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Booking a city trip is connected to a lot more work and arrangements than an all-inclusive stay at a gorgeous hotel. First of all you need to pick a place you want to visit and a time frame. Then you have to find a way to get there and also transport from the airport / train station to your destination.

For our trip to Vienna we went by car cause it is only about 4 hours away from our home and way easier. Before passing the border you need to get a vignette to be allowed to use the foreign streets but that´s about it. Always check the local customs first like how fast you are allowed to go and so on. 

Accomodations

Booking an accomodation isn´t also always that easy. Do you want to stay at a hotel with breakfast or do you take an AirBnB and do the grocery shopping all by yourself. 

We went with a hotel for ourselves cause with the girls staying and their grandma´s I didn´t want to have anything to do with any kind of meal prep so hotel with breakfast it was. It was a little outside of the main sights and I probably would not pick it again. The hotel itself was fine but in a very questionable neighborhood. Do your background check on city parts before you book anything. 

Transport

If you visit by car you have to find a hotel with a garage or a parking spot and if you are there by train or plane you need to find some kind of transportation to your hotel. Vienna has a metro and a tram so it is fairly easy to get around. You just need to study the plans a little and make yourself familiar with the routes you need. There are sights everywhere and mostly each sight has its own exit. You can also rent bikes or socooter via app to get around. I definitely would have rented a scooter if I wasn´t this pregnant. It is the fastest way to get around. 

We had a parking garage near our hotel and we took the tram on our second day to get out exploring. Navigating the tram was pretty easy and we mostly only sat about 5 to 10 minutes. A daily ticket costs 8 Euro and you can use it for 24 hours. We booked it online and payed via PayPal.

Sights / Guided Tours

You can pick some sights upfront you definitely want to visit and get lower ticket prices if you book online in advance. Of course there will always be some things on the way you want to squeeze in cause you find it interesting when you are there. We visited the museums quarter and there are plenty of things to see without paying any entrance. There is a wonderful garden between the national history and art museum where you can rest. On the backside is the justice building you can visit for free as well. Definitely worth a visit. Never have I seen such an abundance on beautiful and decadent huge buildings like in Vienna.

We visited the building of justice on our first day and had lunch on their panorama terrace. I would definitely recommend to get up high somewhere so you can have an idea on where you are and how far away everything is. You will also find interesting buildings you haven´t seen before and maybe a few more sights you definitely want to visit.

Afer that we went on a guided tour and then had some time left and explored the beautiful gardens and buildings in the museums quarter and also got a New York Roll filled with pistacchio. Then we headed a little outside and went to the very hyped Rollercoaster restaurant for dinner on the Prater area. 

On our second day we took the tram and headed out to city hall. From there we went to the Hofburg and then strolled around Volksgarten. All three of those are for free to visit. Then we went to the National History Museum and had a famous Bosna sausage in a bread as a late lunch. Then we headed back to our hotel and took a long nap cause it was so so hot on that that and just enough walking for me. Afer that we headed to a nearby Indian restaurant. Food was very good. The streets a little sketchy and the restaurant definitely needed an update. 

The third day was mostly dedicated to gettting back home to our girls but we visited the Prater in the morning and took a ride on their famous ferry wheel. It was very nice in terms of views but super hot and I sweat so much it was really embarassing. 

As far as it goes for guided tours I would definitely book these upfront and build your day around them. 

We booked a guided tour into the underground of Vienna and while I was thinking about if we should really go tickets went fast so I got them and it was so so cool. The entrance was through a trap door in the backroom of a very old pharmacy. 

Restaurants 

There are many visitior in Vienna and lots of great food recomendations so if you count two and two together I would suggest to decide your restaurant upfront and definitely reserve a place for you or your group.

I always like to look on Instagram for food recommendations. You can definitely find a ton of different types and price ranges for every city plus you´ll mostly have pictures of the food and drinks and a little review within. It is fairly easy to find what you are looking for just type in the name of the city and food into the search bar. After choosing some I would like, I visit the website to have a closer look at the menu and reservation options.