with plants climbing the walls, and views out across the park towards the Hofburg. We had breakfast here, and honestly, the food is decent rather than remarkable, but the atmosphere is stunning! You can book a table online, but we managed to walk in near their opening time and be seated right away.
The Austrian National Library (Prunksaal)
The Hofburg itself is an enormous complex with a few different museum options. As more of a book lover than a history lover, for my two-day itinerary, the one thing that was absolutely worth the entrance fee is the Prunksaal, the baroque State Hall of the Austrian National Library, and one of the most spectacular rooms in the world.
This 80-metre-long hall, is filled with 200,000 leather-bound books on walnut shelves, marble statues of Habsburg rulers, four enormous Venetian globes, and a frescoed dome painted by Daniel Gran. Entry costs around €10 which is honestly very expensive for what is essentially a large room, but in my opinion it’s worth it. Book tickets online in advance to avoid any wait.
If you’ve got the time, or books aren’t really your thing, you can also pay a visit to the Sisi museum. Either way, I’d recommend making time to wander around the various free-to-visit courtyards of the Hofburg complex.
Demel and St. Stephen’s Cathedral
From the Hofburg, it’s a short walk along to Demel, established in 1786 and one of the city’s most famous patisseries. The main café on Kohlmarkt 14 is worth stepping inside for the chandeliers and pastry displays alone, but if you don’t fancy the queue, Demel also has a pop-up takeaway stand near St. Stephen’s Cathedral at Stephansplatz. This is where I picked up a Kaiserschmarrn, the traditional shredded pancake dusted with powdered sugar and served with stewed plum compote. It translates as “Emperor’s Mess,” and Emperor Franz Joseph was famously devoted to it.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) itself is free to enter and absolutely worth a look. Tower climbs, catacombs tours, and treasury visits are all available for an extra fee if you want to explore a little more.
Griechengasse and Schönlaterngasse
From Stephansplatz, duck into the old city’s medieval streets. Griechengasse and Schönlaterngasse are two of the prettiest narrow lanes in Vienna and great spots for photography.
This is also where you’ll find Fenster Café, a hole-in-the-wall spot famous for its “coffee in a cone.” I couldn’t quite justify the price for that, but I did get a honey macchiato, which was excellent. Worth a stop!
The Danube Canal (Donaukanal)
From the old city, it’s a short walk northeast to the Danube Canal, and I’d really recommend making time for it, especially in the warmer months. The embankment walls have been a legal graffiti zone since 1994 and they’ve turned into a brilliant open-air gallery. The stretch between Schwedenplatz and Schottenring is the most impressive for street art, and on a warm day you might spot artists actively working on the walls. In spring and summer, beach bars line the banks, and the whole scene has a bit of a Mediterranean feel.
Dinner: Wirtshaus Rossau
End your first day at Wirtshaus Rossau, a short walk back from the canal. It’s a family-run Austrian inn that was packed with locals on the night we visited, and the schnitzel was exceptional. Manu and I both went for the Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein with Erdäpfel-Vogerlsalat (potato and lamb’s lettuce salad), it was honestly one of the best meals of the whole trip!
Day Two: The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Karlskirche, and Belvedere
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Start your second day at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on Maria-Theresien-Platz, my favourite museum in Vienna. The building itself is stunning, a monumental 19th-century palace with painted ceilings and gilded staircases, and then the collections inside are extraordinary too. The Picture Gallery has Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Titian, and Brueghel across fifteen rooms. Beyond the paintings, there’s an incredible ancient Egyptian collection, Greek and Roman antiquities, and the Kunstkammer, a cabinet of wonders assembled by the Habsburgs over five centuries.
Allow at a couple of hours and be sure to pop by the cafe here too if the queue isn’t too long, it’s maybe one of the most beautiful cafes I’ve ever seen.
St. Charles’s Church (Karlskirche)
From the museum, it’s about a 10-minute walk south to Karlskirche. I’ll be honest, I thought twice before paying to go inside, and Manu opted out completely. But I’m really glad I decided to go in because St. Charles’s Church is, without a doubt, the most breathtaking church I’ve ever seen.
Built between 1716 and 1739 as a vow from Emperor Charles VI after Vienna survived a plague, it’s located on Karlsplatz, with two towering 47-meter freestanding columns welcoming you at the entrance. Inside, light floods through the windows, creating beautiful rays that dance across the marble and gold surfaces.
Your ticket also grants you access to the panoramic terrace, which boasts amazing views over Vienna. Tickets are around €9.50 for adults, and you can only book them online (there’s a QR code to scan at the entrance).
Belvedere Palace
From Karlskirche, you can walk or hop on a tram to Belvedere. The Upper Belvedere was built in the early 1700s as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy and is now one of the great art museums of Europe. The headline piece is Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. Beyond that, there’s major work by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Monet, and Renoir.
The formal gardens between the Upper and Lower Belvedere are free to walk and worth it for the view alone: the palace reflected in the long ornamental pond with Vienna’s rooftops behind. Entry to the Upper Belvedere costs €23 for adults. Book your ticket online in advance.
Hundertwasser House (Optional)
If you still have energy after Belvedere, Hundertwasserhaus is around a 15-minute walk east and makes a fun final stop. It’s a residential building designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, completed in 1985, with a wildly colourful facade, uneven floors, and trees growing straight out of the walls and roof. You can only view it from the outside since people actually live there, but the exterior alone is worth a look.
Optional Add: Schönbrunn Palace
If you’ve got an extra day, Schönbrunn is a 12-minute metro ride on the U4 from Karlsplatz. The former Habsburg summer residence has extraordinary formal gardens and the Gloriette viewpoint at the top of the hill, with sweeping views back over the palace and the city. The Imperial Tour (22 rooms) costs €20 and the Grand Tour (40 rooms) is €26, but the gardens are free. Book ahead on the official Schönbrunn website.
Optional Add: An Evening Concert
Vienna is the city of Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, and Schubert, so attending a classical concert while you’re here is definitely a good idea. You don’t need to be a classical music fan, and you definitely don’t need to spend a fortune.
I’d say the most atmospheric option is the Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concert at Karlskirche (the very church you visited earlier in the day). Tickets start from around €38 and can be booked through GetYourGuide.
If you’d rather experience the Vienna State Opera, standing tickets are available on the day for as little as €13, sold at the box office 80 minutes before curtain. First-come, first-served, so be sure to arrive early! While smart attire is expected for seated performances, the standing room is a lot more relaxed.
Where to Eat and Drink in Vienna
Vienna’s food scene is better than its reputation suggests. It’s not just schnitzel and strudel, though both done well are excellent. If you’d like to eat your way around the city with a local guide, this Vienna food and market tour on GetYourGuide is a solid option.
Wirtshaus Rossau (Hahngasse 14, 9th district): As above. My top recommendation for traditional Austrian food in a proper local setting. Closed Mondays.
Figlmüller (Bäckerstraße or Wollzeile, 1st district): Two central locations, both known for schnitzel that dramatically overhangs the plate. More touristy than Wirtshaus Rossau but genuinely very good. Book ahead.
Palmenhaus Brasserie (Burggarten 1, 1st district): Go for the atmosphere, not the food. An Art Nouveau glasshouse inside Burggarten that’s unlike anywhere else in the city. Great for breakfast or a mid-morning coffee.
Gasthaus Orlik (1st district): A relaxed, no-fuss spot for Austrian classics in the city centre.
Demel (Kohlmarkt 14, 1st district): For pastry, Kaiserschmarrn, and Sachertorte. Sit in if you can manage the queue.
For coffee: I visited The Truth (two locations in the first district) and Fenster Café, both great if you want something a little less formal than the grand historic coffeehouses. The classic Viennese order is a Melange, essentially an espresso topped with steamed milk. Similar to a cappuccino, but don’t call it that in Vienna!
FAQs
How many days do you need in Vienna?
Two days cover the essentials for first timers. Three or four gives you more breathing room to explore further afield and add on a day trip or two.
Is Vienna expensive?
It sits in the mid-range for European capitals. Food at local restaurants is very reasonable; the main costs come from palace and museum entry fees, which can add up. A city pass can help with this but it’s only worthwhile if you plan to visit quite a few museums.
Is Vienna easy to get around?
Very! The U-Bahn, trams, and buses are reliable and cover the city well, and the central first district is very walkable.
What’s the best area to stay in Vienna for first timers?
The first district or the surrounding sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth districts put you within walking distance of most major sights.
What should I eat in Vienna?
Don’t leave without trying Wiener Schnitzel at a proper local restaurant, Kaiserschmarrn from Demel, a Melange in a coffeehouse, and a slice of Sachertorte.
