Go everywhere, Do everything

From speaking to others I think it is more normal to book a trip to Vienna and then take a day trip to Bratislava. Never ones to follow the crowd we did things the other way around. Vienna had been one of the stops in our cancelled trip that should have happened in April 2020 so we were really pleased to find out that it’s only just over an hour away from Bratislava and finally have the chance to visit. I would say, in hindsight, that a day trip to Vienna is not enough. Ideally we should have had a couple of days in Bratislava and then a couple in Vienna so we could have seen a bit more of the city. 

What we did:

Spanish Riding School 

Sadly we couldn’t be in Vienna on a day that there was a performance but we were able to book tickets for one of the training sessions. The sessions are held on a morning in the performance arena and last for an hour. We watched a group of veteran horses and some of the youngsters going through their training, no spectacular jumps unfortunately but we loved watching the different horses and the riders. There was some commentary of the session in both German and English so we learned a bit about the training process and the horses. Pip enjoyed the training session so much that when they mentioned that you could tour the stables she asked if we could do that too and we were able to booked it at the ticket office on the way out.

There are several tour times throughout the afternoon so we booked for 2pm to give us chance to get some lunch. The tour lasted an hour and despite there being a lot of people there when we arrived we were actually split in to 3 groups based on language so there were only about 15 people in our group. We toured the training areas, stables and arena and felt like we learned so many interesting things about the horses, the riders and the riding school as well as meeting some of the horses and the stable cats. 

This was definitely one of Pip’s favourite activities and she has announced that she is going to learn to speak German so that she can keep the option of becoming a rider open. 

There is a small restaurant and gift shop outside the arena which is accessible without having a ticket or a tour booked. 

H&M

The Spanish riding school is in an area of Vienna with a lot of high end shops, however we did manage to find the fanciest H&M we have ever been in. It’s in the most beautiful old building with wooden winding staircases. Worth a visit for the fanciness even if H&M isn’t your thing. 

Time Travel Vienna

On our way to the Spanish Riding School we passed Time Travel Vienna and picked up a leaflet, it seemed a perfect way to get an over view on the history of the city. After we had finished at the Spanish Riding School we walked over to get tickets and we able to get a time slot which gave us just enough time to get a drink from the bubble tea shop next door. 

We bought a combined ticket to Sisi’s Amazing Journey and Time Travel Vienna and started across the road with a short film about Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) who was married to Emperor Franz Joseph I, she lived a fascinating life and it was lovely to see part of history from a woman’s perspective. The second part was a virtual reality boat ride with Sisi under the streets of Vienna ending with a flight over the modern city. This part of the experience was a little bit random and there was one scary part when the skeletons of the Roman soldiers came to life so while it is suitable for children, if you have little ones that are easily scared then you might want to give this part a miss. 

The Time Travel part was a great way of getting some stealth history in to Pippa without her realising, she really enjoyed it partly because it was slightly random and partly because it was a bit gruesome but also because it was quite fast paced so there was no time to get bored. The experience is underground and includes a 4D cinema experience, a bomb shelter, a quick visit to some of Vienna’s musical history, a plague pit and a sleigh ride. The recorded commentary is in German and we had audio guides in English. Again some of the parts of the experience are a little scary but if you let the guide know you would be able to miss that part. 

The experience has a cloakroom, lockers, toilets and a small gift shop. 

Getting there:

We took the train from Bratislava to Vienna and booked via the Trainline app. The only issue we had was that we had to print the tickets out but we were able to get the reception in our hotel to do it for us. The train takes about 1 hour 20 mins and was really easy. 

There is also a regular bus service between the 2 cities which I think is more frequent, slightly faster and slightly cheaper but our hotel was nearer to the train station so we went with that option. 

Once in Vienna we bought tickets from the ticket machine and took the underground to the stop nearest the Spanish Riding School. Again this was really easy and there was an English option on the ticket machines so we had no problems buying tickets, there are single trip and day ticket options. 

Food:

We ate lunch near the Spanish Riding School, there are a lot of upmarket cafes and restaurants in this area but we opted for the hot dog stand opposite H&M which did amazing hot dogs and fries. 

Dinner was at Turkis which we walked past on our way back to the tube station. This was an amazing find as the food was amazing and appeared about 7 minutes after we had ordered it. They have a huge range of Turkish grills and dishes to choose from and also salads and a children’s menu. 

Thoughts on Vienna: