Vienna on a budget

Vienna is famous for being expensive, but we managed to find a few reasonably priced attractions and even some free ones. So here is goblins’ Vienna on a budget.

Felt like a princess at Schonbrunn gardens

The biggest ones are probably Schonbrunn gardens. Next to the Schonbrunn palace. Near the Schonbrunn zoo, the world’s oldest zoo. There are also some extra royal gardens with extra admission price. But after walking around the enormous park and around huge gardens, we had enough of pretty flowers for a while. This is a place where famous Sisi or Empress Elisabeth of Austria used to live. When she wasn’t calming her nerves on Madeira Island or traveling around Europe, avoiding her royal mother in law or staying in any of the other family castles.

Looking for more gardens?

There is also Burggarten (Palace Garden) in the Vienna’s 1. district. It is located across the street to the Museum quartier. There you can stroll around another palace and during sunny days soak up the sun’s rays with local people. Or try to find free art exhibitions in the Museum quartier.

Bosna wurst and Wiener snitzel in a Kaiser roll

There are lots of high end restaurants around Vienna. But, there is also street food. More popular in Berlin , but also available in Vienna, curry wurst is my popular wurst of choice. But the Wurst of Vienna is Bosna wurst, which is served with mixed onion-mustard and curry powder on the top. Its name probably comes from the association of former Yugoslavia – Bosnia – with spicy food. Sometimes it also contains cayenne pepper. And, useful info, wurst is a German world for sausage. If you are more of a steak kind of a person, the one and only steak of Vienna is of course Viener snitzel, Austria’s national dish. And the best idea are snitzel burgers, a steak in a Kaiser roll, also called a Vienna roll. While stuffing our faces with them, we imagined that was something Sisi usually had for breakfast.

Stand in a State opera

See an opera at one of the most famous opera houses in the world. Not free, tickets should be around 3 or 4 eur. And you have to stand during show, somewhere on the balcony. The acoustics are supposed to be superb, but since we can’t stand opera, standing trough a performance was something we avoided.

Enjoy some classical music while peeing

Not all, but some of the public toilet places play Mozart’s symphonies on the radio. The ones around the palace certainly do. A bit weird at first, but you will get used to it soon.

Need olives?

Naschmarkt is Vienna’s biggest open air market. Stroll through, and try to count all different olive types on sale. Figs with cheese, dates with cheese, fruits I never imagined can be paired with soft cheese. At Naschmarkt they sell almost zero typical Austrian products, but that only makes the market more colourful and exciting.

 

The world known architect Hundertwasser built a social housing project, and he let his imagination run wild. He is also known as Austrian Gaudi. Or is Gaudi a Spanish Hundertwasser? The building is nonetheless an impressive sight. You can only admire it from the outside, since people are living inside this masterpiece. There is also an official Hunderwasser museum close by.

Look down on the people of Vienna

The Prater fun-fair is a must. You can start with exploring the round museum of Prater’s past and look down from the 65 meter high Giant Ferris Wheel. It is good idea not to eat before most of the attractions, since you will spend a lot of time hanging down, turning around and defying gravity.

Museums of Vienna

Many museums are free on a first Sunday in a month and most have discounts for students under 26 years. Check online before your trip. We explored the Schmetterlinghaus. Now we know that vampire butterflies exist.

There is a lot more to Vienna tan can be written in this short article. Some curent events can be found on the Wien Tourismus page.

Our trip to Austrian Monkey mountain can be found here.

Since goblins love to travel, but usually do it on a budget, we use Airbnb. By using this link to subscribe, you get discount on your first trip, and we get one on our next. If you are not into Airbnb, here is a 10% percent discount on your next booking. Travel as much as you can.