We Don’t Have Kangaroo In Austria

Finally, a long awaited trip is done. Yes, We did country hopping! Our base was Vienna, Austria and from there we went to Budapest, Hungary and Bratislava, Slovakia. In this blog I will acquaint you with our Vienna trip. I will tell you about the whole journey from planning to visiting and come back to home. However, this particular blog is about only Vienna. Please do not forget to read our other detailed blogs about Budapest, Hungary and Bratislava, Slovakia. So, shall we begin😀

My husband came up with the idea of country hopping. We planned to stay in Vienna for a week. While planning we found that Hungary and Slovakia are the nearest countries to Austria. There are direct trains to reach there. In one day you can visit and do so many activities. Aforementioned, our base was Vienna. We stayed there for a week and explored Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava.

Facts About Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria. It is one of the world’s livable city.
Vienna is known as the home of the famous artist Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His music was very famous and was being played before European royal families. Mozart is one of the greatest composer of all the times. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed music from the age of five.
Vienna is also known for being home to emperor Elisabeth also known as Sisi. She was known for her beauty and accomplishment as a fashion icon and also for being friend to the Hungarians. She was wife of the Austrian emperor Franz, Joseph.
The zoo of Vienna was built in 1752. They have 700+ different animal species. World’s oldest zoo is located here. It was also voted as the best zoo in Europe.
Vienna’s most popular tourist attraction – The Wiener Riesenrad was constructed in 1987. It is located in Prater i.e. amusement park. It is one of the oldest giant ferris wheel and still operating. You can ride and admire the beautiful views of the city.
This might give you a shock but french croissant begins it’s journey in Vienna.
Vienna has cleanest drinking water in the world. It comes directly from nearby mountains on two mountain spring pipelines.
Snow globes were made in Vienna by mistake by Erwin Perzy.

Activities to do

Vienna centre

Vienna centre is known as Innere Stadt. You can go to Stephansplatz which is square at the geographical centre of Vienna. It also has one of the tallest churches in the world. If you have had read my other blogs you must know now that every time we start exploring the city from the city centre. It’s easily accessible and this is where you will find some of city’s popular tourists spots and also easy to figure out what to explore.

#kajoltip1: If you are still confused what to explore then you should you go to tourist information centre and they will guide you with best options.

HOHO Bus

Hop On Hop Off bus is always a great way to get around and learn about the city more. It takes you to all the touristic places. You can get down on each stop and visit the places. These buses run after every 10-20 minutes at each spot. You have enough time to explore any place.

You can buy tickets on the spot or online. I prefer to buy offline. You can find out more about the tours on their website.

Naschmarkt

Naschmarkt is the largest flea market of Austria. The market is open all days. However, more shops are open on weekends. It has two main alleyways i.e. one dominated by restaurants, the other by food stores and stalls. It has around 120 market stands and restaurants. You will find nice colorful cutlery shops, ice cream, local food, handcrafted showpieces etc.

#kajoltip2: I recommend you to go there during lunch time. The reason is first you roam around the market and then when you are tired you can have a nice lunch and enjoy the best cuisines with the drinks.

Prater

Prater is an amusement park. If you are looking for something crazy to do then this is the perfect place to enjoy with friends. There are amazing rides, games, circus etc. The good part is entry is free. However, You have to pay per rides at the counter available outside of every ride.

#kajoltip3: Make sure to keep some cash. They do not accept card for the ride. All the rides costs between 3 euro to 10 euro. If you can’t arrange cash at the end moment then no worries. There is ATM as well.

If you are hungry after enjoying your rides then don’t worry about it. You will find many good restaurants. We went to Prater in the evening around 7 pm and had lots fun and dinner and then came back around 10:30 pm. We wanted to go there again but there was a crunch of time.

#kajoltip4: Do not forget to ride in a giant wheel. You will get the amazing views of the city.

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Food and Drinks

You will find abundance amount of cafes, restaurants, bars etc. I guess people there are very much fond of food and drinks. You will find a different variety of cuisines such as Persian, Italian, Viennese etc. Well, I am vegetarian so I did not find many options. If you are coming with some non vegetarian friends or partner then you might end up eating some sides with drinks.

#kajoltip5: If you are a vegetarian and you want to eat some place where only vegetarian food is served then you check some vegan restaurant on google and there you can find some good food options.

Last but no the least do not forget to visit the cafes and confectionaries around the city. Austrians has one of the best cafes in their country. These are some of the famous cafes that you should visit such as Aida, Cafe central and Cafe sacher. You will find amazing coffee, cakes and chocolates.

#kajoltip6: You can visit the mall called Steffl. Here you will find the terrace restaurant with top view of the square which is alluring. You can see in the pictures above.

Other Activities

These are some other activities that you can do during your stay. You can visit Opera House, horse ride, local market, Kunst Haus etc. As we are not museum enthusiast, we prefer to explore things more that we enjoy such as shopping, food, some crazy activities, visit places where you can enjoy top views etc. It’s totally up to you what you want to do. European cities has a lot to offer!

Country Hopping

Here are details how we managed to do country hopping:

From Vienna, Asutria to Budapest, Hungary – We took train from Vienna central station. We bought the ticket early morning, from the ticket counter at the central station but you could get them online as well.

The train runs every hour. It’s a 2.5 to 3 hours journey(one way). So, start your day early. Also, do not expect a breathtaking landscape throughout your journey by train as the journey outside the train window is not actually wow.

From Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia – We did the same thing here as well whereby we bought the tickets at the station. This time we were lucky as there were some day trip deals being offered and we got the two way ticket just for 16 euros. The trains runs every hour and the ride lasts 1hour to reach Bratislava. So, you can start your journey a bit late after having enjoyed a delicious breakfast either at your hotel or the cafes around the city.

#kajoltip7: As you all know, every european city has city centers. So, it is always a wise choice to explore any city from center. From here it’s easy to get transport. Most of the things are around these centers. For example: HOHO bus tour, Restaurants, Museums, Monuments, Shopping area etc.

#kajoltip8: Always keep the map of a particular city handy. This makes your life simple in exploring places, as you can plan what to explore and gives you an idea how much time it would take you to do that. We use the Lonely Planet app for this and we would really recommend it.