Monday, February 25, 2013

Holidays in Vienna

As well as being the capital of Austria, Vienna is also the largest city and the one with the highest tourist numbers. It has a variety of reasons to travel there and this article sets to point a few of those out.
We will start off with the main annoyance though. The locals do have a reputation for being impolite. In reality it is just that they are to the point and a little stand offish. If you are prepared for it, you will soon get used to the nature of service you receive over there.

Vienna Airport is one of the most well linked airports in Europe, with plenty of opportunities for direct flights from the UK and Europe. It is Austrian Airlines main hub and as such gets a large amount of traffic through. In addition, there are plentiful routes via train into the city and a lot of tour companies will stop off in Vienna for a day or two.
Austria has a large coffee drinking culture. While there are Starbucks in the city, most Austrians tend to frequent smaller local coffee houses. It's not unusual for people to spend hours sat in a coffee shop drinking and chatting while smoking.
One of the main attractions in Vienna will be the Schonbrunn Schloss. The very busy palace and botanical gardens is so popular you will either need to pre book or queue for a very long time. It's quite easy to spend large chunks of time walking the streets of Vienna, just taking in the sights and sounds.
If you are looking to do something a little more intense, take a trip to the Prater. It's a huge funfair with well over 200 rides and attractions. The park is famous for having the world's biggest chairoplane, a century old giant ferries wheel and a ride called Turbo Boost.
There are a number of short city tours available in Vienna, including bus, boat, bicycle and even horse-drawn carriage tours. A more unusual option is a jogging tour of the city. You get a choice of three routes, a run through the old city, a route from the Wienfluss to the Danube Island, or a run along the side of the Danube to Kahlenbergerdorf.