Words & Pictures by Shaun Troke
In less than 24hr, Vienna’s transportation company – Wiener Linien – screwed up my plans by taking all of my 5-day budget (read more about this HERE)…
And, because I now had no budget, I had to exclude many To Do‘s from my list:
- Gone was the Sacher Vs Demel cake rivalry competition
- Gone was the visit to the top of St Stephens Cathedral
- Gone was riding the Viennese Giant Ferris Wheel
- Gone was the view from the Danube Tower
With money & budget now at an extreme low, here’s some FREE things I still managed to see from the list.
5 Attractions To LOOK AT
Rathaus (Town Hall)
November is cold month to visit Vienna (it snowed heavily on the day I left). Though, if Christmas Markets are your thing, many can be found outside this building in Winter.
Volksgarten
A nice garden to walk around, but very difficult to find a seat in! It’s a popular, busy park…though, not the best place to go if you want a break from people!
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Crowds are ALWAYS aplenty in this area, so be prepared to constantly be weaving left & right while walking (which doesn’t really allow you the time to look up & admire this building!)
The Hofburg
As with St. Stephen’s Cathedral, this is also a popular tourist spot, where you may find it tricky to get a decent shot for your Instagram album!
Hundertwasser House
A little bit further out of the city is this colourful house. I stayed only 2mins to take this picture (after 20mins of travelling there!), as there’s not much else to see (for free) around this area.
2 Attractions To TRAVEL TO
While I was fined €150 by Wiener Linien, this still meant that I had a Travel Card to use…
So, I used it to travel to two places OUTSIDE of the city:
Donauinsel
This is the perfect escape from the crowds! Surrounded by the Danube River, the island has many walking areas (in parks & along the river), where noise is minimal, and, nature is full.
Wiener Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel) & Prater Amusement Park
The famous Ferris wheel as seen in the movie, The Third Man. Prater Park doesn’t cost anything to enter, it’s only the rides you have to pay for.
Around the area, there’s plenty of places to eat, and, it’s definitely not as busy as the centre of Vienna.
1 More Thing
I’ll be honest…
The only thing that I can recommend about Vienna is that you make sure you validate your travel ticket, IF & WHEN you buy a ticket.
It may seem like I’m harping on about this validation thing, but this €105 fine ruined my visit to Vienna…
And, I worry that many other tourists will suffer this same problem, so I feel I can’t stress this matter enough.
Just in case, though…
If Wiener Linien have already taken your travel funds, I hope the list above has helped prepare you with back-up options!