I spent 6 days in Vienna in November 2025, a couple days for work and the rest to tour around. I loved the city, it’s clean, with beautiful historical architecture, delicious food and friendly people (maybe because it was sunny with blue skies every day, but still). Here are my tips:
🚊Public Transport: You can download WienMobil, their local app. There you can buy individual tickets and packages, pay with a credit card. In Vienna, you just need to buy the ticket and have it with you in case someone checks, so you don’t need to validate it when you go in and out of the transport. The fine for not having it if they check is more than 100 euros. The city is pretty well connected, so it was worth having it.
💶 Bring cash: as of nov/2025, Some tourist attractions and cafés accepted cash only, so having cash with me saved me a lot of trouble.
☎️ Make reservations: There were a couple of places recommended that I tried to go, but it was full and they didn’t even let me wait or it sold out by the time I decided to book. So make a reservation beforehand.
☕️Viennese Coffee House Culture: since 2011 this has been listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. You will see beautiful Cafés around the city: marble tabletops, bistro chairs, beautiful sofas and newspapers to read. Most of them don’t serve only coffee, pastries and cakes (which are so delicious): you can have lunch and even dinner.
🗺️ Here is my map: it includes things I did and also wanted to do, based on a local friend’s recommendations, Atlas Obscura, and a long conversation with ChatGPT. I filtered what I was interested in. It helped me decide my daily program by proximity. (I stayed at the Hotel Gilbert for a couple of days because of work, and I enjoyed the place, it’s very well located and the breakfast was excellent.)
💡Here are some Austrian icons I didn’t know/remember: Mozart, Schubert, Gustav Klimt, Erwin Schrödinger, Marie Antoinette, Hitler… Sigmund Freud was not born there, but lived/worked in Vienna. Brands I did not know were Austrian: Red Bull and Swarovski.
Schönbrunn Palace: maybe I missed this history class, but Vienna was once the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its dissolution after WW1, and you will see all around the city very lush and grand architecture, with lots of Rococo. The Schönbrunn Palace was the home of the iconic Empress Sisi, and the visit to the castle also tells the story of Sisi’s life and rule. You can walk the beautiful gardens free of charge. (Schedule your time slot in advance and arrive on time: it took me 30 minutes in line, even though I had bought the ticket beforehand.) They say they’re strict with it, but I also didn’t see them checking the hour or blocking anyone’s entrance. The visit took me 90 minutes + some time in the garden, where you can go for a long walk.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: beautiful building (including Gustav Klimt’s murals on its walls) with many iconic artists, quite an impressive collection. I only saw the paintings floor and it took me around 3 hours. (There are other museums around, since they’re all around the Museums Quartier).
Brasserie Palmenhaus: A restaurant inside an Art Nouveau greenhouse, it’s stunningly beautiful. The food was pretty good, and the service was excellent. The sun seems to hit there the whole afternoon. I did this after the museum above, and before the National Library. You can also visit the butterfly-house next to it.
Austrian National Library: an incredibly beautiful library, with high wooden bookshelves and stairs and frescoes on the ceiling. It made me think of the library from Beauty & The Beast (the one that inspired the movie is also in Austria.)
Karlskirche: St. Charles’s Church is a stunning church in Rococo style. I was in awe. Your ticket also let’s you go to the top of the church for a panoramic view. They also have a classical music concert in the evening, which I missed and regret. Not sure if they change it periodically, but they were playing Vivaldi’s 4 seasons.
Weingut Wailand: if you have a sunny day, go to one of the wineries outside of the city. Austrian wines are delicious, and there you have a beautiful view of the city with the Danube River. Go in the early afternoon and come back before sunset — or not. I went and came back by Uber, 20-30 euros each way. This one was excellent and recommended by a friend, who also recommended this one. (E-mail/Call them before, as the opening schedule changes seasonally).
I didn’t know Austria (or is it just Vienna) had such a strong food culture, I ate very nice food there, and pastries/desserts AND wine. Look up their traditional dishes to see what you want to try. Look for other Viennese Cafés that appeal to you.
Schnitzel Wirt: you will find schnitzel everywhere but this restaurant was recommended by more than one local and it was really worth it. A mix of locals and tourists, very traditional, no-frills. Very well served portions, so consider sharing if you’re not a big eater.