One Day in Vienna Itinerary

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Best of Vienna in 24 Hours

Vienna is the home of Baroque elegance, Imperial palaces, the Habsburgs, Mozart, Beethoven, Klimt, opera, art, opulent coffee houses and irresistible desserts.

Vienna (Wien, in German and pronounced “Veen”) is the capital of Austria, located on the Danube (Donau- in German) River and home to approximately 2 million people.

Vienna is over 2000 years old. The Romans, Charlemagne, the Babenbergs and the Habsburgs have all shaped the history of Vienna and Austria.

Most of the must-see sights in Vienna are in the historic city centre, called the Innere Stadt (city centre or First District), which is surrounded by the wide tree-lined boulevard called the Ringstraße and is resplendent with Baroque buildings, palaces, museums, churches, historical buildings and most of all sightseeing attractions.

We love Vienna- it is our favourite city in the world. We were lucky to call Vienna home for many years.  We visit Vienna often, going back to our favourite places and on every visit, we discover new sights and things to do.  You could live for years in Vienna (like we did) and still find new things to discover.

Our One Day in Vienna Itinerary is planned to show you the best of Vienna in a short time.  That means that this Itinerary is a jam-packed, busy itinerary.
If you want to take a slower pace- just pick and choose your favourites.

When to Visit Vienna

In spring, it is not as busy, and you can visit the Easter Markets that take place two weeks before Easter, go to the Opera, tour museums, and explore the city.

In Summer, July and August are the busiest and the time of summer festivals.
Important: The Vienna Opera, Philharmonic and Vienna Boy’s Choir do not perform in July and August.

In Autumn, accommodation tends to be cheaper and there are not as many tourists.

In Winter, the city is dressed up like a bejewelled Christmas bobble and from the start of Advent Vienna hosts at least nine main Christmas markets (+ many others).

Getting Around Vienna

Vienna has a well-developed public transport network. Buses, trains, trams (Straßenbahn), and underground lines (Ubahn) will take you almost anywhere in the city in no time at all.

Download the WienMobil App, where you can buy tickets and access real-time schedules and maps. 
Tickets are cheaper if bought online and you do not have to worry about validating tickets

24, 28, 72 hour and weekly tickets are available online or from Tabak/Trafik (Newagent).

Current online adult prices:

• Single Trip: 2.40€  For a journey in one direction, valid for 80 minutes from the moment of validation. (You can change trains as often as you like, but you are not allowed to interrupt the journey with a break)
• 24-hour ticket:  8€
• 48-hour ticket:  14.10€
• 72-hour ticket:  17.10€
• 7-day ticket:  19.70€

Best of Vienna in 24 Hours

One Day in Vienna Map

The One Day in Vienna Map outlines both the Ringstaße Tram Tour and where to walk to see the other sights.  The map also highlights the Coffeehouses and restaurants that we recommend.

To use this map, click the icon next to the Map name and add it to your Google account.

One Day in Vienna Itinerary

8:00 am: Breakfast in a Viennese Coffeehouse.

No visit to Vienna is complete without visiting at least one Viennese Café. Viennese Coffeehouses exudes glamour and over 300 years of tradition. Coffee houses are so important to Viennese society that UNESCO named the Vienna Coffee House on the “National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage” list.  Enjoy a typical Wiener Frühstück (Viennese Breakfast) or indulge in one (or many) of the delectable cakes and pastries.

We recommend the following cafes:

• Café Central is located in Palais Ferstel (palace) and is the grandest of all coffee houses in Vienna. It is where Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin reportedly planned the Russian Revolution over cups of coffee.  Café Central is very popular – Reservations are required.  Corner of Herrengasse / Strauchgasse
• Café Landtmann is located on the Ringstraße across from the University and Rathaus, was opened in 1873 and was Sigmund Freud’s local café.
• Café Mozart is located behind the Opera House Albertinaplatz 2
• Café Schwarzenberg  was opened in 1902 (but a café has been on site since 1861) Kärtner Ring 17.
• Café Diglas located on the corner of Wollzeile and Strobelgasse, only a few steps from Stephansdom has been open since 1923

© Café Central

We recommend taking a tram clockwise around the Ringstraße starting from the Vienna State Opera on Tram #1 in the direction of Prater. A complete journey takes ~30-40 minutes.

There are two trams that travel the circuit around the Ringstraße.

• Tram #1 (highlighted in Red on the map) travels from the Vienna State Opera to Julius-Raab-Platz- in the direction of Prater
• You will need to switch during your journey to Tram #2 (on the map in blue- stops shared by Tram #1 & 2 are in purple)
• You can start your tour at any tram stop, and if you have a 24-48-72-hour ticket, you can jump on and off to visit the various buildings and parks.

This tram tour can cost as little as 2.40€ (single use ticket) or 8€ (24-hour ticket allowing you to hop-on/hop-off).

*(R) denotes Right-hand side of Ringstraße, and (L) denotes Left-hand side of Ringstraße

On the trip around the Ringstraße, you will see:

1. Vienna State Opera House (R)
2. Burggarten (R)
3. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Nationalhistorisches Museum in Maria-Theresian Platz (L)
4. Hofburg (R)
5. Parlament (L)
6. Volksgarten (R)
7. Rathaus (L)
8. Burgtheater  (R)
9. Cafe Landtmann (R)
10. University of Vienna (L)
11. Votive Kirche (Church) (L)
12. Börse – The Old Stock Exchange (R)
13. Danube Canal
14. Schwedenplatz – here you can transfer to Tram #2
15. Urania – here is the stop Julius Raab Platz- where you can switch to Tram #2
16. Museum für angewandte Kunst- Museum of Applied Arts and Design (R)
17. Stadt Park (R)
18. Schwarzenbergplatz
19. Hotel Imperial (L)

⇒⇒⇒Take the Tram back to the stop Burgring

Burggarten (Castle Garden) is next to the Hofburg. See the the Mozart Monument and the Goethe Monument which honours the memory of the greatest figure in German literature.

Walking through the passageway, you arrive at the 13th-century Schweizerhof (Swiss Court), the oldest part of the Hofburg with the Renaissance Swiss Gate entrance (Schweizertor), added in 1553. The Swiss Court has the Burgkappel (where the Vienna Boy’s Choir performs on Sundays) and the Imperial Treasury (Schatzkammer).

Directly across from the Schweizertor is known as In der Burg, a large courtyard with the statue of Emperor Franz I, the last Holy Roman Emperor.

The large copper is the Michaelertor (St Micheal’s gate) and leads out to Michaelerplatz.

You would have time for 1 or 2 tours of the Hofburg.

12:30 pm: See the Stallburg and visit the Austrian National Library

In front of Michaelertor (St Michael’s gate)are Roman ruins from the time that Vienna was the Roman outpost Vindabona in ~15 BCE.  To the right across Michaelerplatz is Michaelerkirche (St Michael’s Church), a late Romanesque/early Gothic church that dates back to the 13th century.

Walk along Reitschulgasse to the Stallburg, the Renaissance Imperial Stables built in the 16th century and home to the Lippizzaner horses of the Spanish Riding School. If you are lucky, you can see the pampered horses.

Across the road is the entrance to the Austrian National Library State Hall in Josefplatz, built in the 18th century, is Europe’s largest Baroque library, housing over 200,000 historical books.

1:00 pm: A typical Viennese Lunch

2:00 pm: Visit the Vienna State Opera House

Across from the the Albertina, is Pilharmonikerstraße which is behind the Wiener Staatsoper.  The famous Hotel Sacher is home to the famous Sacher Torte, which you can enjoy in the café or buy a cake to take home.

The Vienna State Opera is one of the leading opera houses in the world and was the first major building on the Ringstraße, built between 1861 and 1869. Each season, the schedule features 350 performances of more than 60 different operas and ballets and in February the site of the famous Vienna Opera Ball. To see the opera, you can either buy a ticket (its cheaper than you think) or take a guided tour of the building.

3:30 pm: Walk to Stephansplatz and visit Stephansdom

After visiting the Opera House, walk along Kärntner Straße

Kärtner Straße is one of Vienna’s premier shopping streets, and it leads from the Ringstraße to Stephansplatz.  

5:00 pm: Walk through Vienna

From Stephanzplatz continue walking along the Graben. Graben, which means moat or ditch in English, was once part of the western defences of the fortress of Roman Vindabona in the 1st to 5th centuries.  When the city expanded in the 1200s, the Graben was filled, and by 1300, it was a marketplace.  Most of the buildings in this pedestrian area are from the 17th and 18th centuries.

In the middle of the Graben, you find the Pestsäule (the Plague Column), a 21-meter-high baroque column located right in the centre of the Graben. The monument created between 1682 and 1692 was commissioned by Emperor Leopold I, commemorating the end of the Black Death in 1679 when ~15% of the population died.

Peterskirche (St Peter’s Church) is an 18th-century Baroque church characterised by its turreted dome, which has a gorgeous interior and sometimes is a venue for classical concerts.

On the corner is Julius Meinl, the gourmet supermarket offers exquisite Austrian and international groceries.

Turning left, you are now on Kohlmarkt, one of Vienna’s most prestigious shopping streets. Once home to shops visited by the Imperial Court, it is now lined with luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Gucci, Tiffany, Miu Miu and others.

If you have not visited, visit Café Demel established in 1786. K. u. K. Hofzuckerbäckerei designation indicates that Demel was once an official supplier of confectionery products to the court. It is Viennese Konditorei and has every sweet confectionary you could imagine.  You can buy cakes, pastries, and presents such as candied violets. There is a café upstairs, or you can sit at the bar and have a coffee.  There is also a “take-away” window selling Kaiserschmarren – the Emperor’s pancakes.

Now you are back at Michaelerplatz and the Hofburg.

Dinner at an Viennese Restaurant

Reservations are recommended

Wanderlustria’s Recommendations:

• Zwölf Apostelkeller Sonnenfelsgasse. A historic town wine tavern in the Romanesque and Gothic vaulted cellar that dates to 1339.
• Zum 3 Hacken Singerstraße 28. With its rustic parlours, the restaurant is one of the oldest inns in the city, first mentioned in 1667. The restaurant serves typical Viennese Cuisine.
• Griechenbeisl Fleischmarkt 11. Vienna’s oldest restaurant, dating to 1447- serves traditional Viennese cuisine,
• Gasthaus Pfudl  Backerstraße 22. An  old Viennese traditional restaurant.
• Plachutta Wollzeile 38.   Plachutta is famous for serving 13 varieties of Tafelspitz and Austrian specialities in its wood-panelled, white table-clothed restaurant.
• Kaffee Alt Wien Bäckerstraße 9. Kaffee Alt Wien is a classic Viennese coffee house founded in 1922.  The goulash is legendary and recommended to be eaten with dark bread and beer, the Schnitzels are great, and the ham and eggs are the best in town. Open until at least midnight.

Attend an Opera or Musical Performance

Tickets need to be reserved in advance

Vienna is famous for its Opera, Philharmonic and musical performances. No trip to Vienna is complete without experiencing a classical music performance.

Opera Tickets go on sale two months in advance on the first of each month for the entire month.

Note: Performances normally start ~7:00 pm and you will not be admitted to the concert hall if you are late until intermission.
We would recommend having an early dinner/snack before the performance or eating after.
Cafe Mozart at Albertinaplatz Cafe Sacher (reservations recommended) serves food until late.

Planning a longer visit to Vienna?
Read our 2 Days in Vienna Itinerary.

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