Walking
Tours
There are eleven tours available in English, as part of the Vienna
Walks programme (telephone number: (01) 876 7111, website: www.viennawalks.tix.at
or www.wienguide.at).
These vary from ‘Vienna in the Footsteps of The Third
Man’, which scouts out the locations of the famous
film, to tours of the homes of Mozart, Beethoven and
Schubert. Other popular options include tours focusing
on a historical period, Jewish life in Vienna or the underground
city of crypts and wine cellars. Tours take 1 and a half to 2 and
a half hours and cost €11–16. Any admission fees and
transport on the U-bahn, trams or buses are extra. and these tours
do not need to be pre-booked.
Original Vienna Walks (tel/fax number: (01) 889 2896, e-mail: contact@verliebtinwien.at,
website: www.verliebtinwien.at)
offers a program of walks in both German and English from August
to October. The walks vary, but include Art Nouveau architecture,
medieval quarters and hidden courtyards, or the Imperial Palace.
Tours are between 90 minutes and 2 hours and cost €10.50, with
a minimum of 3 walkers per group.
Bus
Tours
Vienna Sightseeing Tours (telephone
number: (01) 7124 68380, fax number: (01) 714 1141, e-mail: vst@viennasightseeingtours.com)
offers a number of half-day city tours, as well as full-day excursions
to Prague, Budapest and other
locations. The three-and-a-half-hour ‘Historical City
Tour’, which includes a visit to Schönbrunn
Palace, costs €32. Hotel pick-up is arranged and participants
are given the option of a free transfer to Vienna Sightseeing
Tours’ hop on-hop off service, the Vienna Line. This
sightseeing bus route has 13 stops and departs 1000, 1100, 1300,
1400, 1500 and 1600 hrs from the Staatsoper. A full circuit takes
2 hours and 45 minutes, while full hop-on hop-off day tickets cost
€18. These are available for purchase on the bus, at the Staatsoper
stop and from many hotel concierges.
Cityrama (telephone
number: (01) 534 1312, e-mail: office@cityrama.at)
offers a similar full city tour, as well as number of other tours
of Vienna and other destinations, in both German and English. The
‘Sisi Tour’ (Sisi is the name given
to Emperor Franz Joseph’s wife, Elisabeth) covers the historical
sites of the city and includes a visit to the St Stephen’s
Cathedral, Hofburg and a training session at the Spanish
Riding School. The 3-hour tour costs €33, which does
not include entrance to the Spanish Riding School. Free hotel pick-up
can be arranged.
Boat Tours
The DDSG
Blue Danube Schiffahrt GmbH (telephone number: (01) 588 800;
fax number: (01) 5888 0440, e-mail: info@ddsg-blue-danube.at)
offers cruises on the River Danube, available daily
from mid-April to the end of September. The two sightseeing tours,
the Grand Danube River Cruise and the Hundertwasser
Tour, go between Schwedenplatz and Reichsbrücke and
it is possible to take one tour in one direction and return on the
other tour. The tours last 70–100 minutes and costs €10.50
(€14 return).
Other Tours
Three to four-hour bicycle tours are provided by Pedal
Power, Ausstellungsstrasse 3 (telephone number: (01) 729 7234),
departing from the Prater ferris wheel, daily at 1000 hrs May to
September. Tours cost €23, which includes a bike and guide,
and cover a number of city sites, such as KunstHausWien,
St Stephen’s Cathedral and the Danube Canal.
The Old-Timer Tramway, is a sightseeing tour on
trams that date from 1929. The tour departs from the Art
Nouveau subway pavilion at Karlsplatz on Saturday and Sunday
May to October. Tickets and information are available from the information
office of the Vienna
Transport Authority, Karlsplatz (telephone number: (01) 587
3186). Points of interest include the Rathskeller, the Burgtheatre,
the University of Vienna, the Schönbrunn
Palace and the Riesenrad. Tickets for
the 2-hour tour cost €15.
A romantic, albeit rather expensive, way for visitors to see Vienna
is by a traditional Fiaker (horse-drawn carriage).
These are available for hire on Graben and just to the north of
St Stephen’s Cathedral, at Heldenplatz and at Albertinaplatz.
The cost for up to 4 people is approximately €40 for 20 minutes
(klein), €56 for 40 minutes (gross) or €95 for 1 hour
(Stunde). The exact prices and lengths of the ride must be negotiated
in advance.
Excursions for Half
a Day
Krems an der Donau
Along the River Danube, to the west of Vienna,
lies Krems, a thousand-year-old town surrounded
by vineyards. The western end, Stein, is the old
part of the town, which contains the street Landstrasse with its
old buildings, including the 16th-century town hall. Above Landstrasse,
the Renaissance town house with narrow streets and small squares
show the structure of the original town. The Piaristenkirche
and the Wienstadt Museum celebrate the work of
medieval artist Johann Martin Schmidt. The 15th-century
Steiner Tor gateway marks the end of Stein. Just
before the Kremer Tor, at the other end of Landstrasse, is the town’s
new Kunst Halle Krems, a major arts venue. The
Gozzoburg, at the bottom of Hoher Markt, serves
reasonably priced local dishes (closed on Tuesday), while Piano,
at An der Donaulände, on the banks of the
river, is an attractive place for visitors to enjoy a drink.
Trains leave Vienna Franz Josef Bahnhof every 2 hours with a journey
time of approx 1 hour. The last train back to Vienna is at around
2130 hrs. Austropa Verkehrsbüro, Undstrasse 6 (telephone number:
(02732) 82676, fax number: (02732) 70011, e-mail: austropa.krems@netway.at,
website: www.krems.gv.at
or www.tiscover.com/krems),
is located halfway between Stein and Krems and provides further
information.
For a Whole Day
Wachau Valley
Situated between Krems an der Donau and Melk, the River Danube winds
through one of the most beautiful areas of Austria. A variety of
outdoor activities are available including watersports, hiking,
cycling, boat cruises and wine-tasting tours. The Danube
Bike Path follows the river on both banks. Johann
Trautsamwieser, Siedlung Erlahof 10, Spitz (telephone number:
(0664) 346 9486, e-mail: j.trantsam@aon.at),
rents bicycles throughout out the region for €12 per day. Reservations
are needed.
Trains to Melk, Pöcham and Ybbs depart from the Westbahnhof,
while trains to Krems and Spitz depart from Franz Josef Bahnhof
for more information on the region contact the Tourismusverband
Wachau-Nibelungengau, Undstrasse 6 (telephone number: (02732) 85620,
fax number: (02732) 87471, e-mail: wachau@netway.at,
website: www.wachau.at
or www.tiscover.com/wachau),
located halfway between Stein and Krems.
Melk
Founded in 831 and situated on the north bank of the River
Danube, approximately half way between Vienna
and Linz, Melk is an attractive town with a beautiful
abbey. Stift Melk, Abt Berthold Dietmayrstrasse
1 (telephone number: (02752) 555 225, fax number: (02752) 555 226,
e-mail: kultur.tourismus@stiftmelk.at,
website: www.stiftmelk.at),
sits atop an escarpment, commanding a large stretch of the river
valley. The Benedictine monks, who have occupied it since 1089.
The Abbey, which features in Umberto Eco’s novel, The
Name of the Rose (1983), contains a museum, a restaurant
and park and garden pavilion. The 1-hour guided tour of the abbey
takes 1 hour and is available all year round. The abbey is open
to the public daily (0900–1800 hrs May to September or 0900–1700
hrs April and October), however, from November to March, it is only
accessible to visitors taking the guided tour. Entrance costs €6.90
or €8.50 with the tour. and entrance to the Abbey Park
only costs €3. Even those who do not have time to visit the
abbey cannot fail to miss it as they approach Vienna
by rail or road from the west.
Although a few trains continue on from Krems an der Donau
to Melk, there are trains from Vienna’s Westbahnhof
to Salzburg and travellers for Melk must change at St Pölten
Hofbahnhof for the local line to Amstetten. The
trip to Melk takes approximately 70 minutes. |
