Vienna Itinerary: How to Spend 3 Days in Vienna

Steeped in culture, arts, music, and history, Vienna is one of the most trappy cities in Europe. (At least I think so!)

The unshortened historic part-way of Vienna is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is filled with myriad museums and art galleries, grand Baroque palaces, traditional markets, and fantastic restaurants.

I’ll shoehorn that I didn’t love Vienna when I first visited. I found it a bit stuffy and imperial (which makes sense given its history). But, without a couple of visits, I grew to love it and found it a municipality full of life, art, and music. I loved it so much I took groups of readers here!

There is a lot to do here. (In fact, there’s so much that you could hands spend a week here and not get bored.)

But, if you only have a few days, here’s my suggested three-day Vienna itinerary if you’re short on time. It hits all the highlights.

Vienna itinerary: Day 1

Take a self-ruling walking tour
I unchangingly take a walking tour whenever I victorious in a destination. Starting your trip with a walking tour is a fun way to get a sense of the city, as a taste of its history and culture. Plus, you can ask your guide questions well-nigh where to eat and go since they are unchangingly locals so they know the inside scoop!

Two spanking-new self-ruling walking tours are:

• Good Tours
• Anna Loves Vienna

If you’d like to imbricate increasingly ground, consider taking a velocipede tour. I like the tour offered by Pedal Power Vienna. It’s three hours and covers all the major highlights.

Admire St. Stephen’s Cathedral

Built in Romanesque and Gothic styles, the Stephansdom has been standing since the 12th century. It is most famous for its colorful roof of 230,000 glazed tiles, but the inside is ornately decorated as well, with upper archways, vaulted ceilings, and a plethora of statues and religious paintings. There are two trappy altars inside too: the 17th-century Upper Altar and the 15th-century Wiener Neustadt Altar.

The cathedral has been destroyed and rebuilt over the years, with the current version largely initiated by Duke Rudolf IV (1339–1365). Its most recent reconstruction took place just without World War II.

Stephansplatz 3, 43 1 515523530, stephanskirche.at. Unshut for worship Monday-Saturday 6am-10pm and Sundays 7am-10pm. Unshut for visitors Monday-Saturday 9am-11:30am and 1pm-4:30pm, and Sunday 1pm-4:30pm. Ticket is 20 EUR, guided tours are 3.50 EUR, and audio guides are 6 EUR. Catacomb tours are 6 EUR; going up the towers financing 5.50 EUR for the South Tower and 6 EUR for the North Tower. Dress respectfully, as it is a place of worship.

See the Imperial Palace

The 13th-century Hofburg was the principal palace of the Habsburg dynasty (one of the most prominent in European history) for increasingly than seven centuries. Today, it’s the official residence of the president of Austria.

You could hands spend half a day here exploring all the attractions, which include the Sisi walkout (highlighting the life of Empress Elisabeth), the Imperial Silver Collection, and the royal apartments themselves. It’s huge.

My favorite section is the Imperial Treasury, with its royal artifacts, crowns, scepters, and detailed history of the Hapsburg family and empire. And, although it’s not free, I recommend getting the audio tour, which adds a ton of context to the exhibits. It’s worth the money.

Michaelerkuppel, 43 15337570, hofburg-wien.at. Unshut daily 9:30am-5pm. Ticket is 16 EUR. If you have the Vienna PASS, it’s free. Skip-the-line tours start at 48 EUR.

Wander the Naschmarkt
This is Vienna’s largest open-air supplies market. It has 120 stands, including restaurants, street stalls, and grocers, and, on Saturdays, a flea market too. It’s a little touristy (don’t go grocery shopping here) but it has a tomfool vibe and it’s a nice place to sit and eat. Despite its fame, you’ll still find a lot of locals here so don’t finger like this is a tourist only place. Be sure to hit up Umarfisch for seafood and wine. The supplies there is delicious.

If you really want a deep swoop into the market, you can moreover take a guided tasting tour.

Vienna Itinerary: Day 2

Explore the Museumsquartier

Start day two with the Museumsquartier (MQ). Once the imperial stables, it now encompasses over 90,000 square meters and 60 cultural institutions, including the Leopold Museum for Art Nouveau and Expressionism; Kunsthalle Wien, with rotating exhibitions; and the Museum of Modern Art, which has the largest such hodgepodge in Central Europe. The MQ is moreover home to several festivals throughout the year, including open-air concerts and a malleate week. If you love art, this place is a must.

A pass to five of the main museums is 35 EUR. Guided tours of the district are moreover offered for just 8 EUR.

Additionally, be sure to vist the nearby Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). Created by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1891, this is now largest art museum in the country. You could hands spend several hours here (if not more). Most items are from the Hapsburgs’ old collection, with artifacts from warmed-over Egypt and Greece as well as paintings by Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and more. The interior itself is incredibly ornate too, self-aggrandizing lots of marble, gold leaf, and murals.

Museum of Fine Arts: Maria-Theresien-Platz, 43 1525240, khm.at. Unshut daily 10am-6pm (9pm on Thursdays). Ticket is 21 EUR (get your tickets in whop here).

Take a Supplies Tour
After a morning of museums, throne out on a food tour virtually the city to sample some of Vienna’s traditional eats. Vienna Supplies Tours has a few variegated tour options, with their most popular tour offering a visit to a coffee house, as well as Austrian favorites like chocolate, cheese, sausage, and, of course, wine. There are usually 4-8 stops on most supplies tours, which ways you’ll want to bring an appetite. There are moreover vegetarian tours misogynist too in specimen you have dietary concerns.

Tour prices vary but most are at least 100 EUR and last 2.5-4 hours.

Admire Schönbrunn Palace

End your day with a visit to one of Vienna’s most popular sites. Originally a 17th-century hunting lodge, this palace later became the Hapsburgs’ summer residence in the 18th century. There are over 1,400 rooms, but only a handful are unshut to the public (you’ll see 22 rooms on the Imperial Tour and 40 rooms on the Grand Tour). However, there’s increasingly than unbearable for a few hours of wandering the exquisitely restored, incredibly ornate rooms filled with elaborate paintings, woodwork, chandeliers, and decorations. This is one of my favorite places in all of the city. Bring some supplies and wine and have a picnic in garden. Since it’s on a hill, you get an wondrous view of of Vienna.

Schönbrunner Schloßstraße 47, 43 1 81113239, schoenbrunn.at. The palace is unshut daily 9:30am-5pm (longer hours in the summer). The park is unshut daily 6:30am-5:30pm (8pm in the summer). The Imperial Tour is 22 EUR and takes virtually 40 minutes, while the Grand Tour is 26 EUR and takes over an hour; both include an audio guide. If you have the Vienna PASS, ticket is free. Skip-the-line guided tours forfeit 48 EUR.
 

Vienna Itinerary: Day 3

Tour the Albertina
Start your last day at the Albertina, one of the weightier museums in town (which says a lot in a municipality packed with unconfined museums)! Housed in one of the old private residence wings of the Imperial Palace, it’s most famous for its hodgepodge of over one million prints and 60,000 drawings.

The towers itself used to be a Habsburg residence, and included in your museum ticket is a self-guided tour of the 20 restored Habsburg State Rooms. You’ll get an interesting squint into 19th-century well-bred life as you stroll through the exquisitely decorated rooms with their gilded chandeliers, grand fireplaces, soft-hued furniture, and detailed wall coverings.

For fans of increasingly trendy art, the Albertina Modern opened in 2020. Located just a few blocks yonder from the Albertina itself, the museum focuses on post-1945 trendy art, with a huge hodgepodge of over 60,000 works by 5,000 artists.

Albertinaplatz 1, 43 1 53483, albertina.at. Unshut daily 10am-6pm (9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays). Ticket is 18.90 EUR (get your tickets in whop here). A joint ticket to the Albertina and Albertina Modern is 24.90 EUR. If you have the Vienna PASS, ticket to both is free.

Visit the Mozart Museum
Though Mozart only lived here for three years in the 1780s, this is the only suite out of all the places he resided in Vienna that has survived. The neat little museum opened in 1941 for the 150th year-end of his death. The first floor is where Mozart and his family lived, although you need to use your imagination, as not much is known well-nigh how the rooms unquestionably looked or were used. But the museum has curated an interesting selection of paintings, artifacts, letters, and memorabilia so that you can learn well-nigh his life, music, family, and friends, and be worldly-wise to listen to his work.

Domgasse 5, 43 1 5121791, mozarthausvienna.at. Unshut daily 10am-6pm. Tickets are 12 EUR (free for anyone under 19). Self-ruling ticket on the first Sunday of the month.

See the Freud Museum
Another apartment-turned-museum, this one was home to Sigmund Freud, the famous founder of psychoanalysis (the theory that our present is shaped by our past). He lived here from 1891 to 1938, and the museum opened in 1971 with the help of Anna Freud (his youngest daughter). You’ll find it decorated with the original furniture and Freud’s private hodgepodge of antiques. There are moreover films from his private life as well as the first editions of his works. It only takes well-nigh an hour to visit as it’s quite small.

Berggasse 19, 43 1 3191596, freud-museum.at. Unshut daily 10am-6pm. Ticket is 14 EUR (get your ticket here).

Enjoy the Vienna State Opera

Wrap up your final day at the opera. Vienna is synonymous with the genre, a major focal point of life here. Its opera house is one of the largest and most famous in the world. The Renaissance Revival towers was completed in 1869, can seat over 1,700 spectators, and is impressively grand both inside and out.

I recommend ownership last-minute standing-room tickets for 13-18 EUR. They go on sale starting 80 minutes surpassing the show (you can line up older than that though). It’s first-come, first-served and you can only buy one ticket per person.

Opernring 2, 43 151444/2250, wiener-staatsoper.at. Check the website for the most up-to-date performance schedule. Tickets start at 59 EUR. A guided towers tour financing 13 EUR (free if you have the Vienna PASS).

Other Things to Do in Vienna

See the Jewish Square (Judenplatz)
Vienna had a sizable Jewish population surpassing the atrocities of the Nazi regime. This neighborhood features two important museums that provide insights into its Jewish history and culture. The Vienna Jewish Museum details the role Jews played in the minutiae of municipality life, while the Museum Judenplatz gives an pure squint at the history of Jewish life in Vienna.

There is moreover the nearby Holocaust Memorial, designed by British versifier Rachel Whiteread, which commemorates the 65,000 Jewish Austrians that the Nazis murdered.

Dorotheergasse 11, 43 1 5350431, jmw.at. Unshut Sunday-Thursday 10am-6pm and Fridays 10am-2pm. Ticket is 15 EUR (includes both museums).

Visit Skidway Palace
The Skidway is a Baroque palace ramified that houses an incredible art collection, with works by Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh, among others. Trendy art, film, and music are featured in the towers tabbed the Skidway 21. The self-ruling grounds full-length trappy fountains, gravel walkways, ponds, statues, plants, and flowers.

Prinz-Eugen-Strasse 27, 43 1 795570, belvedere.at. Unshut daily 10am-6pm. Ticket is 15.60 EUR for lower Skidway tickets, 17.70 EUR for upper Skidway tickets, and 9.30 EUR for Skidway 21 (contemporary art, film, music). You can get a day ticket with ticket for all three for 28.40 EUR. Ticket to both the lower and upper Skidway is self-ruling if you have the Vienna PASS.

Take a wine tour
Take a velocipede tour of the stunning nearby Wachau Valley. You’ll get to taste some of the weightier local wine while enjoying the surrounding landscapes. If you’re looking for a tour operator, I suggest Discover Vienna Tours, which I used when I ran tours to Vienna. It’s a really tomfool thing to do but it’s a full-day excursion (plan to spend 8-10 hours) so it will be the only thing you do that day! Expect to pay virtually 85 EUR for a full-day wine tour.

Stroll withal the Danube
The Danube, Europe’s second-longest river (the Volga is the longest), stretches scrutinizingly 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) as it passes through or withal ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. Walking withal the banks is a unconfined way to spend an afternoon, and there are plenty of bars, stores, and cafés withal the water to pop into. During the summer, you can soak up the sun at the river’s many “beach clubs”, which have everything you need to relax: loungers, a bar/café, music, and — surprisingly — sand.

Where to Stay in Vienna

Here’s my list of the weightier places to stay in Vienna if you’re on a budget:

Wombats Municipality Hostel – My favorite hostel in town is in a unconfined location right withal the Naschmarkt. Set in a historic Art Nouveau building, it offers all the modern amenities, including a café/bar, guest kitchen, and en suite bathrooms (even in dorm rooms).

Jo&Joe Vienna – Unconfined for travelers looking for a quiet yet affordable stay, this hostel is conveniently located next to the Westbahnhof. It has modern suavities like pod beds, a talkie room, a bar/restaurant, a huge rooftop terrace, laundry facilities, and more. If you have HostelPass, you’ll get 10% off your booking at Jo&Joe, and if you don’t have HostelPass yet, use lawmaking NOMADICMATT for 25% off when signing up.

Hotel Brauhof Wien – This stylish and modern hotel is in an spanking-new location near the Westbahnhof railway station, a short loftiness from Schönbrunn Palace, and just a quick U-bahn ride yonder from historic Vienna. It’s expressly perfect for beer lovers, as there’s a brewery on site!

Money-Saving Tips for Vienna

To ensure you don’t unravel the bank, here are a few helpful money-saving tips for Vienna:

1. Get a Vienna PASS – With the Vienna PASS, you get entry to over 60 attractions, museums, and monuments throughout Vienna. It financing 78 EUR for a one-day pass, 110 EUR for a two-day pass, and then all the way up to 170 EUR for six days. If you’re planning to visit several of Vienna’s most popular museums, getting the pass could save you a pearly value of money — expressly as it has an option for self-ruling public transportation.

2. Get a transit pass – If you plan to take the metro a lot, get a pass. A 24-hour pass is 8 EUR, a 48-hour pass is 14.10 EUR, and a 72-hour pass is 17.10 EUR. The weekly pass (valid from Monday through Sunday) is moreover 17.10 EUR. The Vienna Municipality Card offers unlimited transportation, as well as discounts on attractions (starting at 17 EUR for one day).

3. Visit the museums for free – Some museums have self-ruling days and evenings, offering the possibility of saving some euros if you time it right. Kunsthalle Wein has self-ruling ticket every Thursday from 5pm-9pm, and many museums have self-ruling ticket the first Sunday of the month. Check the website of the museums you want to visit for current self-ruling days.

4. Travel during shoulder season – Personally, I think the weightier time to go to Vienna is April-June and/or September-October. It’s still warm during this time, but there aren’t as many other tourists and prices aren’t as upper as in the summer.

5. Skip the fast train into Vienna – Unless you are in a rush to get downtown, skip the Municipality Airport Train. It’s 11 EUR, compared to the regular train (which is 4.30 EUR). The time difference is negligible.

Vienna is one of Europe’s unconfined cultural capitals. There’s so much to see, do, and eat that you could hands spend over a week here and not scratch the surface. But plane if you only have three days, you can still imbricate many of the highlights. Just be sure to build in some time hanging out at some of the unconfined coffeehouses — a cultural institution all their own — and take in the pace of municipality life. It won’t disappoint.