It has long been on my bucket list to do travel in Europe via railway and a trip to Vienna and Budapest was the perfect taster. My parents were up for the adventure so we all flew into Vienna to spend three nights in the Austrian capital.

We booked into the Radisson Red Hotel near Schottenring station. It was easy to reach from the airport using the CAT train to Landstraße and then connecting on the green line. It turned out to be the perfect location for us as it was quiet at night but within easy to reach of all the famous sites either by foot, S Bahn or U Bahn.

Vienna is a stunning city that is noticeably clean and full of grand architecture. On day one we decided to go for a walk heading towards the museum quarter, which was both a great idea because it helped us get our bearings but also stupid as the temperature that day was 34 degrees. We left early to avoid the heat strolling down from Schottentor station past the town hall, the Austrian Parliament building then cutting through Volksgarten to the Hofburg.

By this point it was getting quite hot so we decided to visit the Natural History Museum (as art is not really our thing) to escape the heat but unfortunately that was not the case. It turns out Vienna maybe beautiful but it has not embraced air conditioning and so it was even hotter inside the museum than it was outside due to the lack of breeze. Continuously fanning ourselves with maps and hats, we made our way around an impressive collection of rocks, minerals, animals and artefacts.

It was an interesting museum and worth a visit, finishing off with a stop at the cafe under the most beautiful intradoses at the centre of the museum.

On day two we decided to head down to the Museum of Military History which is located near Schloss Belvedere. This museum covers the history of Austria from the early 1500s all the way up to after WW2. Unfortunately the WW2 exhibition was closed but it was still worth the trip and cost half the price of the Natural History Museum. The WW1 exhibition hall was very informative and extremely interesting.

Once we finished we headed down towards Belvedere Palace and museum, stopping in at a delightful greek place called Art Corner for fika. The palace grounds are spectacular and worth the walk through. We headed south ending up at monument to commemorate the fallen Soviet Union soldiers during WW2’s Vienna offensive.

The heat in Vienna during the summer is no joke and as stated earlier, air conditioning is not always used, especially in museums located in older buildings. We spent each morning exploring on foot, our afternoons inside relaxing and then venturing out for food and drinks in the evening. This slow pace explorations suited us and was a good way to manage the summer sun.

On the last day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards Wien HBf to catch our midday train to Budapest a mere 2hours 40mins a way. It was reasonably priced and ridiculously easy to do and something I would seriously consider in the future. There was no need for an expensive taxi, check in luggage, security check or hours waiting around in an airport with overpriced food and drink. We turned up 40mins before, found our platform, grabbed coffee and boarded straight onto our train.

We really enjoyed our couple of days exploring Vienna, especially my parents who were just happy to walk around and see what they came across. It felt very safe, clean and easy to get around. It is a haven for art lovers but I did feel it was lacking in history information which surprised me considering Austria’s location and position in a number of European conflicts. Compared to Sweden, meals and drinks were about the same in comparison and had a similar feel to Stockholm (minus all the water).

Hungary, on the other hand was completely different! So next stop… Budapest!

SP x

Ticket advice: As we were not going to be flying out of Vienna airport we decided it was cheaper to get a single ticket on the CAT for around 15 euros pp and then get a 48 hour transport ticket, which you can pick up from any ticket machine for another 14 euros pp. This covered all our travel in the city for the two days we were there and was cheaper than paying 37 euros pp they were charging at the airport. However if you are flying in and out of Vienna this price is good value for money when you factor in the cost of the return CAT ticket.

Our train from Vienna to Budapest we booked via the Trainline app.