How Expensive Is Vienna?

A few weeks ago I headed to the Austrian capital of Vienna for a long weekend with Luke to celebrate our anniversary. I had no preconceptions of the city, we just narrowed down 3 places that had good Avios point deals the weekend we wanted to head away. I did ask a few people I knew ‘how expensive is Vienna?’ and most of them came back saying it was a pricey city. So I prepared myself in advance that we may end up spending a lot. But now I’ve been I’m here to answer the question how expensive is Vienna properly?

How expensive is Vienna for transport?

When you need to travel from the airport to where you’re staying and then go around the city, transport can be a deal breaker. I always see how shocked people get when they visit London at how expensive transport is. Thankfully the opposite has to be said for the Austrian capital as Vienna is cheap for transport.

We paid 21 euro each for a return train from the airport into the city centre via the CAT (City Airport Train). I feel that this is a pretty standard price for airport transfers, and much cheaper than 40+ euro each way for a taxi. The trains in Vienna run like clockwork which I really appreciate. So twice an hour you’ll be able to get a train into the city.

But it’s when you get into the city that you’ll see how cheap Vienna is for transport. We downloaded the transport app and bought our tickets via that. This made it much easier than having to use the machines at the stations, even though no one ever asked to see our ticket. A single journey is 2.80 euros, but a full day pass to use all the transport in the city (underground, trams and buses) is just 5.80 euro. So no matter how much exploring you want to do you’re covered with this price. You can also pay a bit more for a 24 hour pass meaning you can use it into the next day if you arrive part way through a day.

Is Vienna expensive for hotels?

I really feel with hotels you get what you pay for. There are a number of budget friendly hotels and hostels where you can get a room in the city for 50-70 euros a night. So you can stay in the city for cheap, especially if you’re travelling with a friend.

We stayed in the wonderful 25 hours hotel located in the museum quarter which was very central. The hotel kindly gifted us the first night’s stay, but we paid for the second night. And we’d definitely pay to stay there again. The hotel was quirky and unusual, in a central location and came with a pretty great breakfast included. I’ll be doing a post in more detail on the hotel. But had we of paid full price it would have cost us about £120 each for 2 nights. And I don’t think that’s too pricey at all for a mid-range hotel.

Food and drink prices in Vienna

Now food and drink is where people usually think that things can get expensive. And yes in most cities if you’re planning on drinking a lot of alcohol it can get pricey. But thinking about how expensive Vienna is for food and drink I would say it’s very reasonable. You can get traditional hot dogs from stands on the street for 5 euros for an authentic lunch. And you can head to a traditional cafe/ restaurant for schnitzal for a tenner which is great value.

As spent a lot of time looking up restaurants on Trip Advisor and found plenty on the lower end of the budget. But of course, if you want to spend the pennies there are plenty of places you can do that. We went to a mid-range steak restaurant on our anniversary and had a 3 course meal with an alcoholic drink each and it worked out at £40 each. A price that I think is great!

Are activites expensive in Vienna?

Much like in any city, you can save money by looking attractions before you arrive. For example my favourite hop on, hop off bus tickets were 27 euro is advance, or 30 euros on the street. So you can save a bit of money booking in advance. I found the sightseeing bus tour a standard price, and attractions were all on par with what I’ve seen in other European cities.

Including 40 euros for a palace tour and zoo entry ticket, 12 euros to go up Danube tower and see the views and 20 euros to go into the Belvadere museum. But if you have the time to do plenty of sightseeing the Vienna PASS will remain the best value way to see the city.

Overall I don’t think Vienna is a particularly expensive city, and we didn’t spend masses of money over our three days. So don’t let expensives put you off heading to the beautiful Austrian capital.

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