SPRING BREAK: VIENNA + SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

I would like to refer to Vienna as the Underdog of our spring break. I honestly did not have many expectations for this stop…I thought it was mainly going to be a lot of museums and a lot of “looking around.” However, I am so grateful that we went to a city that is filled with so much history, jaw-dropping architecture, and peacefulness. We spent three lovely nights in Vienna, and it has officially made it on my “I need to go back” list. 
 
I’ll be picking up where I left off from Barcelona and adding Vienna to my spring break narrative. I’ll have a bullet-point list of our trip as well as helpful tips and links at the bottom 

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The Vienna airport was the nicest airport that we have been to in Europe. All Austrian men are required to serve a couple of years in the military, so there were quite a few young men working at the airport. While everything seemed to be running very smoothly and efficiently, we had our worst spring break problem here. Remember when Alyssa and I were forced to check our carry-ons when we got our boarding passes in Barcelona? Alyssa’s bag never seemed to have made it on the flight. Her bag went through right after mine, so I am very unsure about how that happened. After waiting at the empty (but running) baggage carrousel for about 10 minutes, we went up to the baggage help desk to see if they had any information for us. Alyssa gave them her bag sticker and the attendant told us that there was no record of the bag being scanned anywhere. While this was not the news that we wanted to hear, we tried to not let panic set in, and prayed that the bag would make it on the next flight to Vienna. Once we made the claim, we called an Uber and left to meet Laine and Lilly at the Jo&Joe Hostel. This hostel was probably our favorite of the entire trip. While the beds might have been the least comfy, the room had great air conditioning, a good bathroom, and the common areas were really cool. Most hostels have bars, however, Jo&Joe’s was always crowded and lively at night. The location is about 2 metro stops away from the center of Vienna, so if you are looking for a place where you can walk around everywhere, consider finding a hostel or hotel closer to the St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Personally, I wouldn’t have changed Jo&Joe, especially given its convenience to the Westbahnhof train station. 

 
*Tip: When leaving the Vienna airport, I would opt to call an Uber rather than getting a taxi. The fare for Alyssa and I was around 30 euros, while the taxi Lilly and Laine took was close to 60 euros. 
 
After we had checked-in and rented our bath towels (2 euros per towel), Alyssa and I quickly got ready for our night-time event. We had bought tickets for an 8:30 PM concert at the Schonbrunn Palace. We were in a bit of a time crunch, so after we got ready, we grabbed a fast bite to eat at McDonald’s (sorry not sorry), walked outside the train station, and caught a cab to take us to the palace. My confirmation email did not specify which part of the palace that we should go to for the concert, so we told the driver to drop us off at the front of the palace and then we would figure it out. The main entrance to the palace was definitely closed, and after a few minutes of confusion, Alyssa just typed “music” into Apple Maps and a music venue that seemed to be a part of the palace popped up. This was it! I’ll attach its address at the bottom of the page. We walked a short 5 minutes down the street and arrived at a door with a red carpet on the outside. We made it with 10 minutes to spare, picked up our tickets, and were seated in our chairs. The venue was lovely and had a full bar. Alyssa and I had a couple of glasses of wine while we listened to the 16-person orchestra play classics from Mozart and Beethoven. They even had a male and female opera singer that would accompany the music with every other song! We had considered going to a full opera or ballet concert at the Opera House (both of which are around 3 hours long), however, I am so glad that we opted for the Schonbrunn concert. It was the perfect length—a little less than 2 hours—and satisfied our opera fix with the two singers.

Once the concert was finished, we wanted to meet up with Lilly and Laine. Their night entailed a long, over-hour walk throughout Vienna to their dinner spot, EF16. Based on their reaction, I think this might have been their favorite meal all of spring break. They highly suggest to try the kaiserschmarrn (mini pancakes); I would definitely make a reservation here if you are looking for a delicious, nice dinner in Vienna. The restaurant was about a 25-minute drive from the Palace and was on the completely opposite side of town as our hostel. Since it was getting late, Alyssa and I decided it would be best to be dropped off near our hostel and set out to find a nearby bar. To our disappointment, there wasn’t much of a night scene near us, so Jo&Joe bar it was! We enjoyed a spritz in the lobby area of Jo&Joe and chatted until after midnight. When we were finished, we went upstairs, and lights were out within 30 minutes.
 
The next morning we didn’t have too many morning plans. Lilly and I woke up and decided to go to the pharmacy, buy metro passes for everyone, and find a nearby cafe. We dropped our purchases off at the hostel and grabbed Laine and Alyssa to head to Café Sperl—a delicious establishment recommended to Lilly and Laine by their waiter at EF16. We hopped on the metro and rode two stops to the Neubaugasse station. And by hopped on, I mean no scanners, no metro assistants, nothing requiring you to show a transport card. Moral of the story: consider public transportation in Vienna to be completely and 100% free. Anyway, once we arrived on this side of town, we started to walk towards the cafe. This area had great shopping and cute little side streets with some local stores as well. On our walk to the café, Alyssa and I saw a smoothie shop called Superfood Deli. Our bodies were screaming for healthy food after our McDonald’s the night before, so we took a detour and decided to meet Lilly and Laine at the café after our pit-stop. Honestly, the smoothies were not worth it. I got one with pitaya and Alyssa got an acai one with coffee. The staff was so nice, but smoothies in Europe are not the same as they are in the US. Regardless, we drank both of them to the last drop, then had delicious DRIP coffee (you never see drip coffee in Europe) and a light breakfast at Café Sperl. Once we had finished, we were on the hunt for some hats and scarves as Vienna was much colder than we anticipated. We made our way back to the main street outside of the Neubaugasse exit and did some shopping at some local shops as well as H&M. When we were inside H&M, I got told to leave because I wasn’t wearing the right kind of mask; KN95 masks are required in Vienna and in some parts of Italy. So, Alyssa and I walked down the street to the nearest pharmacy and grabbed the correct masks. 

 
Once we had gotten the masks, it was time for Alyssa and I to go to the Hofburg Palace as we wanted to make it for the 2:00 PM guided group tour. We had originally planned to do a group bike tour for the four of us through Fat Tire Tours, however, I had forgotten that Alyssa had a recent knee injury and was not fully healed. So, we broke up into groups: Alyssa and I planned to do a couple of museums while Lilly and Laine continued with the bike tour. I had read online to arrive to the museum around 1:30, so we plugged in “Hofburg Palace” into Apple Maps and had an ETA of 1:35. We strolled for about 15 minutes and found ourselves surrounded by at least 10 extremely impressive and beautiful buildings. This was where I got confused. I did not realize that the Hofburg Palace was all of the buildings. Thanks to Lilly and Laine, I later learned that kings and queens were not allowed to live in the same palace as the previous king and queen once they had died. So, the Austrian rulers had to build a new palace for each ruler during this era. Hence, this entire group of buildings is known as The Hofburg. There were several maps that that showed us the locations and names of the different buildings, but they were all in German. Here’s where we went wrong: we thought we were trying to find a tour of the Hofburg Palace. In reality, we wanted to tour the SiSi Museum and the silver collection. After 30 minutes of trial-and-error, we finally figured out what we wanted to do at the tourist center. We asked nice man which museum we should tour if we wanted to see some of the rooms of the palace. He told us that the SiSi Museum was what we were looking for and pointed to the numbers 1 and 2 on the map of the Hofburg Palace. We made our way to the museum and arrived around 2:10. Sadly, we missed the guided tour, however, the tickets included an audio guide (and one of the best ones I have ever had). We began our tour in the royal silver collection and imagined how different life must have been in the 17^th century. The collection held countless services (or dinner place settings) that contained many sets ranging from a service of 4.500 French gold pieces to small, dainty, hand-painted tea sets. 

Once we had finished the silver collection, we were then introduced to the iconic Empress Elisabeth (Sisi). This part of the museum was dedicated to her life as the wife of Franz Joseph of Austria. If you have ever watched Bridgerton, there are definitely some season 2 vibes in this couple’s love story. Elisabeth’s sister was supposed to be betrothed to Franz Joseph, however, when the family traveled to Austria to fulfil this relationship, Franz Joseph fell madly in love with Elisabeth. Soon after, Elisabeth and Franz Joseph were married and SiSi became the Empress of Austria. It is possible that Franz Joseph fell in love with Sisi due to her captivating beauty…she was 5’7”, weighed around 97 pounds, grew her hair to her ankles, and had an impressive 20-inch waist. The tour continued with Elisabeth’s life and we learned about her favorite activities, daily life, her depression, and lastly, her assassination in Geneva. We then were given a glimpse at the royal apartments and viewed the bedrooms, smoking rooms, offices, bathrooms, and dining room—all of which were beautifully decorated. In this part of the tour, we learned a bit more about Franz Joseph’s life. He was an extremely hard-working man whose working day began at 3:30 AM and did not end until after his late-night dinner with his guests. While we were allowed to photograph the silver collection, photography was not permitted during the SiSi Museum....but I may have secretly captured the picture below of Empress Elisabeth's bathroom... 

 
After our nearly 2-hour tour, Alyssa was getting a bit worried about her luggage since there were still no tracking updates. She found out that Wizz airlines will give you up to $300 for new purchases if your luggage is delayed for any reason. So, we started to walk towards the shopping center of town on Graben Street (right next to St. Stephen’s Cathedral). We were quickly stopped in our tracks when we came across a glorious frankfurter stand—Zum Goldenen Wurstel. These were so, so good. If you are in Vienna (or Austria in general) you MUST get a frankfurter while you are there. I highly recommend the one with cheese inside.

After our snack, Alyssa wanted to do some shopping and I was in the mood to see more of Vienna. I walked around the area surrounding Graben Street then made my way over to the gardens behind the Hofburg Palace to see the statue of Mozart. After strolling through the gardens, I texted Lilly and Laine to see if they were done with their bike tour yet. They had just finished and were heading over to the Easter Market (Ostermarkt) for a glass of wine. After a 15-minute walk, I found them next to one of the cute, red-wood stands with an extra glass waiting for me (I mean, talk about good friends). We caught each other up on our day and enjoyed the cold and crisp Vienna air and a surprisingly tasty 8-euro bottle of wine. Their bike tour sounded incredible and I was so glad to hear about all that they had learned about the history of Vienna. Truly, I am convinced that these bike tours are the best and most cost-effective way to see a city (around 35 euros for an awesome afternoon). Alyssa met up with us shortly after and we all made the trek back to Jo&Joe to get cleaned up for dinner.

We had an 8:00 reservation at this quaint restaurant right off of the Stepansplatz metro stop (near Graben street). We had gotten a recommendation for this restaurant from a couple of girls that had been to Vienna earlier this semester. Stella Marina, the restaurant, is a one-man-show. The owner, Valentin, is the host, server, AND chef of his 9-table establishment. He greeted us with a warm smile and took care of us like we were a guest in his home. He made me a special eggless pasta and served us delicious Italian red wine and a dessert of panna cotta; at the end of dinner, he even brought us some limoncello. Valentin was truly an angel of a man and told us that he loved people from the United States. “You are now a part of my big family,” he said. Our hearts were absolutely melted. If you are in Vienna, you cannot miss Stella Marina. Go and support Valentin and tell all of your friends to do the same. He only accepts euros (as do a lot of places in Vienna) so be sure to bring enough cash. Our meal averaged to be less than 25 euros per person, which included a main dish, two glasses of red wine, a shared dessert, and limoncello. We said our goodbyes to Valentine with full stomachs and hearts.

Although we were not extremely hungry, we thought it would be a sin if we didn’t get Vienna’s most famous dessert, the sacher tort. So, off we went to the Sacher Hotel, home of the best cake in Vienna. We came to find out that since the Opera was that night, the hotel’s restaurant was fully booked. However, Alyssa decided to order two torts to-go. I couldn’t eat them, but I think that everyone was somewhat underwhelmed. After dessert number two of the night, we hopped in a taxi and were soon back at Jo&Joe. We went to bed early that night as we had bought spur-of-the-moment train tickets to Salzburg that left at 8:40 AM the next day.
 

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Once again, the Underdog of Austria impresses me—Salzburg has made its way into my top three favorite places I have visited while studying abroad. Yes, Salzburg is where the Sound of Music is set, however, this little city is so much more charming in person. The morning that we were leaving Vienna, we woke up around 7:30 in order to leave our hostel shortly after 8:00. Alyssa was still getting used to the time change, and therefore only got about 2 hours of sleep the night before. She decided to stay back in Vienna and wait for her luggage to be delivered (which was coming around noon that day, YAY). So, Laine, Lilly and I were ready to take on Salzburg with just the three of us. Even though the train station was less than one-minute outside of Jo&Joe, we wanted to grab a cup of coffee at the Starbuck’s inside the station and find our platform with no rush. As it has turns out, Lilly, Laine, and I sometimes do not have the best collective luck when it comes to day trips, so we like to make sure that we have plenty of time to spare in case something happens. The Westbahnof station was the easiest train station that I have ever had to navigate. We were on board around 8:20 AM and the train took off right at 8:40 AM. We sat in the second car on the top level and enjoyed the beautiful views of the forests and running creeks throughout our 2.5-hour train. It was the perfect time and place for me to finish writing about Paris 
 
Once we reached Salzburg, I went to the luggage storage area and rented a locker for a whopping 2 euros for the entire day. I had wanted to use the time on the train to write, so I researched beforehand to make sure that the Salzburg station had a place for me to store my computer tote. Once that was settled, we began walking towards the center of town (about 15 minutes from the train station). Surprisingly, I had done absolutely no research on Salzburg since we had booked the tickets the day before. We started our day off by walking through the gardens of the Mirabell Palace, which are open for free to the public. While we were in the gardens, we saw some extremely dark clouds making their way towards us. We continued our walk over the Marko-Feingold-Step bridge and admired the beautiful views of the Salzach River and the colorful buildings of the town. As soon as we left the bridge, the rain started coming down. Salzburg was much colder than Vienna, so we were not well-prepared for this weather. We started walking through the town in hopes to find an umbrella and a warm store, but since it was Sunday, most shops were closed. Thankfully, we came across a small stand selling some souvenirs and umbrellas. All three of us bought one and we started strolling through the streets as the rain began to turn into snow. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day in Salzburg.

Sweet Laine in the Salzburg snow!!!!

As we were walking, a couple of stores started to open. One of which was named “Christmas in Salzburg.” My family has a tradition of getting an ornament from all of the places where we have traveled. While I haven’t done this for each and every place I’ve been abroad, I have done it for the places that have been the most special to me. Christmas in Salzburg had thousands of ornaments inside this shop. A lot of them were hand-painted in Austria and decorated for the Easter holidays. I took two ornaments home with me and am so excited to see them on our tree in December. We continued to stroll around the town a bit more to find a place to sit down for lunch. The winner was a small café that was very close to Christmas in Salzburg. We enjoyed a warm, relaxing lunch of Viennese sausages, potatoes, wine, coffee, and apple strudel.
 
After lunch we wanted to check out the High Fortress Hohensalzburg. We made the trek up towards the base on the fortress and checked out the prices on the lift up to the castle. We weighed the pros and cons and felt that it would be worth visiting if it was a clear day and the views of the hills were available. However, since the clouds were covering the view, we opted out. Once we turned around, we saw the true jewel of Salzburg—A Journey To The Past. This is a small photography shop where the owner dresses you up like a princess being courted in the 1600s and takes some hilarious yet beautiful photos. Lilly, Laine, and I couldn’t help ourselves when we saw the shop. We HAD to get a picture done. It was such a fun experience, and I can assure you that we will never regret spending those 12 euros per person. I know that we will be forever grateful for this picture.

We actually wore these dresses; not photoshopped at all (lol)

Once we returned to our current era, we giggled down the streets towards the bridge one last time. The weather was beginning to clear up, so we wanted to see if we could catch a view of the beautiful mountains. The haze began to lift and the sun melted away the clouds covering the high hills. Truly, Salzburg is one of the most stunning places I have ever seen. We then went into a grocery store to grab a bottle of wine for the train ride home, then ended our afternoon at Tomaselli Café for a pastry and glass of wine. 

We planned to walk back to the Salzburg train station around 4:45 in order to get back for our 5:22 train back to Vienna. I guess that we calculated our journey incorrectly, because after we had paid the bill at Tomaselli, we had an estimated 3-minute window between the time we arrived at the train station and the time our train departed. This is what I mean when I say Laine, Lilly, and I don’t have the best day-trip track record (lol). We half-jogged half-speed-walked and somehow got our window of time up to 10 minutes. I grabbed my bag from luggage storage and went up to the platform that read “Wien” (Vienna). I was a bit confused when I boarded the train, as it looked nothing that the train that we took to get to Salzburg. However, I met up with Lilly and Laine and we found our seats as the train was departing. Soon after, an attendant came inside our cabin to scan our tickets. When he looked at Laine’s ticket he said the scariest words one can imagine while traveling: “You are on the wrong train. You have to get off at the next station.” Panic set in AGAIN. We seriously could not catch a break. I checked the screen to see what the name of the next station would be. I then opened up the Omio app to check and see if the train we are supposed to be on was going to stop at the same station. Thankfully, that was the case. All we had to do was exit at the next stop and wait just 15-minutes for our original train to arrive. Soon, we were back on the correct train and made it back home to our Westbahnof station.

 
Our arrival back in Vienna was a quick turn-around for our 8:30 reservation at Figlmüller, the home of the wiener schnitzel. So, we ran up to Jo&Joe, dropped off our souvenirs, then went right back to the station to take the U3 Metro to dinner. We had a lovely dinner with a spread of bread, soup, wiener schnitzel, boiled beef in the pot, chocolate cake, and mini pancakes—all delicious. Post schnitzel, we were all exhausted, so we took our time walking back to the metro, being sure to give a last glance at the beautiful St. Stephen’s Cathedral. In two stops we were back at our hostel and rolling our clothes to get them to fit into our carry-ons.

Our alarm went off at 8:15 the next morning, and we were soon in an Uber taking us to the Vienna airport for our 10:45 flight to Milan. Thankfully, we had very little issues during our second time at the Vienna airport. Alyssa’s Clinique cleanser did get taken at security (make sure that your liquids and gels are less than 100 ml), but if that was the worst we endured, I’d say we got out just fine. 
 
Vienna far exceeded my expectations…I truly cannot wait to return for a longer period of time. If you enjoy history, a quiet yet beautiful city, incredible food, and marvelous views of lush mountains, you should definitely consider a trip to Austria. 

Spring break will continue on with Milan, Lake Como, and Nice! Safe travels:)

<3,

Mp

Our Trip to Vienna & Salzburg in a List:

• Activities / Sites
• Schonbrunn Palace concert
• Shopping around Neubaugasse metro stop and on Graben street
• Hofburg Palace
• SiSi Museum & silver collection (number 2 on the map of The Hofburg)
• Fat Tire Bike Tour around Vienna (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
• Hofburg Palace gardens
• Grabbed a drink at the Easter Market
• Also open around Christmas time
• Trip to Salzburg
•  Mirabell Palace Gardens
• Christmas in Salzburg ornament store
• Marko-Feingold-Step bridge
• High Fortress Hohensalzburg of Salzburg
• A Journey to the Past (photos)
• Cafe Tomaselli
• Food
• EF16 (reservation required - Vienna)
• Cafe Sperl (brunch, breakfast)
• Frankfurters (hotdogs) - random stands around Vienna...we went to on called Zum Goldenen Wurstel
• Stella Marina (Italian - MUST GO; we got a reservation, but I think you could walk in)
• Hotel Sacher for the famous Sacher tort
• Get a reservation!
• Random cafe in Salzburg
• Tomaselli Café (Salzburg - great desserts)

If We Had More Time in Vienna We Would...

• Tour the...
• Opera House
• Sigmund Freud's Museum (Alyssa went)
• Strolled through more gardens
• Mumok art museum
• Wine tours at a few of the vineyards located right outside of Vienna
• Go to the Spanish Horse Show
• Sit at Cafe Central or Landtmann for a few hours
• Sound of Music Tour to Salzburg 
• Go to see a ballet (or something in the Opera House)
• Mozart's Birthplace Museum (Salzburg)
• Gone up to the High Fortress (Salzburg)
• Recommendations from Lilly's Aunt's Friend (she spent a lot of time in Salzburg):
• “This is one of my favorite little areas right in the middle of things. The Grünmarkt is a really pretty farmers market with and it’s backed up by pretty stores on one side and on the other side by the Festspielhaus. The famous Getreidegasse is just below as well. There’s also a really great sausage booth at the market in front of a CVS type store called DM Drogeriemarkt That has the best sausages served with a roll or a "Salzstangerl" just as you walk through the city for a snack. If you have more of an appetite, they also offer a sausage called Käse Kreiner that actually has cheese inside the sausage😋!” (text sent)

Helpful Tips / Links:

• Tips:
• DO NOT ask for coffee to go at cafes (only Starbucks); cafes are meant for long afternoons in Vienna
• Vienna is a very euro-oriented place (a lot of places only accept cash)
• Get some euros out for small lunches, cafes, taxis, ect. (large dining establishments will have a card reader)
• PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN VIENNA IS BASICALLY FREE!!!
• Don't waste your money buying a ticket (even though its so cheap). You definitely will not get caught
• During Covid, Vienna requires KN95 masks -- you can buy them at almost any pharmacy or convenience store
• Links:
• Jo&Joe hostel: https://www.joandjoe.com/vienna/en/
• Buy tickets in advance for:
• Opera House: https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsoper/guided-tours/
• Fat Tire Bike Tour for Vienna: https://fattirebiketours.com/en/vienna
• Schoenbrun Palace Concert Address: Schönbrunner Schloßstraße 47, 1130 Wien, Austria