Vienna, the Cultural City

Nicolas, a new intern at CasaVersa home exchange, gives us his point of view about the perfect old Vienna.

Vienna is the capital of Austria, and the center of Europe. I think Vienna is the perfect city. There are so many things to do in Vienna - from tours in the city to amazing spas just 30 minutes away. The architecture is beautiful; the public transportation works perfectly. That is why Vienna has been the best place to live in for the past years according to the management consultancy Mercer.

Vienna’s Architecture

There are plenty of magnificent points of interests such as the Belvedere Palace, Schonbrunn Palace and Hoffburg Palace. If you walk on the Ringstrasse, you can find amazing buildings as Rathaus, the parliament and the Opera. What is special about the architecture is that monuments come from the 18th century, and are so stunning! You can also find modern buildings that are full of colors, which makes the city shine.

Vienna’s Attractions

There are many things to do in Vienna. If you are interested in amusement parks, you can go to Prater, a public park with plenty of attractions and small stands, where you can eat traditional Viennese food. Be ready to pay for every attraction you want to enter. You can also find the giant Viennese Ferris wheel, first one in Europe.

There are a number of interesting museums, most of them are in Museums Quartier, which is an open area where you can also chill in summer. The museums are not that expensive, and if you are student the entrance is even cheaper. Every year around October there is a night where you can visit all the museums you want for the ticket of one. For example, the Schmetterlinghaus (butterfly museum) and the Albertina museum (contemporary art museum). Or if you like more the classic art, you could go to the two museums facing each other (the science, nature arts and classic art)

Vienna is located next to the famous Danube Canal crosses (Vienna, Prague and Budapest, amongst others). There are some activities that everyone can do there such as renting a boat, having a beer in a cool bar, renting a bike, and more.

There are two well-recognized thermal waters-Spas near Vienna. One is called Oberlaa Therme-Wien, which is located in the south of Vienna. And the other is Baden, which is located literally in Baden. You can use public transportation to get to both of them. The prices are also affordable. Just keep in mind that some saunas and vapor saunas can only be entered naked (which is considered totally normal in Austria, but might take some people by surprise!).

To finish your stay in Vienna, you can also visit Vienna’s Zoo, which is located next to the fabulous Schonbrunn Palace.

Vienne’s Bars

You can go to Schwedenplatz, there are plenty of bars. If you are looking for something wilder like a club, you can go to Praterdome, which is located in Prater or Passage, which is a little bit fancier.

Tips for visiting Vienna

I’ve lived for 2.5 years now and have found some awesome tips to make your visit to Vienna really great:

• Buy a weekly or monthly ticket for public transport (you can use it as much as you want and get into every kind of transport, train, metro, bus or tram)
• Eat one of the best schnitzels in the world
• Stores close early around 19:00, be aware. And Sundays stores are closed as well. (there are some “night shops” that close at 21:30 or 23:00)
• If you are a Beer lover, you are going to love Viennese beer.
• Eat the Sacher Torte (famous cake of Mozart) in the Hotel Sacher.

You are going to fall in love with Vienna, it is a magical city. Besides its perfection, it has also the warmth of traditional Austrian families.

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