Visiting Vienna in 48 hours.

After the beauty of old-world Budapest, I was expecting Vienna to be grand and ostentatious, and it didn’t disappoint. I was devastated not to see much of the city itself, as the rain and extreme wind meant I had my head down facing into my umbrella most of the time so I couldn’t look up at the buildings!

Check-in at: Hotel Imperial Vienna

However, the hotel we were staying in, Hotel Imperial, more than made up for the weather, as I think it really was the definition of Vienna. We quite literally stayed in a palacejust look at that stunning lobby!

Ready to find out how to visit Vienna in just 48 Hours? Let’s go!

hotel imperial lobby vienna

Belvedere Palace

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and after a tour of our hotel we headed out to the baroque Belvedere Palace so Bella could see the Klimt masterpiece ‘The Kiss’. We just got tickets to the Upper Belvedere part of the palace as we didn’t have time to do the lower half as well, and to be completely honest, I was happy about this because I’m very very fussy when it comes to contemporary and modern art.
The inside of the palace was disappointing, it’s been stripped out and the walls are a clinical white. The inside doesn’t feel like an 18th century palace, but a modern museum; sterile and uninteresting, just like the art that hangs on the walls.
belvedere palace vienna

 

Vienna Opera House – Tannhauser

After the museum we raced back to the hotel through the pouring rain, and got showered and dressed for the opera. We decided it was an excellent occasion to dress up all fancy, especially as we were going to be in the opera house for a while – we were seeing Tannhauser by Wagner, which is a notoriously long opera.
We took some photos in the beautiful Hotel Imperial where we were staying for the duration of our Vienna trip…
hotel imperial vienna
hotel imperial vienna austria

 

hotel imperial vienna statue
The opera was so, so long, but so, so worth it just to hear that incredible overture live. The hairs on my neck stood on end as the music soared up towards us. My heart was overwhelmed with emotion while tears prickled my eyes, and all at once I felt incredibly content and I felt a massive grin creep across my face.
After the first act it was slow-going (I’m not ashamed to say I fell asleep in the third act), with the odd moment of heart-soaring intensity when the main piece of music came in. The opera house was absolutely beautiful, and I had the most amazing cherry strudel in the interval which was so cheap!
inside Vienna opera house

 

inside vienna opera house

Spanish Riding School

The next day we got up bright and early to see the Spanish Riding School rehearsal. The concierge at our hotel kindly got us some tickets the day before, so we didn’t have to queue. You weren’t allowed to take photographs or videos, but I managed to get some sneaky ones!
All of the male riders were insanely attractive, I spent most of my time drooling over them all and choosing which one was going to be my future husband. It was a tough choice, but I managed to narrow it down to two of them.
As well as the super good looking men, the horses really were amazing, our minds were completely blown watching them perform such intricate steps, jumps, and routines, and that was just for the rehearsal! I loved our visit, and think it’s well worth the 14 euros.
Spanish riding school vienna

 

Spanish riding school vienna

 

Kunsthistorisches Museum

After the Spanish Riding School we headed to the Kunsthistorisches museum. Now this was my kind of museum! Absolutely filled to the brim with Reubens, Michelangelo, Holbein, and Rembrandt, I was in art heaven.

I adore renaissance, baroque, romanticism, and impressionist art. Give me a museum with any of those in and I’m happy. So I was very happy in Kunsthistorisches. We saw Fortuna by Michaelangelo, Madonna in the Meadow by Raphael, and the painting every British child grew up with through primary school – Jane Seymour by Holbein.

Kunsthistorisches holbein raphael and michelangelo paintings

Lunch at Burg.Ring

We then went to find lunch when our tummies started grumbling, and found that it was very difficult to find somewhere that didn’t look touristy. We eventually found Burg.Ring, which was a pretty cool cafe that seemed quite ‘hipster’.
Naturally we had Schnitzel, however we went for pork rather than the traditional veal. It was tasty, but there’s only so much breaded meat you can eat before it gets a little boring (aka, a few bites).

The Albertina Monet Exhibition

After lunch it was on to the Albertina for the Monet exhibition. I was slightly disappointed with this, there were actually only 3-4 Monet pieces in the exhibition. Boo. Thankfully though there were plenty of Warhol’s and Lichtenstein’s to keep me occupied. Apart from those pieces though the museum was full of weird contemporary works of art that did not interest me in the slightest. I find art is such a personal thing, and I’m just so fussy when it comes to modern and contemporary art.
Albertina vienna monet lichtenstein and warhol paintings

Exploring the city of Vienna

After the Albertina we then battled the wind and rain to try and see a bit more of the city. We walked over to the University, Rathaus (town hall), and a large church next to the University.
The one thing I really did love about Vienna was that I could speak the language, albeit badly. In Budapest we literally had no clue about the language, it’s so different that we struggled with just saying hello and thank you, so I was thankful to have a couple of days in Vienna where I knew the basics, and it’s strange how it all comes back to you so naturally. By the time we left I found myself being able to direct a taxi driver to our hotel to take us to the train station as he couldn’t speak a word of English. Sadly I didn’t get to use my two favourite words though – Langweilig (boring), and Warum (why).
Vienna opera house
Vienna park
Vienna rathaus town hall
Vienna albertina museum

 

Vienna Austria
horse and carriage in vienna

 

Mozart statue in Vienna Austria

 

Sacher Torte at Cafe Sacher

Anyway, we wandered back to the hotel and stopped off at Cafe Sacher to try the famous Sacher Torte. Everyone had told us we had to go here, however we were quite disappointed. The cake was dry and not that great – it was just a plain chocolate cake, I don’t know what all the fuss is about to be honest! However, the hot chocolate was pretty good, creamy and rich, it felt as though I were drinking melted chocolate – YUM!
Sacher torte from Sacher cafe hotel in Vienna

 

Hot chocolate at Sacher Cafe in Vienna

Dinner at OPUS Vienna

After our disappointing cake, we finally headed back to the hotel to get changed and showered for dinner at OPUS. The following morning we woke up early, had our champagne breakfast at the hotel, and then wandered through the centre of Vienna to see St Stephen’s Cathedral. I didn’t find it very impressive. In fact we looked at it, went inside, walked back out, and both went ‘Huh’. Compared to St Stephen’s in Budapest, it was sehr sehr langweilig! Here’s some photos of the horses outside instead…
Horses in Vienna Austria
However, we did stumble upon a much more impressive gem a little while later…
A Greek orthodox church on a backstreet towards the river. It was stunning. We went inside and it was empty, unlike the cathedral it wasn’t packed with tourists, and yet it was magical. The walls and ceiling were covered in opulent artwork. Gold lettering and detailing shimmered all around us, while two lonely candles flickered in the quiet darkness.
Greek Orthodox Church Vienna
Greek Orthodox Church Candles Vienna
Greek Orthodox Church Chandelier Vienna
Greek Orthodox Church Vienna

Vienna’s Walk of Stars

Vienna also have their very own version of the Walk of Stars! Except theirs is the Walk of Composers. I took a photo of a favourite of mine…the magnificent Schostakowitsch, or better known to us Brits as Shostakovich. We used to play his Festive Overture in concert band, and it was one of the hardest pieces of music I’ve ever played (even more difficult than Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave!), it was so insanely fast! It is beautiful though, and I have so much respect for him.

Schostakowitsch star Vienna

 

Beautiful Vienna

Vienna is a beautiful city, it was just such a shame about the weather as it really did spoil it. I’d love to go back in the summer to really experience the city and visit Schonbrunn palace. Thankfully our hotel more than made up for the weather though, it was wonderful staying in a place so steeped in history, it was the epitome of Vienna, and I loved every minute of our stay there. I can’t wait to share our experience at Hotel Imperial with you tomorrow, I’m so so so excited for you to read about it and see the photographs!

Follow:
Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

Find me on: Web | Instagram

Share:

5 Comments

  1. Unknown
    October 31, 2014 / 1:57 pm

    Wow! This looks amazing. I really want to go Vienna now. Beautiful pictures too Catherine!

    Aftab
    Fresh And Fearless

    • Catherine Lux
      November 1, 2014 / 4:44 pm

      Thank you, it was quite a photogenic city hehe! You must go, I think it's one of those cities everyone needs to go to at least once.

      C x

  2. Amanda Kendle
    November 1, 2014 / 12:57 pm

    Oh but the roof (outside) of Stephansdom is so amazing! Sorry about your bad weather. I was lucky enough to live an hour away from Vienna when I lived in Bratislava so have probably had a dozen visits there and it's such a gorgeous city. Next time you need to go to the pink Aida cafe next to Stephansdom. YUM.

    • Catherine Lux
      November 1, 2014 / 4:47 pm

      Ahh I'll have to add it to the list for next time! I really want to visit Bratislava so maybe I can visit Vienna on a day trip from there and do the things I missed 🙂

      C x

  3. Katie
    November 19, 2014 / 2:53 pm

    Your photos are beautiful Catherine. I think the horses would have been a highlight for me and I completely agree about art. Contemporary/modern just goes over my head. I don't get it!

    Katie <3

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *