Useful Posts: Vienna

Another in the (very) occasional series on here that attempts to provide useful information for fellow explorers bound for cities I've spent time in! This time, after the jump: Vienna!


Vienna's an odd spot for me; the fact that most of my research archives are here has meant that my time here (almost two months by the end of this second trip) has been spent in more daily-work patterns than in other places, even spots like Florence where I was getting work done in fun spots across town. And of course last year I was also using Vienna as a base to side-trip on weekends to Budapest/Prague, and generally struggling with depression, so I feel like I'm still learning. In some areas (museums and art, say) I'm basically pig-ignorant. That said, here are some basic thoughts to get you a leg up on your own travels!

Food

You may find yourself in a courtyard eating simple but flavorful and healthy dishes with wine and it may make you very happy, be warned.

Vienna's no bargain, especially compared to its neighbors. But you can make it work, and to fairly tasty effect! The first thing to know is that if you want to save some cash, you want to eat Austrian food or you want to cook for yourself; the instant you get a craving for Mexican, Italian, etc., you're mostly gonna pay a premium. (Though it bears pointing out that if you have been in Europe for two months and are going crazy craving Mexican food, Los Mexikas will absolutely do the trick as they are legit great.)

That said, your secret weapon here is (again) lunch specials! Check out places like Silberwirt or Hass Beisl for delicious daily menus, the schedule of which are usually posted on the restaurant's website at the start of the week. Strategize accordingly. Generally speaking, you'll be able to get a salad (sometimes a soup) and a generous entree with a glass of wine or a beer for €10, including tip. Check guidebooks or Spotted By Locals for good value spots. Consider visiting Trzesniewski in the city center for tasty open faced sandwiches and beers - they're a great and relatively cheap option if you aren't feeling up to wurst.

For dinner, prices jump, but it's easy to keep eating out on the cheap if you opt for wurstelstand sausages (käsekrainer is the local specialty and it's lethal) or grab a dönner kebab (thin shaved meat in a pita with sauce and veggies, an incredibly satisfying fast food option).

Otherwise, the grocery store will be your friend, especially if you want to leave Austria behind; bear in mind that most neighborhood groceries will skew pretty German/Austrian in their offerings, so you may want to head to the Naschmarkt or other street food emporia if you're craving Asian or South American flavors. Also - use your local bakery. Even the chains are good here, and in any case the bread you get at even an Anker will be way better than grocery store bread and often as cheap or cheaper. Not all goods are best-valued at their specialty shops, but bread for sure is.

It's strange to me that a major city like Vienna hasn't really globalized its flavors in a prominent/across-the-board way (and acknowledge that it's probably there unbeknownst to me) but for a shorter trip, odds are you want your schnitzels, goulashes and dumplings anyway!

Drink

Oh! While I don't talk about this below, definitely check out anybody making their own schnapps or fruit-based liqueurs, especially at neighborhood or cultural festivals, as they tend to be Tasty and Fun.

I wrote last year and earlier this week about heurigen, the vineyard buffets/wine gardens. They're great, and most guidebooks will suggest a few; I've tried Zawodsky, Weinhof Zimmerman, and Schübel-Auer; the first two are very much "among the vines" in ambience, with Zawodsky more off-the-beaten-path in location and tourist trade. Schübel-Auer is friendly, tasty, and convenient, and Zimmerman sort of splits the difference, with big ambience and a bit more familiarity with English-language visitors but a slightly more complex bus trip to get there. In any event, if the weather is nice, get out to one of these.

Other than that: in general, Viennese tend to drink with their meals; you'll usually be able to find very serviceable table wines (sometimes finer wines!) for about €2. Craft beer is starting to make its effect known, though a lot of beisls and traditional restaurants will tend to have more established, bigger brews on hand; they're all cheap by American standards, though again, not Czech/Hungarian/Slovenian cheap.

Entertainment

AVOID THE SIREN SONG OF THE DIRTBAG MOZARTS

This is where Vienna becomes a major value if you're looking for one. To be clear: you can definitely pay through the nose for everything; this ain't Berlin, where subsidies make it pretty easy to buy tickets in advance at reasonable prices. But standing room is magic. As I mentioned earlier this week, you can see a lot for very little money if you do your homework and accept a little hassle..

The quick rundown: Staatsoper standing room goes on sale about 90 minutes before curtain; there's a line to the west side of the theater. Bring cash. €4 gets you a parterre standing room ticket, €3 for a balcony spot. When the doors open, make a beeline for your designated area and tie a scarf around the railing at the spot you want; then go get your drink, check bags, whatever.

The Philharmonic is complicated depending on where they're playing, but in most cases you can visit the orchestra's box office on Monday for that weekend's concerts. €5 gets you a standing room ticket; get on line at the concert hall about an hour before the performance (earlier to guarantee a good spot) and head in when they open doors. If you manage to snag a spot by the railing, again, scarf marks your spot.

All the theaters in town have some variation; Burgtheater is about €3.50, Josefstadt about the same. If you're willing to be spontaneous and kill a little time reading or chatting strangers up in lines, this is a great way to fill your evenings.

Transit

I had a great photo of a tram flying a pride flag, as they all were this month, but I cannot find it anywhere so here's this steam train I saw on the ride up from Zagreb, hooray for steam trains anyways.

If mobility isn't an issue, my strong recommendation, whether you're staying in or near the Innerstadt (the city center, what was once the walled city) is that you take advantage of the city's loaner bike program. It's an insanely good value: you register for €1, and for basically the rest of your life (as long as your registered credit card is valid) you can ride a bike for free for the first hour, and not much more for subsequent hours. This is more than enough to get you just about anywhere in Vienna, even spots further out. Use one of the bike station tracking apps to make sure you'll have empty slots at your destination, or to find a bike to pick up.

While the city's public transit is quite good (certainly compared to most American cities) biking is the way to go unless the weather is especially rough. The routes are well-signed, and even if you stray from the cycling paths (as I do at least once per trip, catastrophically) drivers are really good about sharing the road even with dumdum tourists.

Neighborhoods

If you stay outside the city center you are more likely to find adorable and/or fascinating signs, street art, and neighborhood features! I recommend this strategy.

The Innerstadt is incredibly walkable and close by all the major sights, but it'll be pricey, and you'll very much be in the touristic core. Probably ideal for a short/fast trip, or if you know that what you want to see will all be right there. But know that, so far as I could tell in my two summers here, it's hard to find a part of the city that feels unsafe, so be brave with your AirBnBs - I'd pay far more attention to the quality of your lodging and the proximity to either bike stations or tram lines than to the immediate neighborhood, personally. One of the reasons I keep thinking of Vienna as a bit stolid is that I still haven't found its "ah, the counterculture or its commercialized offspring!" neighborhoods (its Wicker and Logan Parks or Pilsens, if you will). But in general, on a longer stay where you're hoping to do more than check off the (admittedly huge) cultural sights in the center, feel free to venture beyond!

Connections

Hauptbahnhof: gateway to further adventures

Vienna is grand. But especially given its imperial history, I think it's great to link it with other places that the Habsburgs ruled. You get a fascinating sense of ripple and echo, as the empire tried out ideas in remote spots before bringing them to the capital, exported its icons and values, and appropriated culture indigenous to other spots. The easiest and best connection to make, I think, is Budapest, the energetic and inventive yang to Vienna's classical yin. At only two hours and change via train, it's an easy weekend away from a Viennese base. Prague, about four hours away, is also good if you're looking for a few bonus days nearby, though it's not as cheap nor (I felt) as thoroughly into its own culture as Budapest. Further away than these spots, you're probably looking at assembling a long-range string of spots; I'd definitely look at Ljubljana and Zagreb as places the Austrian empire once touched and that are fantastic on their own, and you can take a sleeper train to Krakow, and it will be great. (Krakow is also probably the city that most lives up to Budapest's value in how far your dollar will stretch.)

So: that's Vienna, as I see 'er! Hope it's of use to somebody; and if you happen to be reading this space for ideas or recommendations, feel free as ever to get in touch with me and I'm happy to go further down the rabbit hole!