My favourite attractions in Vienna

Important information

If you are planning your trip to Vienna, you will find hundreds of articles on the internet, travel blogs, opinion forums where people give advice about what to do in Vienna, what to see, "Vienna in 48 hours", etc. In my opinion, Vienna is not a city which is built for fitting into these categories. Vienna is a capital that to offset its hectic character, you have to visit it for a decent amount of time. It's not fair to value Vienna separately, Vienna isn't 10 incredible buildings scattered around a city. Vienna is History, with capitals. Vienna is architecture, it is Mozart, it's Gustav Klimt, it is activities, relaxing, art, neighbourhoods in the suburbs. As you will understand, all these characteristics are difficult to get a hold of on an express visit. I have been lucky enough to be able to go there a number of times: spring, summer autumn and winter.

In this post, I am simply going to tell you what I like most about Vienna. I can't make a guide about everything that you have to see, as then it will be too long. I recommend that you read, that you research and that you make a plan about what you like the most and what appeals to you most. There are hundreds of things to see and do and to want to cover absolutely everything is absurd, because Vienna should be seen in a different way, as I said to you beforehand. Here, I am just going to speak to you about the things that I liked personally, what stood out to me and also, I am going to tell you my advice to really enjoy this big and multifaceted city.

My favourite attractions

Hundertwasserhaus

One of the attractions which breaks away most from the typical architecture in Vienna is the Hundertwasserhaus. It is a building, a residential complex with a lot of personality. Its outside looks like a really chaotic puzzle. Its lines aren't completely straight, the colours are in different shades and lots of plants are tangled on its windows and fall across the whole wall. If the outside is already strange, the inside is even more so. Its design seems to be taken from any part of the subconscious imagination. Its shapes, colours and distribution give place to something that you can let your imagination fly. It wouldn't be strange if it reminds one of you of Gaudi, as it has a certain similarity to the Park Guell.

It is chaotic but at the same time, relaxing. There is a black and white chequered floor that doesn't follow any pattern, random colours, hundreds of details, tiles in hundreds of different colours, stairs headed by lanterns, trees, plants, leaves adorning everything. You can spend a decent amount of time here, having a coffee or an ice-cream. There is also a souvenir shop. Without a doubt, Hundertwasserhaus is the icing on the cake, the jewel of Vienna because it breaks away from everything that you've seen in the city centre. Even though it is further away, it is worth making a detour for. This place can make you feel like your a child again. It is a disorganised place but at the same time, it is full of harmony which helps you to escape from the monotonous day to day routine. In Hundertwasserhaus, you can get away from the norm.

Belvedere

To continue, we love walking through the gardens of the Belvedere palace. Belvedere can be translated as "pretty view" and I couldn't think of a better name for this palace-museum in Vienna. It is one of the places with the most charm in the city. It is practically the opposite of what I told you before. It is the antithesis of Hundertwasserhaus. In this palace and its gardens, everything is carefully crafted, planned and adorned. For fans of organisation, this place will give you complete mental peace. The perfect symmetry of the palace also matches the perfectly pruned trees in the shape of cones, and also the staircases and the streams of water from the fountains. The grass is taken care of to the millimetre, all the flowers are the same height, and in the gardens, there are really well-designed arabesque patterns and the statues give a definitive touch to this whole place. If the outside is already impressive, inside there is a museum with works of art just as exquisite as everything else. The Kiss by Gustav Klimt is for sure the stand-out feature of this place. And on the whole, the rest of his works of art can also be found here. If the Hunderwasserhaus makes you feel like a child that can move around and play as you please, this place will make you feel like you have invaded the private property of a royal and you have access to their most precious goods. This is the reason why Vienna is special, as it has the best of both worlds.

St. Esteban Cathedral.

Go through the city centre to feel its presence. There are tourists photographing the cathedral, the opera, the town hall, Mozart's house, the Hofburg palace because perhaps they won't return and be in front of these marvellous architectural pieces ever again in their lives. Also, locals are walking and talking on the phone, with briefcases, cycling, with shopping bags, and for them, these tourists attractions go by unnoticed; maybe because they are already part of their daily life, or because they have lived amongst them their whole life and they value them in a different way. What for you would be a surprise when someone dressed as Mozart offers you tickets to go to the opera, for them is already part of the routine, something natural.

Kaissermühlen

My recommendation is that you don't just stick with this image of Vienna. The centre is good, but the suburbs are even better. Go towards the Danube river. Go for a stroll along the riverbank. If it is summer, you can even go to the area of the island of the river and have a dip. The water is clean and there are wooden piers which you can sit on, sunbathe, and go for a dip. On a random summer's day, I decided to get a bus from Bratislava and go and spend some time in Vienna. I had just had a dip in the Alte Donau, specifically, the area called Kaissermühlen. Despite the fact that Vienna is an enormous city, there were not many people here. On the grass, we had lots of space to lay down. During this time, a heatwave had hit all of Europe and coming here was the best thing that we could have done. In this bathing area, there were lots of trees which gave off shade and there wasn't an extreme heat, neither a lot less. In addition, there were fountains with drinking water to fill up your bottles or to refresh yourself with. What's more, this area is a perfect place to spend the day since there are little wooden tables where you can relax and have lunch. There was even a birthday party for the littlest ones. It is ideal because just there were a park and table-tennis tables, so you could enjoy other things as well as having a refreshing swim. There is also the possibility of renting a pedalo or a boat to go around the river. There were lots of dogs swimming and running in the grass, since they are allowed to be there. Near there, there was also a restaurant service, in case you did not have time to prepare a picnic and you fancy eating something fancier.

Franz-von-Assisi church

Crossing the river, I came across a church that is not usually mentioned in the guides, nor the blogs on the internet. It is the Franz-von-Assisi church whose construction, in my opinion, is a lot more interesting than any of the churches in the city centre. In addition, as it is not as famous, there are hardly any tourists around it. In fact, when we went around it, we came across a guy in his underwear doing yoga in the plain light of day. More than a church, the truth is it looks more like a castle. Its clock, the towers, the rose window and the reddish colours of its roofs give it a touch of originality. Here I will show you this photo that I love. It is taken from the bridge that crosses the Danube river to go more towards the city's suburbs. I definitely recommend that you go to this area as it is quite tranquil. We hardly saw any tourists and the only language that we heard was German.

Walk

So as a way of advice, I would say that you shouldn't take the metro unless the distance between your origin and where you are heading is overwhelming. Go by foot, walk The bus that I travelled to Vienna on always leaves me in the stadium, which is in the suburbs, but I always go by foot because the park that I go across I love and honestly, it is really enjoyable. As you already know, I always say that by taking public transport, you miss out on a big part of the city.

The Prater

Before visiting it the first time, my friend told me that Prater is the best thing in Vienna. Obviously each to their own, but I have to admit that it is not a misguided thing to say. For those who don't know it, Prater is one of the oldest theme parks in the whole world. The entrance is free but after you have to pay for each attraction that you want to go on, which is around 5 euros.

It is a completely different world inside Vienna, and maybe this is the reason that I like it so much. It is very different from all the perfection that the different buildings in Vienna constantly give off. The houses of terror, the carousels, the roller coasters, the free-falls. It makes you escape completely from everything that you have seen before in this city and immerses you into a world of complete fun. When I went, the queues were super short, basically non-existent, and this was right in the middle of August; which I suppose is when the highest number of tourists visit the city. I went on this ride that you can see in the photo, I don't know what it is called. If someone knows, let me know in the comments. But well, the swing went up 100 metres high and you could see the whole city from it. This is the moment when you realise how big Vienna actually is and all of the ground that it covers.

If you like the feeling of adrenaline, you can also profit from this view doing a free-fall. I am a bit scared of height, so I wasn't brave enough to go up. And if you are more relaxed, you can ride the Ferris wheel which is also great. In my opinion, Prater is definitely a must-visit location in Vienna. You cannot miss out on going because it is a whole other world. Really.

To eat

As you are in Austria, you should try a good Apple strudel or a Sachertorte (chocolate cake). The apple pastry with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream is so good, genuinely. The contrast of the hot and cold is incredible. For me, it is one of the best desserts that exist. Sit down in any cafe and enjoy the atmosphere.

As a final piece of advice, I'll say that you should explore for yourself. You will read hundreds of guides about this city and the only correct way of visiting it is to adapt it to you and the city at the same time, or this is what I think anyway. Don't intend to do absolutely everything because then Vienna will turn into a city that gives you a lot, but takes away more. There is no doubt that it is incredible in terms of culture (there is an infinite number of museums) but don't just focus on this. Explore activities, experiences, do different things. Ask locals, people at the hostel where you are staying. Make a plan, or don't make one and just improvise.

And that is the post for today. I hope that you have enjoyed my information, photos and advice. I have left some places aside such as the Kunsthaus, the town hall or the Schonbrunn Palace, which are also really worthwhile visiting; but I'm going to end it here so that you can discover them for yourselves. Tell me what you think. And thank you once again for reading.

Photo gallery