VIENNA TOURIST INFORMATION: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIENNA PASS AND GENERAL INFO

Vienna Tourist Information & Vienna Pass: how the Vienna Pass works, where to stay, when to go, where to eat, how to get around and general info.

If you read my post about the things to do in Vienna you surely realized that there are many attractions to visit in Vienna.

Bad news: the entry tickets are quite expensive.

Good news: with the Vienna Pass you save a lot of money!

The Vienna Pass is a package that includes the entry to many attractions in Vienna.

In this post I will give you all the details about the Vienna Pass, I’ll explain to you how it works, and I will also add some general tourist information about Vienna.

ABOUT THE VIENNA PASS.

HOW THE VIENNA PASS WORKS.

The Vienna Pass is a card that allows you to skip the line and visit over 60 attractions in and around Vienna. Yayyyy!

Basically with the Vienna Pass you save money and time.

The museums in Vienna attract huge crowds of tourists and the line can be very long.

But the Vienna Pass allows you to skip the line and go straight to the entrance.

In some museums you just have to show your Vienna Pass. But in others, like the Schönbrunn Palace, you have to show the Vienna Pass to collect an entry ticket.

I suggest you visit the page of the Vienna Pass website with the list of the attractions to find out about the admission rules for each one of them.

You can enter the attractions only once, except for the panoramic buses.

You have to sign your card (I know, they are very accurate) and indicate when you start using the Vienna Pass which will be activated with the first scan.

Be aware that the Vienna Pass works on a daily basis, and not on hours basis. This means that each day ends at midnight even if your first scan was at 6 pm.

So if you arrive in Vienna in the afternoon, I advise you to start using the Vienna Pass from the next day, when you can make the most out of it.

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE VIENNA PASS.

The Vienna Pass includes the entry to over 60 tourist attractions in and around Vienna, the Fast Track to skip the line, a free guidebook and the “Hop On Hop Off” buses of “Vienna Sightseeing Tour”.

Among the attractions that I listed in my 4 days itinerary, the Vienna Pass includes:

• SCHONBRUNN PALACE (Grand Tour, Panoramic Train of the Park, Gloriette, Maze, Privy Garden, Orangery Garden, Imperial Carriage Museum);
• BELVEDERE (Upper Belvedere, Lower Belvedere);
• DANUBE TOWER;
• HOFBURG (Imperial Silver Collection, Imperial Apartments, Sissi Museum);
• IMPERIAL TREASURY;
• STATE HALL OF THE AUSTRIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY;
• IMPERIAL BURIAL VAULT;
• ALBERTINA;
• MUSEUM OF ART HISTORY;
• GIANT FERRIS WHEEL OF PRATER;
• KUNST HAUS;
• CITY CRUISE;
• VIENNA RING TRAM.

Find out about the updated opening hours and how to get to each attraction on Vienna Pass website.

We also used the panoramic buses a lot. There are 4 different bus lines, all with audioguides onboard. I have listed the bus lines here so that you can find out about which one to take to get to the attraction you want to visit.

PANORAMIC BUS LINES.

RED LINE. THE HISTORICAL CITY.

• Albertina
• City Cruise
• Hofburg 
• Imperial Treasury
• Imperial Burial Vault
• Museum of Art History

YELLOW LINE. THE IMPERIAL CITY.

• Naschmarkt
• Belvedere (Upper Belvedere, Lower Belvedere)
• Schönbrunn

BLUE LINE. THE CITY ON THE BLUE DANUBE.

• Danube Tower
• Kunst Haus
• Prater

GREEN LINE. THE GREEN CITY.

• This route takes you out of the city center along the vineyards and the beautiful winemakers’ village of Grinzing.

The Vienna Pass doesn’t include the public transport (loud pua pua pua puaaaaaa of disappointment). You don’t want to use the panoramic buses to move quickly from one spot to another because they always go in one direction. But you can buy the Travel Card together with the Vienna Pass for unlimited trips on the public transport network.

Children under the age of 15 travel for free on Sunday and public holidays.

WHICH VIENNA PASS TO CHOOSE.

There are 4 types of Vienna Pass.

• VIENNA PASS 1 DAYS. Adults: €70. Children (6-18): €35; Children under the age of 6: Free.
• VIENNA PASS 2 DAYS. Adults: €95. Children (6-18): €47.50; Children under the age of 6: Free.
• VIENNA PASS 3 DAYS. Adults: €125. Children (6-18): €62.50; Children under the age of 6: Free.
• VIENNA PASS 6 DAYS. Adults: €155. Children (6-18): €77.50; Children under the age of 6: Free.

As for the Travel Card, you can buy the 24 hours pass for €8, 48 hours for €14.10, 72 hours for €17.10.

We got the Vienna Pass 3 Days and the Travel Card 72 Hours. We used the Travel Card since the first day while we decided to use the Vienna Pass from the second day to make the most out of it for the full days.

So if you are spending 4 days in Vienna too, I recommend you visit those attractions that don’t require entry tickets on the first day. Then from the second day you can start using the Vienna Pass as much as you can!

Obviously this depends also on the time you will leave Vienna. We made this choice because our flight was in the afternoon. But if you leave early you’d better use it straight away or buy the Vienna Pass 2 Days.

WHERE TO BUY THE VIENNA PASS.

You can buy the Vienna Pass online on the official website.

You can also add the Travel Card option and buy the two cards at the same time.

If you won’t use the Vienna Pass for any reasons, you will receive a refund if you cancel within 30 days of your purchase.

WHERE TO COLLECT THE VIENNA PASS.

So now you have to choose where to collect the Vienna Pass.

There are different options. The first one is Vienna Pass Mobile that you can use directly on your phone after you download the Vienna Guide App. Although it’s convenient, I wouldn’t recommend it because if your phone dies you have no other ways to show your pass. Tragedy. I wouldn’t take that risk.

The second option is getting the Vienna Pass delivered to your address. I wouldn’t recommend that either because you have to pay for the delivery fee (from €6 to €11, depending on the destination).

The third one is to collect the pass in Vienna. We chose this option and collected the Vienna Pass at the airport. Another location to pick up the Vienna Pass is VIENNA SIGHTSEEING & Vienna PASS Customer Service Centre, near Karlsplatz.

To collect your Vienna Pass you have to print the voucher that you received by email upon purchase and show the photo ID of the person that ordered the Vienna Pass. Yep, I told you, they’re accurate!

And now that you know everything about the Vienna Pass, it’s time for some Vienna tourist information.

VIENNA TOURIST INFORMATION.

TOURIST INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET TO VIENNA FROM THE AIRPORT.

The fastest way to get to the city center from the airport is by CAT (City Airport Train), a train that connects the airport to the city in 16 minutes. The cost of the train is €11 one way (€19 return) and you can buy it online on CAT website up to 6 months before you travel.

But if you want to save money you can also get the underground line S7 that connects the airport to Vienna Mitte in 25 minutes. The cost of a single ticket is €4.20. You can use the Travel Card but you need to buy an extra ticket for the connection from the airport to the city area that costs €1.80.

TOURIST INFORMATION ON HOW TO MOVE AROUND VIENNA.

As I said earlier, I recommend you buy the Travel Card for unlimited trips on metros, buses and trams.

But if you prefer single tickets, the cost is €2.40 and you can buy them at the ticket machines of the metro stations. Keep in mind that if you buy the ticket on the tram there is an additional cost of 60 cents.

WHEN TO GO TO VIENNA.

Well Vienna is kind of cold. Sure they say that Vienna is magical in winter with the snow and the Christmas lights but I don’t know. Probably for my warm Mediterranean blood that’s a little too much.

The best time is spring and summer when it gets dark later and you can make the most out of the day. We went in April but it was still pretty cold, as you might guess from my outfit.

The time around Easter is very charming because in the city there are outdoor markets with local food and Easter decorations.

Also the summertime is beautiful for the long and sunny days. But this is also the time when Vienna gets covered in tourists. No escape!!

WHERE TO EAT IN VIENNA.

Finally my favorite part. It’s time to talk about local food!

The Austrian traditional dish is the schnitzel, a slice of veal coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

The best place to eat the schnitzel is Figlmüller but you have to book quite ahead of time. Unfortunately we couldn’t go because there were no seats available for the whole month. So if you want to go make sure you book on their website as soon as possible.

Anyway you can find good schnitzels also in other restaurants. One night we had dinner at “Aera” where, besides schnitzels, they also serve traditional dishes including soups, knödels, Austrian pancakes and apple strudels.

And talking about knödels. If you want to try something original, “Knödel Manufaktur” offers sweat and salty stuffed knödels at low prices. The restaurant is very small and there are just a few tables. When you step in you think “where is the rest of the restaurant?”. But don’t worry! If there are no seats available you can always order knödels to go.

In my posts about the things to do in Vienna I also talked about the Sacher Cake. If you want to try the “original since 1832” go to the elegant Sacher Cafe, in the luxury Hotel Sacher Wien.

WHERE TO STAY IN VIENNA.

We stayed at Apartment Viktoria. Nice apartment, pretty basic, in an excellent location in Margareten.

But honestly I don’t feel like recommending it because we didn’t like the way we were treated. And as I read in other reviews of Booking, it looks like we are not the only ones.

It’s such a shame and we were really upset.

But here are other deals of places to stay in Vienna.

Booking.com

INFORMATION ON WHERE TO DROP OFF YOUR BAGS IN VIENNA.

Usually hotels are more than happy to store your bags outside check-in or check-out hours.

Usually.

But if for any reasons this is not possible, there is a great service of baggage storage.

The name of this service is Nanny Bag, an online platform where you can search the closest storage to the location you need. Select the city (or your location), the date and time of drop-off, the date and time of pick-up, the number of items and you can view a map with the storages available.

To give you an idea of the cost, we found a storage in the city center of Vienna and paid €6 per item for the first 24 hours.

And finally here is a list of some general tourist information about Vienna.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT VIENNA.

Language: German

Currency: Euro

Time: GMT +1

EU Country: Yes

Schengen Country: Yes

EU Roaming: Yes

Electricity: Type F Plug.

Basically organizing a trip to Vienna is quite easy and doesn’t need much planning. Anyway I hope my article will help you with everyday’s little things and that my tips will make this trip even easier!

See also:

VIENNA: THINGS TO DO IN 4 DAYS