We’re on a short trip in Europe and spend the past few days visiting Vienna. It’s our first trip after spending 10 months in South-East Asia and it feels good to be on the road again. We’re actually on the train from Vienna to Prague while I’m writing this (gotta love free WiFi ;-)). And after a few days in Prague, we’ll end this trip in Berlin.
Also read:
Tips for succesful city trips with kids
The best places to visit in Europe with kids
We weren’t sure what to expect of Vienna. We picked it because it was one of the destinations we could go to with our saved flyer miles (lucky for us Emirates has partnered with Easyjet for European destinations). But Vienna absolutely exceeded our expectations! We could have easily spent more time there. It’s a very child-friendly city. Lots of parks with great playgrounds, drink water points all over the city and very easy to get around with public transport. Read our next post about things to do in Vienna with kids for more tips. Actually, I would not mind going back for a solo weekend in Vienna.
Maximum flexibility
We’re taking things slow and are actually traveling much in the same way as we did while in Asia. With no set plan and as much flexibility as possible. It even works if you’re only on a short trip 🙂 We booked our train ticket to Prague and our apartment there while we were in Vienna and still have to book accommodation in Berlin. Some might say prices are lower when you book well in advance, but we like to keep our options open. And very often something good comes up, like the three bedroom apartment we now have in Prague for only €25 a night.
Travel tip: great Airbnb apartment in Vienna
We stayed in a nice Airbnb apartment in Vienna owned by a student called Rosalie. We booked it very last minute, but it turned out great. The only thing we felt a bit weird about is that she didn’t clear away any of her personal stuff (including her bra in the bathroom…). But although not spotless, it was a very nice place. A large, new apartment with a separate bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom with bath and a separate toilet. There’s both a supermarket and a bakery less than 5 minutes away by foot. The apartment is located in Floridsdorf, a bit outside of the city center, but it’s only a 5-minute walk to a tram stop that will take you to Floridsdorf station. There you can catch either the train (S-Bahn), metro (U-Bahn, line U6), bus or tram to anywhere in Vienna. We would definitely recommend this place. If you do want to rent it and you’re not registered with Airbnb yet, please use our Airbnb affiliate link to sign up. This will give us both extra travel credit. Win-win 🙂
Taking things slow
Because during this trip we’re visiting three big cities in two weeks, we’re not doing the standard sightseeing rush one might normally do on a short city trip. That would most likely be a bit too much for our little world traveler (who is doing fantastic, by the way). We’re basically just following his pace, waking up when he does, taking our time in the morning and doing stuff that he likes 🙂 Running around tourist style, trying to do as much sightseeing as possible isn’t our style anyway. Instead, we simply like to enjoy our new environment, new foods, new people, new sights and new smells. So even though Vienna is a city with a lot of history, we decided to choose a few fun things to do and just enjoy our new surroundings.
What we did do was walk around the city a fair bit. Even if I didn’t read up on all the history of the city, it’s fun to wander around and check out the beautiful details on all of the old buildings. I personally really enjoyed our stroll around the Innere Stadt with the Volksgarten and the Parliament building. Amazing and impressive architecture all around!
Vienna with kids
Like we said before, Vienna is a very good city to visit with kids of all ages. You’ll find our recommendations for things to do in Vienna with toddlers in our next post. If you’re traveling with older kids, definitely check out this post with 10 more suggestions for fun things to do in Vienna.
