Vienna Unwrapped Inspiration and Planning For Independent Travellers who are visiting Vienna
With a little upfront planning quality event tickets and discounts are more likely to become available, and your time Vienna will accommodate a few extra experiences without feeling stretched. Below are the key resources to optimize your stay.
Getting Around: Best Apps and City Passes
iVie Digital City Guide: If you want an app to guide you through Vienna, iVie is your dream partner. At first, the Vienna Tourism Office’s digital city guide almost scares with its packed features and dynamically moving sightseeing tips. To get a better grip, hold on to the menu on the top left. In brief, iVie provides a digital map with key sightseeing, restaurant, shopping, leisure and guided tour tips. Another lovely feature are the walks and guides. You can also buy the Vienna City Card and save your personal favourites. If you provide your location information while in Vienna iVie will point out insider tips as you move around the city.
Wien Mobil: By far Vienna’s most popular route planner app, Wien Mobil finds you the fastest route on foot, by bike, by public transport or by car to any destination in Vienna. In addition, buy your public transport tickets or rent a city bike using the app.
WienBot: In case you doubt that locals know things like the closing times of a particular museum, for example, consult the Vienna City Council’s digital assistant. After downloading the WienBot app, ask your question in English or German by writing or using the voice feature. I have tested the WienBot and it’s quite useful when asking for directions, the weather, opening hours and events. However, the voice feature often doesn’t transcribe correctly. Because I expect this app to improve continuously I think it’s worth giving it a try, though.
VIENNA PASS (affiliate): Unlike the Vienna City Card, which essentially provides discounts and access to public transport, the VIENNA PASS is an all-inclusive city card. This means that you get fully paid-for access to a range of attractions, many times without having to queue. In principle, the VIENNA PASS is a cost effective option if you plan to do lots of sightseeing. In my post Vienna Travel Card you can compare the features and benefits of each Vienna City Card option and VIENNA PASS options.
Discounts
Vienna City Card (affiliate): Vienna’s official city pass and each of its four sub-versions provide a variety of discounts for more than 200 museums, attractions, and restaurants. Although the discounts differ, the card already pays for itself if you use public transport twice and one to three attractions. To run through a few spending scenarios screen a detailed table in my post Vienna Travel Card.
Delinski: Even if you don’t insist on gourmet temples, eating well during your vacation can eat into your travel budget. And because tourist discounts often lead to tourist traps I like to book via Delinski. Apart from being exceptionally user friendly, the Austrian restaurant booking site (now part of the TripAdvisor group) can shave up to 30% off your bill from vegetarian, vegan, gluten and lactose free eateries. Find out how it works in Vienna Restaurant Booking Tool.
Tip: If you are 65 years and over, many museums and attractions will offer entrance tickets at a discount. Likewise, if you are 64 years and over, you can buy single tickets with the Vienna Transport Authority at a reduced price. Children until 6 years of age (end of academic school year when they turned 6) travel free in Vienna. With the Austrian Railways suburban trains children travel free until the age of 6.
Event Calendars
For an exhaustive view of what’s going on in Wien at any given time the Vienna Tourism Office’s event calendar is an excellent source. You will find very local events next to grand tourist attractions.
To get a curated list of the top 8 to 12 events that connect you with Vienna each month use my event calendar for non-tourists. Besides one-off events you will also find seasonal tips for tours and exhibitions.
Falter Events: Where do local Viennese search when planning their perfect evenings and weekends? Most likely they will open Falter, one of the most popular local papers and news sites. Falter’s event section lists a vast range of contemporary music events, theater, cabaret, tours and other cultural events. Since the site is in German only, have your dictionary at hand.
Opera And Concert Tickets
A&A Tickets (affiliate): Whether you plan to buy tickets for various classical venues or just want advice on the best seats, this dedicated and reliable vendor of classical tickets has never let me down. Unlike other ticket sellers A&A works hard for a fair markup on providing a seamless ticket service for the Vienna State Opera, the Wiener Volksoper, the Vienna Boys Choir, the Spanish Riding School and various classical concerts and even musicals.
Vienna State Opera: For the full run-down of not just operas but lectures and matinées visit the official programme page of Wiener Staatsoper. If you book tickets via the site up until two months before an opera performance expect to be put on a waiting list.
Theater an der Wien: In brief, Vienna’s alternative opera house picks up all the opera gems that fall out of line – from baroque operas to modern productions of classics like Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro to contemporary operas, and operas in concert. Occasionally you can watch modern dance and ballet productions there as well, and get tickets for the younger sister Kammeroper. Note that not all performances provide English surtitles.
ClassicTic (affiliate): This international concert tickets platform lists mostly classical concert series in Vienna, either taking place in churches or in palaces and classical venues. Having said that, I usually recommend the church concerts to users and clients in search of less touristy settings. With all bookings via this platform, expect great customer service.
Wiener Musikverein: Certainly Vienna’s most prestigious concert venue, Musikverein is home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Besides the Philharmonics Musikverein regularly hosts other top classical Austrian and international orchestras and singers, for example the Viennese Radio Symphony Orchestra or the young orchestra group Wiener Jeunesse. Apart from grand orchestra music, a number of quartets regularly perform chamber music. To buy tickets for the most prestigious events make sure you register early.
Wiener Konzerthaus: Why does this amazing concert venue feature so rarely on international ticketing sites? Because it simply gets more than enough love from its national audience. Best known as the home of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Konzerthaus has established itself as THE venue for not just classical music, but modern, Viennese, jazz and world music. If you want to get behind the magic of performing music, book a backstage tour of the gorgeous Art Nouveau building.
Vienna Ball Calendar: To buy tickets for Viennese balls the Wiener Ballkalender presents the only unified ball site, although it is in German language only. There, you can leave your contact details using a contact form and wait to be contacted. To speed up the process, though, you may as well make a direct inquiry or buy tickets from each ball organizers website. In Best Vienna Balls you will find profiles and links to the best ball events in Wien.
Tickets For Popular Events
Wien Ticket. Where to get tickets for pop, jazz and folk music in Vienna? Being one of the most popular ticketing sites in Vienna, locals use Wien Ticket mostly to visit pop concerts, and hear Austrian and international jazz and folk musicians. To experience classical and contemporary Wienerlied (Viennese Song) events in particular, this site’s event calendar offers the best overview.
Öticket. Like Wien Ticket, Öticket primarily covers pop, jazz, and folk music events, as well as cabaret, theater and classical music, although on a national level. Certainly, the largest platform for online ticketing in Austria provides a great resource to find tickets for events across the country.
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