Here’s the best four days itinerary in Vienna to enjoy every corner of the Austrian capital.
I suggest staying in Vienna for at least four or five days because there’s a lot of things to see. If you are lucky enough to have a nice weather, you can’t miss visiting the austrian countryside as well.
Vienna is Austria’s largest city and capital. The city is located in the northeastern corner of Austria, between the foothills of the Alps and the Carpathians. Vienna is also located alongside the Danube – Europe’s second longest river.
I’ll list here all the things to do when spending a few days in Vienna.
- Day One : St Stephen’s Cathedral, St Peter’s Church, Ferstel Passage, Michaelerplatz, Spanish Riding School, Austrian National Library, Heldenplatz, Hofburg, Volksgarten, Museumsquartier
- Day Two : Prater, Wirtschaftsuniversität, Hundertwasserhaus, Stadtpark, St Charles’ Church, Vienna State Opera, Statue of Archduke Albrecht, Burggarten
- Day Three : Belvedere Palace, Maria vom Siege Church, Schönbrunn Palace and Großes Palmenhaus Schönbrunn, Liechtensteinpark, Votivkirche, Rathaus der Stadt Wien, Austrian Parliament building, Justizpalast
- Day Four : A day in the countryside of Wachau, Danube Valley, Melk abbey…
Note : This itinerary has been made for summer months, so a lot of gardens are included, as well as a lot of walking !
Day One
Day one circuit : 35 minutes walk, 10 stops
Start your first day in Vienna at the heart of the city : St Stephen’s Cathedral.
This Gothic cathedral with Baroque features was founded in 1137 and completed in 1578.
With its multicoloured tiled roof and 136 meters height, it is the tallest church in Austria.
Fee : The main area is free to visit, but if you want to see the south and north towers, the catacombs or the cathedral museum, you pay at the desk in cash (no card payment) for the entry you’d like, 7€ each. Otherwise, there’s a combined ticket you can buy for 25€.
Opening hours : 9-11:30am and 1-4:30pm everyday (except it is not open for visits Sunday morning).
4 minutes from the cathedral is St Peter’s Church. Today’s baroque building was completed in 1733 and inspired by St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
However, The first St. Peter’s church dates back to the 4th century, and is said to be the oldest church in Vienna.
Fee : Free
Opening hours : 7am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Another five minutes from St Peter’s church is the Ferstel passage (or Freyung Passage). Dating back from the 19th century, this covered passage is filled with shops, restaurants and cafés. There are beautiful ceilings, marble interior, a hexagonal glass dome and a courtyard with a 6 meters tall fountain.
The Palais Ferstel used to house the National Bank and the Vienna Stock Exchange until 1877.
Fee : Free
Opening hours : 10am to 8pm
Ferstel Palace is best known for housing Vienna’s most famous kaffeehaus (coffee house), Café Central.
This famous café running since 1876 and frequented by Freud or Trotzki among many others, has the best apfelstrudel I tried during my stay, and the whole atmosphere is worth a visit.
Fee : Their desserts are around 8-10€ but they have a whole menu with a lot of traditional dishes such as wiener schnitzel or tafelspitz for 20-26€.
Opening hours : 8am to 10pm.
After a five minute walk, you will arrive to Michaelerplatz. This major baroque square in the center of Vienna is named after St Michael’s Church (dating back from the 13th century), located on the eastern part of the square. It is also home to the Hofburg royal palace and Roman excavations.
On Michaelersplatz is also the Spanish Riding School, an Austrian institution dedicated to practicing classical dressage and training of Lipizzaner horses for over 400 years. Founded in 1572 and therefore the oldest of its kind in the world, the leading horses and riders of the school also tour and perform worldwide.
Fee : Prices are between 17-26€ for a guided tour, a training session or a performance, and it lasts around 1 hour. You can purchase tickets here.
Opening hours : 9am to 4pm (guided tours are at 1pm, 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm almost every day).
3 minutes from the school is the Austrian National Library, which is the largest library in Austria as well as Europe’s largest Baroque library.
Fee : Tickets are 10€ for the state hall, 5€ for the Globe and Esperanto Museum, and 5€ for the papyrus Museum. You can buy them here.
Opening hours : The Grand Hall is open daily from 9am to 9pm.
A 7 minute walk with take you to Heldenplatz (Heroes’ square). This huge square created in the early 1800s is surrounded by iconic monuments such as the Hofburg Palace or the two equestrian statues in honor of the two heroes who defeated Napoleon in Aspern. This square is also known for Hitler’s balcony speech in 1938.
On the square is also the Hofburg, a former imperial palace which happens to be the city’s largest palace. Its foundations dates back from 1220 and has been gradually built up since. It was the residence of most of the rulers in Austrian history.
Fee : Tickets for the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments are 17,5€ for adults (tour last around 75min) and can be purchased here.
Opening hours : Visit slots are from 9am to 6:15pm.
Right across is the Volksgarten. This public park is part of the Hofburg Palace and it has a lovely rose garden, as well as the Theseus Temple, Sisi memorial and Grillparzer memorial.
Fee : Free
Opening hours : 6am to 10am from April to October, 7am to 5:30pm from November to March
Final stop of the day : MuseumsQuartier which is 7 minutes from the Volksgarten. Spread over 90,000m2, it is one of the largest cultural quarters in the world.
Located in the former imperial court stables, it brings together 60 cultural institutions such as :
- Museums : to only name a few the Austrian Architecture Museum, the Leopold Museum, MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna)
- Contemporary exhibition spaces like the Kunsthalle
- Festivals and summer events
- Restaurants, cafés and stores
Day Two
Day two circuit : 1h20, 8 stops
Start your second day at Prater. This is one of the oldest amusement park in the world. This huge park has many vintage attractions such as the emblematic Big Wheel dating back from 1897.
Fee : freely accessible 24 hours a day all year round. Ticket prices of the various attractions and rides differ but most range from 3€ to 6€.
Opening hours : A peculiarity of the park is that there are no uniform opening hours. All attractions, rides and restaurants are free to decide when they open and close.
5 minutes from the amusement park is a university complex called the Wirtschaftsuniversität, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
There’s nothing that special in that campus except that the building all have different and innovative architecture and the walk along the park is enjoyable.
At the other side of the Prater Park and the University is the famous Hundertwasserhaus. It is a 25 minute walk at most, but you can also take the public transport (line 1).
The Hundertwasser House in Vienna is one of Austria’s architectural highlights. This house designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and completed in 1985, draws visitors from around the world.
This house looking like a colourful puzzle can only be viewed from the outside.
Take a 20-minute walk in direction to the Stadtpark. You will walk in a business district will modern buildings :
You can wander in the Stadtpark, one of Vienna’s oldest parks. Open since 1862, it stretches over 28 acres which makes it the biggest park in the city. The Wien River divides it into two, and people can use several small bridges to cross between the two sides.
Opening hours : Accessible around the clock and has no closing times.
Now, 15 minutes from the park is Karlskirche or St. Charles’ church. This Baroque church, with a large dome and two tall columns flanking the entrance, was opened in 1737, after 25 years of construction.
Fee : Free entrance
Opening hours : 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm to 7pm on Sundays.
After a 10 minutes walk you will reach THE most famous monument in Vienna : The Vienna State Opera.
Opened in 1869 with a premiere by Mozart, it is one of the most world-renowned opera, with around 50 operas and ballets per season, danced by the Vienna State Ballet. The variety of the opera program is unequalled anywhere in the world.
Fee : Tickets can start around 10€ and go up to more than 200€ depending on the representation. You can buy tickets here. Otherwise you can book a 40 minute guided tour for 13€ here.
Opening hours : Guided tours are between 10am and 3pm from Monday to Sunday.
Right next to the Opera is the statue or Archduke Albrecht, which honours a 19th-century Habsburg military leader, but most importantly offer great views on the city and the opera.
Final stop of the day ! 5 minutes from the opera and statue is the Burggarten, the former Hofburg palace’s gardens. Opened to the public in 1918, this huge garden features several statues, a fountain and the Palmenhaus (palm grove). This splendid greenhouse now houses the Schmetterlinghaus, a butterfly house. The Palmenhaus café is surrounded by palm trees, and the terrace offers a nice view to enjoyed with your coffee.
Fee : Free, but the entry to the butterfly greenhouse is 9,5€.
Opening hours : 6am to 10pm from April to October and 7am to 5:30pm from November to March.
Day Three
Day three circuit : on this day we will use public transportation to get to area outside of the city center, in between it will be 40-60 minutes of walking and 8 stops total.
To kick off this day, head to the Belvedere Palace, one of Vienna’s greatest Baroque palaces. Built in the 18th century it was Prince Eugene of Savoy’s summer residence.
This palatial complex includes :
- The Upper Belvedere which was all about representation (1st picture below).
- The Lower Belvedere, or residential palace of Prince Eugene, comprises an orangery and stables (2nd picture below).
- The gardens of the Belvedere with a reflecting pool
When this commander-in-chief of the imperial army died, Maria Theresa of Austria who inherited the palace, transformed the Upper Belvedere into an exhibition space for the imperial collections. This was one of the world’s first museums open to the general public.
Since 1903, the Lower Belvedere has housed a museum, including the world’s largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt
Fee : Book online to have a discount and avoid queuing for hours. Price are 16,7€ for the Upper Belvedere, 14,6€ for the Lower Belvedere or 24€ for both. Here’s the website to purchase the tickets.
Opening hours : The Upper Belvedere is open from 9am to 6pm everyday while the Lower Belvedere is open from 9 am to 6 pm, everyday as well.
If you are considering a lunch break, you can head to Pitawerk, which serves delicious Bosnian pitas at an affordable price. Right next to it is Maria Vom Siege Church, a former Roman Catholic parish church, built between 1868 and 1875.
To get there, you can use the line 18 (15 minutes).
Fee : Free
Opening hours : Only Sundays from 8:30am to 11am.
From the last stop you can take line 60 (10 minutes) and you will arrive to the Schönbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.
Built between 1696 and 1699, it was the summer residence of Vienna’s imperial family.
The Schloss Schonbrunn complex includes :
- The Palace with Baroque architecture, and a total of 1441 lavish rooms in Rococo-style decor (including the Great Gallery where imperial banquets were held)
- Stunning gardens filled with sculptures
- The Gloriette, a huge baroque garden structure built in 1775 and located on a hill, thus offering splendid view of the palace
- Imperial Carriage Museum
- Tiergarten, a zoological park founded in 1752 which has remained in operation ever since, making it the oldest zoo in the world
- Großes Palmenhaus Schönbrunn, a huge 2500 m² greenhouse opened in 1882. Around 45,000 panes of glass are used for this structure ! it is one of the largest palm houses in Europe and among the largest botanical exhibits of its kind in the world, with around 4,500 plant species.
Fee : Grand tour of an hour for 29€, but shorter and less expensive tours are available (state apartments only : 20€). I would recommend buying in advance online here to avoid queuing for a long time.
Opening hours : Everyday of the year, from 8:30am to 5pm.
Back in the city (subway line U4 for 20 minutes), the Liechtensteinpark is a beautiful garden built for the princely family of Liechtenstein. The 17th century Garden Palace became the first museum in Vienna in 1807 to showcase the princely family’s private art collection, one of the largest private collections in the world (with art by Rubens, Raffael, Rembrandt…).
Fee : Free
Opening hours : 6:45am to 8:45pm everyday.
A 20 minute walk from the park is Votivkirche, a renovated new-Gothic church, built in 1853 and completed in 1879, as a token of gratitude for a failed attempt to assassinate Emperor Franz Joseph.
Fee : Free
Opening hours : 11am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 7pm on Saturdays, and 9am to 1pm on Sundays.
8 minutes from the church is the Rathaus der Stadt Wien (Vienna’s city hall). Built from 1872 to 1883 in a neo-Gothic style, it is home of the Mayor’s office and official residence, as well as the chambers of the city council. More than 2000 people work in the building !
The 2,804 m² courtyard is one of the largest courtyards in Europe.
Fee : Guided tours are free, but tickets needs to be picked up at the City Information before 10am on the day of the tour.
Opening hours : tours are at 1pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
5 minutes from the Rathaus is the Austrian Parliament building. This is where the two houses of the Austrian Parliament conduct their sessions, which are around 280 sessions every year ! The building was founded in 1874 and completed in 1883.
Fee : Sessions can be followed free of charge from the glazed gallery, and free guided tours can also be booked here.
Opening hours : guided tours at 11:45am, 1:45pm and 3:45pm Monday to Saturday (lasts 55 minutes, except the last slot that lasts around 85 minutes).
Last stop of the day ! 5 minutes from the Parliament is the Justizpalast, or the seat of Austria’s Supreme Court. This Renaissance-style building was built from 1875 to 1881.
Fee : Free
Opening hours : 8am to 3:30pm Monday to Friday.
Day Four
On this last day, if you are interested in something a bit different and want to explore more than the city, I’d suggest spending a day in the Austrian countryside.
There are several beautiful places in the Danube Valley and the area that can be visited on a day trip. You can either rent a car to have more freedom on your itinerary and time management, or you can book a tour. If you opt for the second option, GetYourGuide offer a wide range of activities and experiences, for all prices.
You can take a boat tour on the Danube river, explore the Wachau vineyards, visit picturesque villages such as Dürnstein, Krems an der Donau, or take a tour to the Melk abbey.
I have detailed everything in my article about day trips from Vienna, but here are some pictures :
For a night stroll of a place to dine, I’d suggest heading to the Naschmarkt. It is Vienna’s best-known market and there are around 120 market stands and restaurants there.
Whether you are looking for traditional Viennese cuisine or international food like Thaï or Indian, you will find it in the Naschmarkt.
I tried Zur eisernen Zeit, I had a perfect wiener schnitzel there and exquisite kaiserschmarrn for a total of 33€ and it was the best of my entire stay.
Opening hours : Everyday except Sundays, but I’d recommend avoiding it on Saturdays as it gets really crowded.
If you have a few more days, take the time to explore the different streets and monuments that are hidden in every corner :
That’s it for my four days itinerary in Vienna ! Vienna is a city with a lot of thing to see and do, I listed only the main ones but you could easily spend two weeks there and you wouldn’t be bored a second. If you need more information about what to know before you visit Austria, you can check out this article.
I have also made a post about restaurant and food recommendations, click here to check it out !
If you need a custom itinerary, you can fill this form and I’ll make your own personalised itinerary.