15 Experiences in Vienna For Families, Couples & Solo Travellers
What is an ideal day in Vienna? Ask 5 people, and you’ll get 5 different answers, depending on the company.
A family running to catch up with their toddler at the Prater doesn’t want to see a couple drinking coffee around the Ringstrasse; neither do they want to see a solitary wanderer with no idea of where they’re going.
Vienna is all three, and it affords its visitors more than adequate compensation. In this guide, we have split fifteen Vienna experiences by whom you’re travelling with, five each for families, couples, and solo travellers.
5 Experiences in Vienna for Families
A combination of running and discovery is the key for families in Vienna – not a long series of museums.
#1: The Prater and the Giant Ferris Wheel
The old and the new: As Vienna’s oldest amusement park, you’ll find more than 250 stalls offering both old and new rides, and you can’t miss the turntable that has been spinning rounds since 1897. The Wiener Riesenrad offers the easiest panoramic view in Vienna. With less than half a century, it is ideal for all ages, from the toddlers who are enjoying the carousel to the teenagers who are out on the go-karts. Experience it in the late afternoon when the day tour has moved on, and consider it a half-day visit.
#2: Schönbrunn Zoo
It is the oldest zoo in the world that still occupies its original site (Eighteenth Century) within the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace. Some panda encounters seem to get the attention of youngsters faster than the walks around the palace because they interact more with them in the walk-through rainforest house.
#3: The Natural History Museum’s Dinosaur Hall
A grand columned indoor building houses all of Vienna’s dinosaurs, meteorites, and a famous whale skeleton. A perfect fall-back for children in the dinosaur age during the rainy season and an ideal for school-age kids.
#4: Danube Island
A long, narrow park, more than a postcard distance from a local Saturday, but between two arms of the Danube. It lets you swim, cycle and picnic instead of sightseeing, which is ideal for families craving an escape from the museums and cobblestones. Rent bikes close to a U-Bahn stop and enjoy it as an excursion from the centre.
#5: Zoom Kindermuseum in the MuseumsQuartier
In the MuseumsQuartier, a children’s museum with touch and build elements will replace the glass cabinets and showcases. It’s open to children from babies to early youth (but the exhibition halls are best for kids of school age). Afterwards, parents can get back together in the museum’s courtyard.
5 Experiences in Vienna for Couples
Couples tend to get more out of Vienna by slowing down than by covering ground.
#1: A Viennese Coffeehouse, Shared
A Viennese coffeehouse is meant to be a place where people can sit still together, without the impatient waiters pushing them away, with newspapers mounted on wooden sticks to cut down on the page flipping. Take a Melange, share an Apfelstrudel or Sachertorte piece, and don’t look at the phone for an hour. A slow late-morning sitting tends to be the quietest.
#2: Belvedere Palace and Its Gardens
There is an upward view of the city skyline in the terraced gardens at the Upper Belvedere, where Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss hangs. It’s ideal for couples who don’t necessarily want to spend the entire day in museums; it’s a place you can enjoy in the late afternoon, when the light glides across the lawns.
#3: An Evening at a Heuriger Wine Tavern
The traditional wine taverns (Wine Houses) or Heuriger of Vienna are located predominantly in the districts situated on the outskirts of the city on the hillsides and promote local young wine along with modest buffet cuisine. Perfect for an evening of quieter conversation, it’s for couples looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the centre and head to a little-known corner of the city.
#4: An Evening at the Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera puts on standing-room tickets on the same day, and they are quite affordable compared to a seat on an opera ticket – it is more possible than it seems. The hourglass-sized gilded foyer and sweeping staircase make for an evening that is its own event, even if it isn’t for opera lovers, except to celebrate a special date.
#5: A Private Evening Ride Through the Historic Centre
A private ride through Vienna old town changes the shape of an evening, rather than another stop squeezed between dinner and a bar. Libra Tours runs its Vienna night tour in a vintage-style electric vehicle from the Burgtheater, past illuminated landmarks around the Ringstrasse…, with a live guide telling the stories behind what you’re passing. No walking between stops, no group of strangers, just the two of you.
5 Experiences in Vienna for Solo Travellers
Yes, Vienna works well alone. Its compact core, reliable transport, and coffeehouse culture built around solitude make it easy.
#1: A Viennese Coffeehouse, Alone
Sitting alone with one coffee for an hour isn’t an odd use of a Viennese coffeehouse; it’s the whole point of one. Bring a book or nothing at all, and nobody will hurry you along or ask why you’re there by yourself. It’s one of the easiest ways to feel comfortable eating and drinking solo here.
#2: Self-Paced Time in the MuseumsQuartier
The Kunsthistorisches Museum, as well as the MuseumsQuartier as a whole, is designed for exploring in a random, inchoate, and self-paced way, which is more difficult when it involves crowds. Miss a room where there are no paintings that are interesting, head back to one that is and stay in front of one painting for as long as you please. It particularly suits a first visit to Vienna.
#3: Naschmarkt in the Morning
Vienna’s largest market, roughly 120 stalls along the Wienzeile, is easiest to enjoy solo between about nine and eleven in the morning, once stalls are open but before the lunchtime crush. Small tables that you can stand at, like cheese counters and olive stands, are great for popping up and having a brief litre with the vendor or another visitor.
#4: Climbing St. Stephen’s Cathedral’s South Tower
This isn’t an activity that anyone would convince you to do, except perhaps you, as you’re headed up the narrow spiral cathedral stairs. The reward is a close-up view of the glazed tile roof and a large panoramic view of the roof that stretches across the old town. Come and go as you like; take your time.
#5: A Neighbourhood Walk Through Vienna’s Inner Districts
Vienna’s small, accessible downtown area allows you to stroll during your trip from one neighbourhood to another without a car, a group, or a predetermined itinerary. Do not follow a map but rather wander from the Ringstrasse into one of the smaller streets behind – or spend an afternoon in the seventh district amongst independent bookshops, and let curiosity take over.
A Slower Way to See Vienna
All fifteen experiences above work on foot or by public transport, but Vienna’s historic centre is dense enough that a lot of a day gets spent walking between things rather than looking at them. That’s the space a private vintage-style electric car tour is designed to fill.
In the run-up to the city center, the group leaves from directly outside Burgtheater on the Universitätsring. It makes its way into the narrow streets of the old town with a live English- or German-speaking tour guide, who tells the history of the Hofburg, the big buildings along the Ringstrasse and smaller sights that a walking tour blows by in a rush. The vehicles are electric, not horse-drawn, so there’s less of the noise that comes with Vienna’s traditional fiaker carriages, and no walking required between stops.
It won’t replace a morning inside a museum or an afternoon at Schönbrunn. What it does well is the connective part of a Vienna day: getting between parts of the historic centre at a pace that lets a guide actually finish a story, making it a good option for Vienna private tours, privately rather than alongside strangers on a bus.
Which of Our Vienna Sightseeing Tours Fits Your Trip?
There are currently five formats for Libra Tours; the right format depends on the context and time available for Vienna sightseeing tours.
The Basic tour (€25 per person/30 minutes) is designed for first-time tourists who are looking for a private and brief introduction to the old town. In the Classic tour (€35 / 45 minutes), more of this is explained in relation to the Hofburg and the Ringstrasse. The Premium tour (60 minutes, €50/service) provides more time and a more relaxed pace to see details in more depth. For couples or an evening out, the Night Tour (€135, 45 minutes) covers the city’s illuminated landmarks. Travellers wanting the most personalized version, with a choice of drink and vehicle style, can look at the VIP tour (€250).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: What are the best things to do in Vienna with family?
A: Vienna’s best families combine indoor and outdoor play with the Giant Ferris Wheel and the zoo in Schönbrunn Park, the dinosaur hall of the Natural History Museum, the Danube Island and the interactive Zoom Kindermuseum within the MuseumsQuartier. It is better to have stops to do during the day in addition to ones to see inside than to attempt to make it to all of the big sights at once.
Q: What are the most romantic experiences in Vienna for couples?
A: Just as often, however, couples recall the slower times more than the big events: there was a long coffeehouse sitting, Klimt’s The Kiss at the Belvedere, in the evening a Heuriger wine tavern, standing-room tickets at the State Opera, or a private evening ride through the illuminated historic centre. The size of the landmark is not what makes an experience romantic in Vienna; it is most commonly the pace of the experience.
Q: Is Vienna good for solo travellers?
A: Yes. The small, old-town center, efficient public transit, and high-quality coffeehouse service, which is based on sitting alone for hours, make it easy to travel independently around Vienna. Visiting a museum on your own fits with the self-paced culture of museums; markets are easy to walk through alone, such as the Naschmarkt, and nighttime is really safe out and around in the city as well.
Q: How many days do you need in Vienna?
A: Two-three days is enough to see the top sights of Vienna at a proper pace: historic centre and one imperial palace and one museum or two. A day or four days (or longer) provides room for another palace, a visit to a market, an undriven and purposeless stop at a coffee house, and an overall slower pace better for couples and solitary travellers than a sprint.
Q: Is a private Vienna sightseeing tour worth it?
A: This depends upon what you’re optimizing for. While walking from sight to sight, queuing for the rest of the group to join, and travelling at the pace of a stranger’s tour is also found on a shared tour experience, a private tour is more expensive. For families with small children, couples on a short time frame, or anyone who is interested in Vienna’s history, but not its boring facts, it is generally worthwhile.