Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve visited. However, it IS expensive (I had to miss out on my usual coffee shop culture here). It is STILL possible to do it on a budget though. My time in Vienna was spent at a cocktail class, visiting Beethoven’s house, wandering around the main streets, seeing the national palace, and at bars with friends from the hostel. And most of those were free – the cocktail class was a free hostel event, I went on the first Sunday of the month to get free entry into most museums and galleries, and we asked the hostel for recommendations of student places to go out in. This is a quick 2-minute-read article to show you how to travel to Vienna on a budget!
Choose your dates carefully
First Sunday of the month – plenty of free museums. If you’re able to go there on the first Sunday, make the absolute most of it. You can find out on museum websites if they are free on this day or not. Accommodation in Vienna also heavily fluctuates in price – book early and book on a weekend where you don’t have any large festivals (unless you’re going for the festival!).
Eating
This one heavily depends how budget you’re needing to be. I was in the middle of a big backpacking trip and needing to pretty much stick to my budget with one exception to try schnitzel at the film festival. I would always recommend foodie blogs like …. to find the cheapest eating spots. For me, I ate a LOT of cold food bought from supermarkets or bakeries in Vienna for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you need to do it so you can see the city, you’ll find supermarket prices in Vienna are pretty standard to anywhere else.
Disclaimer: my hostel didn’t have a kitchen (it was as cheap as I could get safely in Vienna) otherwise I would have been eating my usual hostel meals which you can find through Hostel Meals Inspiration – wanderlust and a rucksack for some cooking inspiration while you’re away!
Transport
Use public transport – the metro system in Vienna is great. I’d advise getting a 24-hour card and then using that as much as you need. The main train station and bus station are both quite far out of the city centre, so be aware of this when booking hostels and buses/trains into the city. However, you can find some hostels around these areas that are cheaper than a hostel in the centre.
Accommodation
You’re going to need accommodation. And it will unfortunately be expensive. I stayed at St Christopher’s Inn Vienna | Hostel which although had great benefits like the free cocktail class where I met loads of people, it had no kitchen and the location wasn’t great. Hostelworld or booking.com would be your best options for looking – book early for Vienna as plenty of hostels will get booked up fast.
