A November weekend in Vienna
If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, I would recommend a trip to Vienna in November or December. My friend and I spent a weekend there in November for some sightseeing and the Christmas markets of course.
Where I stayed: Roomz Vienna Prater
The hotel was a reasonable price and was quite modern. The room was spacious with two single beds and a good-sized bathroom. The hotel is a 20 minute walk outside of the city centre, but this wasn’t a problem as it’s quite close to a Metro stop and the main trainline, which made getting to and from the airport very easy. Rating: 4/5
Things to see and do
Vienna is full of impressive architecture and there are plenty of beautiful buildings to see. Most of them are also within the city centre and you can easily see them all on foot. We spent a lot of time just wandering around. The following buildings are worth taking a closer look at:
-Hofburg Palace
-Vienna State Opera
-St. Stephens Cathedral
-Mozarthaus (Where Mozart lived for a few years of his life)
-Belvedere Palace
-Rathausplatz
This is an impressive place to visit in general, but it’s also where one of the best Christmas Markets in Vienna is held every year. I recommend going after dark as there are plenty of pretty lights to look at. We wandered around the stalls and bought food and Glühwein. We also went ice skating as there was a pretty impressive ice skating rink, with larger spaces and tracks with downward inclines for people who know what they’re doing.
-Schönbrunn Palace
This palace is a short trip outside of the city and you can get there via the Metro. The palace is huge and so are the gardens surrounding it. You can walk to the top of the hill behind the palace for a beautiful view of Vienna.
-St. Francis of Assisi Church
This church is outside of the city centre and looks more like a medieval fairytale palace than a church.
Food and drink:
Figlmüller
This is a restaurant chain that serves traditional Vienese quisine. We had to try the weinerschnitzel when in Vienna. You order the schnitzel and then you can order sides, so we ordered different potato options as our sides. The schnitzels are large and we realised that we could have shared one, but if you can’t finish, they’ll let you take it home with you.
Wirr
This café is outside of the main city centre in a cool neighbourhood. We ordered the Belgian waffles and a bagel. It’s a cosy spot that’s great for brunch. The hot chocolate and coffee options were also very good.
Bosna
Whilst at the Christmas market we had to try the Austrian fast food dish “Bosna”. It’s basically a hot dog with a bratwurst sausage, onions, mustard, ketchup and curry powder. It was good and very filling!
Joseph Brot
This little café and bakery is situated next to a shopping street full of high street brands, at Kirchengasse 3. The bakery items tasted really good as we bought some to go. We also sat down for breakfast. I had the Vienese breakfast and my friend had muesli. We both really enjoyed it. The only downside is that it is quite busy, so it might be hard to get a table.
General tips and info
-The Airport train is quite expensive compared to the regular trains. We took the regular trains to and from the airport and you can buy tickets from machines at the stations or at the airport.
-The Metro and public transport in Vienna is really good and easy to understand. We bought a pass for the three days that we would be there, and it made it ever so easy to get around.
-If you want to go ice skating at the Rathausplatz Christmas Market, I would recommend ordering it online. We had to buy things from different vendors and it took a while to sort it all out before we could get on the ice, as renting skates and getting a pass for the ice rink were sold in separate spots.
-Emma
