At least living in a desirable location tempts friends and family to come visit. My parents, brother and his wife, and almost all of my friends have come to visit me. Despite living here, I always struggle to put a daily sightseeing tour together for my guests. Finally I just put it down on paper, and whip it out whenever people show up. I include days of the week because some places in the city are better during the week or weekend. I also group sights together according to location to avoid zigzagging through the city.
Weekday – Tour of the Inner City. Start at Karlsplatz and walk down Kartnerstraße. Remind your guests to look up to see the beautiful architecture. Enter Stephansdom and tell your guests to make a round of the cathedral. Then tell them to go to the top to get a good view of the city. Walk Am Graben and explain the statue in the middle is a tribute to surviving the black plague. Check out the pretty Peter’s Church. Tell them about the underground bathrooms Am Graben and encourage them to take a look. Walk your guests to Café Central for a break. Then head on over to the Hofburg and encourage them to take a tour. Grab a streetcar that circles the Ring and explain all the buildings. At Schwedenplatz get out and take the U1 to Donauinsel. Let your guests see the mighty Danube. On the way back, get out at Praterstern and have your guests ride the Riesenrad. Jump back in the U1 to exit Karlsplatz again and eat anywhere in the Inner City (example: Palmenhaus) so your guests can see the Inner City at night.
Saturday – go to Naschmarkt to see the Fleamarket as well as the food market. Go to Schönbrunn and encourage your guests to take a tour and walk the gardens. Take a break either at the Gloriette or Dommayer café. Go to the Technical Museum if you have male guests, they seem to like that kind of thing. If you have female guests, go to Mariahilferstraße to go shopping, they seem to like that kind of thing. Go to dinner at a Heurigen. Apologize to your guests when they have digestive problems from all the greasy food. Or just tell them to drink more to burn the fat away.
Sunday – Choose either the performance of the Spanish Riding School, see my post about that here, or the Vienna Boys Choir. Go to Kunsthistorische Museum and encourage your guests to take a tour. The guides are awesome. If the weather is nice, choose a pretty garden to walk through and sit comfortable in a coffeehouse.
I think that sums Vienna up, unless you have other suggestions.
Great Blog! I can totally relate living 2 hours south of you! Will be reading more…nice to know I’m not alone in my thoughts! Wiedersehen. Tschuss! Bis Später! Trying to give you a wealth of goodbyes as we do here in Österreich.
Thanks Carolyn!