Vienna by Camper and Bicycle

Day 1

We're lucky, the campground is free, spacious, with good facilities and there's nice sunshine; as soon as we've parked the camper we grab the bikes and follow the

Day 2

This morning a visit to Schonbrunn Castle (W)(H)°° awaits us, which is in the Viennese outskirts opposite to ours; so we cross the Prater by bike to the first metro station (W)(H) that will take us near the castle. Of course there's quite a queue... the three tickets with the family discount cost us 34.9 euros, and include a visit to the royal rooms with audio guide included, the park and some events with a time slot of your choice. The castle is undoubtedly worth visiting, the rooms too, then we carry on towards the park and approach the beautiful maze°, which occupies us for a good hour. We stroll as far as the Gloriette°° also passing through one of the little woods that border the gravel path. We admire the monumental fountain and reach the Gloriette. From up here you command an exceptional view both of the castle and of the city, also thanks to the beautiful April sky.

We have to hurry because there is an event we are signed up for: the "Strudel-making Lesson" which we discover is taking place on the opposite side from where we are now! Quite a hike and a bit of aching feet, but we arrive in time, the event turns out to be relatively interesting, if only for the tasting of a piece of freshly baked cake. It is still the first half of the afternoon when we decide to leave Schoenbrunn. We reach our bikes and, following the cycle path along the bank of the Danube canal, we arrive at Hundertwasserhaus (W)(H)°° a district designed with original and colourful lines. We cross the centre again to reach the former Jewish quarter, passing through Griechenbeisl° in Fleischmarkt and visiting the little church of St. Ruprecht (W)°, the oldest church in the city.

It is time for dinner and this time it is the turn of savouring the famous Viennese schnitzels at the recommended Beim Czaak, accompanied by potatoes and beer.

Day 3

April 30 Today is our last day in this beautiful city, and we intend to visit much of what we've missed so we can feel we know it well and can describe it to you. We still haven't seen the Belvedere (W)(H)°° — a splendid residence with a sublime adjacent park, inside which are displayed the most famous paintings by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Then we continue to Karlsplatz°° where the Church of St. Charles, or Karlskirche (W)(H)°, stands, one of the most important Baroque churches. Afterwards we go to eat in the almost adjacent Naschmarkt°° — the spice market — on whose right you can see the Wiener Sezession (W)°°, a building in Art Nouveau style with a golden dome. This is truly a special market, one of the most beautiful we've seen, with spices from all over the world and stalls offering tastings.

We were struck by the gigantic cucumbers that we nicknamed "walking cucumbers"! The locals come up, order a cucumber and eat it while strolling... Continuing further along the avenue, on your right you can notice beautiful buildings with Art Nouveau exterior decorations, including the house of Otto Wagner, one of Austria's greatest architects. Then we begin our stroll through the city center, along the shopping streets: Kaerntnerstrasse°°. Behind the Operahaus there's the Hotel Sacher (H)°° with the shop selling the original Sacher-torte. As we walk we come across Café Gerstner (H)°°, where we can't resist tasting and buying a fantastic Dobos Torte°° and Strudel to take away.

We continue and are drawn to the mirrored architecture of the Haas-Haus on the Graben, and to the left we go to where the Pestsaueler°° stands — the beautiful golden plague monument, near which we hear an impromptu piano concert. Listening to this good music, we sit at the foot of the monument and voraciously, without much restraint, devour part of the delicious cakes we just bought, which were starting to weigh on us (!)... in full view of the tourists who were perhaps trying to take some nice photos. After this excellent snack we head toward Michaelerplatz°°, a beautiful circular Baroque square onto which one of the entrances of the Hofburg Castle (W)(H)°° faces. By now it's dinner time; we stop at the excellent Bettelstudent (H)°° where we ate excellently again tonight too, and we return to the camper with about 21 km on our legs..

This trip is over too. Vienna is a splendid, monumental city whose visit we enjoyed very much. You will have noticed that we strongly recommend getting around by bike — that way you can cover it far and wide effectively and without wasted time. It's a very green city, and we were extremely lucky with the weather, finding warm, sunny days.

NOTES: Weather: average temperature around 15 degrees with sun. Food: restaurants are rather expensive, and cheap places aren't that numerous. Language: almost exclusively German; at the very least English is essential; Italian isn't even mentioned.

N.B.: Remember to get the Vignette before entering!

Total cost of the holiday for a family of 3 (2 adults + 15-year-old son): fuel: € 106.00 campsite: € 37.00 for 3 nights miscellaneous: campsite, food, souvenirs: € 617.00 total for 3 people: € 760.00

If you'd like advice, impressions and such, or if you'd like to leave us a comment, contact us at our email address: alpatom@libero.it

We recommend the guides that gave us the information on the places to visit: City Book Vienna.