Family holidays in Vienna
In its antiquity, Vienna is as beautiful as a queen and as gracious. It invites visitors to its palaces and museums, takes them for walks in its gardens and parks, and offers them cosy hotels, coffee and apple strudel. Guests fall under the city's spell, marvel at the Gothic and Baroque, fall in love with Mozart and Strauss, stroll through the gardens of Schönbrunn and are surprised to find themselves happy.
Holidays with children in Vienna are slightly different — even better and more fabulous. Without giving away all the secrets, here's the magic formula: 3 unique children's museums, 250 attractions, and The Nutcracker at Christmas. Everything you need to know about family holidays in Vienna can be found in the Kidpassage review. Now for the details.
Vienna on the map of Austria
Vienna is the capital of Austria. The city is located in the eastern part of the country, on the banks of the Danube, at the foot of the Alps, near the border with Slovakia. The distance from Vienna to Salzburg is 296 km, to Innsbruck — 477 km, to Graz - 200 km, and to Klagenfurt — 324 km.
Vienna is the country's largest city in terms of population and one of the largest cities in the European Union. But even 150 years ago, it was a relatively small city. Find the location of Vienna on the map and look for the Ringstrasse. That's where the city walls once stood. It was not until 1850 that the suburbs of Leopoldstadt, Landstrasse, Wieden and others were added to the city centre — today's central districts of the Austrian capital.
Vienna for Kids
Is it possible to have a complete holiday with a child in a big city instead of at the seaside? Yes, if it's Vienna. Impressions and emotions are the best way to escape the daily grind. And Vienna's comfortable hotels and well-kept parks are a great place to stay, even if you're travelling with a toddler.
When travelling to Vienna with children, parents usually don't expect to drag their children to a museum, so they look for information about amusement parks and attractions.
Well, we've got some good news for you: firstly, you can find a complete selection of children's activities in our article, and secondly, once in Vienna, children express their willingness to go to museums.
The museums in the Austrian capital know how to engage young visitors. Take your child to the place you want to visit, and you'll be amazed at how eager children are to explore the museum's exhibits (especially if they're allowed to play or experiment with them).
But Vienna is also a city of countless attractions for children. Parks, amusement rides, children's museums, playgrounds, water playgrounds — it seems like the only thing you can spend all your time doing.
You need to plan your trip to meet your and your children's requirements. The "Best time to travel" section will help you choose the right time of year for your trip, the "Things to do" and "Attractions" sections will help you organise your family holiday in Vienna, and the "Where to stay" section will help you find a comfortable place to stay.
Best time to travel
Deciding when it's best to visit Vienna is difficult. This fabulous city is good any time of year, although most travellers still choose April to October. The reason is simple: the palaces, cathedrals and gardens of the Austrian capital are better seen in warm weather. Hundreds of thousands of people descend in high season on Vienna, driving up accommodation prices and causing long museum queues.
For a holiday with a child, it is better to choose the beginning or the end of the season, April-May or September-October. We recommend visiting Vienna with an infant in May or September when the weather is most stable. At this time of the year, excursions around the city will not be hindered by the heat or the wave of tourists.
Another memorable time in Vienna is the days leading up to Christmas when the city is filled with the anticipation of the festive season. Artists entertain passers-by with performances, Christmas music is played, and colourful Christmas markets offer souvenirs, gingerbread and delicious mulled wine to warm you up.
Opera lovers need to choose their travel dates carefully. The opera season in Vienna begins in early September and lasts until the end of June. At Christmas and New Year's Eve, the operetta 'Die Fledermaus', the opera 'The Magic Flute' and the ballet 'The Nutcracker are traditionally performed at the Vienna Opera House.
Weather and Climate
Fun facts about the Austrian capital: Vienna's climate is ideal for growing grapes (a walk through the vineyards can be included in the holiday programme). And for people from temperate latitudes, Vienna's weather will seem familiar. It has a hot summer, a warm autumn, a cold winter and a not-too-early but beautiful spring.
The only downside is that it can rain at any time of the year, so pack umbrellas or waterproof jackets for the whole family.
The most pleasant time for tourists begins in May. Summer in the Austrian capital is a treat, with warmth and many clear days. When Vienna is in bloom, the air rises to +21°C, although the nights are still freezing: at sunset, the temperature drops to +9°C.
The temperature rises to +24 ° C in June, in July and August to +26 ° C, and sometimes there are periods of heat when the thermometers show +30-35 ° C. The nights are still cold: after dark, the air cools down to +12-14°C.
It is perfect to plan a holiday in Vienna in September. The temperature stays around +21°C, and there is even less rain than in summer.
In October, it gets cooler, and temperatures drop to +15°C. The first frosts occur in November, although the daytime temperatures can reach +8°C.
Although winter in Vienna is rather cold, it is considered the best time for a holiday in Vienna with children. That's because of the magical Christmas markets. To prepare for the trip, you should know what surprises the weather is capable of.
In December and February, the daytime temperature is usually above zero, around +3-5°C, with a slight frost at night. Despite the lack of severe cold, snowfalls and blizzards are not uncommon in the Austrian capital. But sometimes it rains in winter, confusing people about the seasons.
Temperatures start to rise in March. In the first month of spring, it's +10°C, but by April, the temperature has increased to +15°C. It is the time of blossoms and fresh greenery: Vienna's parks and gardens are lovely in April.
Food
Most hotels in Vienna operate on a 'breakfast only' basis, occasionally offering 'half board' or 'full board'. Therefore, tourists usually eat breakfast at the hotel, and it is very convenient if a buffet is served: among the various dishes, you will find something your child is used to eating. Lunch and dinner are served in restaurants serving Austrian and European cuisine.
Many cafés and restaurants in Vienna cater for families with children and even offer special children's menus, toys, rooms or tables for changing nappies, baby wipes and highchairs.
Worth mentioning are Gasthaus Stefan (224 Auhoffstrasse) with its organic food for adults and children, the Dschungel Deli in the Museum Quarter with its play area, comfortable furniture and children's menu, and Naturkost St. Josef next to the Seehaus with its organic menu and children's toys.
The aroma of coffee and delicious pastries will accompany you throughout your stay in the Austrian capital. Be sure to visit several pastry shops with children and try the traditional apple strudel and the famous Sacher cake.
Getting Around
Public transport in Vienna consists of five underground lines, ten suburban railway lines, several dozen tram lines and a hundred bus lines.
It is enough to get around the city quickly. Transport generally runs from morning to evening, but at weekends the underground runs round the clock and at night there are night buses. The website of Wiener Linien, which operates Vienna's underground trams and buses, has a timetable and a map of each route.
Vienna has a single ticket for all public transport (bus/tram/underground). The minimum fare is €2.40 per journey. Types of tickets: Single ticket, 24-hour ticket, 48-hour ticket, 72-hour ticket, week ticket, 8-day ticket, month ticket.
Children's tickets cost just over 1 euro. Children up to the age of 6 can use public transport in Vienna for free. Children up to age 15 can use public transport free of charge on public holidays, Sundays and during school holidays.
The Vienna City Card is helpful if you plan to use public transport in Vienna and go on excursions actively.
The card entitles you to free travel on the underground, buses and trams, and discounts on CAT trains and Vienna Airport Lines buses to and from the airport. As a travel card, it is valid from the moment of composting.
In addition to free travel, the card offers discounts at museums, theatres, concerts, cafés, restaurants and shops (more than 200 discounts).
The card is valid for 24 to 72 hours. The cost of the card, depending on the duration of the card — 17-29 euros. Children under 15 years of age using a parent's card are free. The card can
be purchased at tourist information centres at the airport, in the city, and in hotels.
Vienna has recently introduced a new tourist card that gives free use of public transport and free entry to 60 sights. The Vienna PASS is valid for 24-72 hours and costs €60-100 for adults and €30-50 for a child.
Taxi service and car hire
You may want to take a taxi to get around Vienna - for example, to avoid waiting for a late bus after an opera performance. Taxis can be hailed by phone or found in one of the car parks. The average price for a trip around the city is 30 euros. If you are driving or renting a car in Vienna, ask for any guest parking spaces.
Parking in the historical centre is not free, and you can leave your car there for a short time. If you want to leave your vehicle for a hundred hours or more, you must look for a parking space far from the centre.
Things to do with kids
Even if Vienna did not have a single world-famous attraction, coming here with your child would still be a must. There are so many children's museums and entertainment centres in the Austrian capital that you could spend a week visiting them all.
What would interest a child — a guided tour that lets you run around the museum? A game that leads to valuable discoveries? A walk through the city where children, not adults, are in charge? Let the child choose what they like.
The best museums for kids
It is not for nothing that we put Zoom Children's Museum at the top of our list of places to spend time with children. There is an exhibition for visitors as young as eight months, a play area for three-year-olds, an area for primary school children and a place for teenagers.
The museum's unusual space, where Ocean, Atelier and Cartoon Studio are side by side, is a paradise for children actively learning about life. A nice bonus for parents: adult admission is free.
What are the lessons like at the House of Music? Strange as it may seem, no boys and girls are sitting with spiritual faces listening to the works of great composers.
But ordinary children are conducting the Vienna Orchestra, exploring the sound of different surfaces in the 'Forest of Consciousness' and confidently sailing in the 'Sea of Voices'. The museum is full of computer attractions and interactive booths that make music live and tangible — and that's what kids love.
If the weather is good during your family holiday in Vienna, visit the zoo at Schönbrunn Palace. It is the oldest zoo in Europe — and one of the best. It is home to 700 species of animals — cute pandas, beautiful tigers, exotic anteaters and many other animals and birds.
In a few hours at the Zoo, you can travel around the world to the North and South Poles, to temperate and tropical latitudes. In high season, a tourist train runs through the alleyways.
If it's terrible weather, we recommend visiting the Sea House. Many cities can boast museum oceanariums, but only in Vienna is such a museum housed in a 9-storey building.
The exhibits are incredible: fish of all colours and sizes swim in the aquariums, jellyfish glide, starfish rest, crabs roam, and sea urchins jostle with their needles. The terrarium is home to lizards, crocodiles and turtles.
A particular part of the museum is the Ant Farm, where you can observe the life of leaf-cutter ants. Who lives in the rainforest? Once you get used to the heat and humidity of the tropics and the smell of strange flowers, you will begin to distinguish the cries of monkeys over the roar of the waterfall and the colourful parrots among the greenery.
An excellent place to walk with your child and learn something interesting simultaneously — is the House of Butterflies. Eternal summer, silence, greenery, splashing water and butterflies from tiny to giant with wingspans of up to 30 centimetres — this natural oasis is located in the heart of Vienna, in the Hofburg Palace. When summer arrives outside the walls of the Conservatory, continue your walk in the Hofburg Gardens.
Entertainment ideas
No matter how good children's museums are, sometimes children want to have fun and let off steam. So playgrounds and amusement parks should be on the list of things to do in Vienna with a child.
Number one, of course, is Vienna's famous Prater Park. The Giant Ferris Wheel towering above the trees has been whisking residents and visitors around the city for more than 100 years — take a ride, and you can see the whole of Vienna in the palm of your hand.
The park is also a real challenge for children: You can only try 250 rides in one visit, so you must choose. In summer, the park has an outdoor swimming pool with a couple of meandering slides, and in autumn, there is a festival similar to Oktoberfest.
However, large-scale entertainment is optional for keeping your child happy. At the Wasserturm (Water Tower) playground, your child can have fun and learn about Vienna's water supply.
The park does have an exhibition explaining why Vienna's water is so clean and tasty. But children are more interested in the paddling pools, rafting and canal building.
Another similar playground, the size of a football pitch, can be found on the Danube Island. While children discover how the mill pumps water and the locks work, parents can relax in the green area with sunbeds.
If you want to switch from an educational activity to a physical one, take the family to Vienna Woods, where the Kahlenberg Rope Park is located. There are no trails for preschoolers: The easiest is 7 metres above the ground, and the most extreme is 20 metres. If this is too much for you, walk through the Wienerwald and the Hermannskogel observation tower.
Activities & things to do when it's cold
What do you do in Vienna with your child in autumn or winter? Here are some indoor leisure centres for children.
- Fun 4 Kids is the largest indoor amusement park in Vienna. The focus is more on the rides than organising a comfortable play area. There is a corner with toys for the youngest visitors, trampolines, slides and mazes for older children, a hall for dexterity and shooting games, a climbing wall and a track for quad bikes. Entertainment staff will organise games and competitions for children to ensure no one is bored.
- The Family Fun Park is also a very cosy place for various games. An extensive construction kit allows you to run, jump, climb, play air hockey, and build castles. The park has an area for children from 1 to 4 years old and a play area for children from 4 to 12 years old. In the warmer months, there is an outdoor play area.
The natural conditions of the Austrian capital make it possible to set up ice rinks during the winter so that locals and visitors can skate to their hearts' content. One of Vienna's most popular places for winter skating is the ice rink on the square next to the City Hall, called Wiener Eistraum, which translates as 'Vienna's Ice Dream'.
City walks
Holidays in Vienna are expensive, so it's a good idea to know about the city's free entertainment. The first is to walk around the city and see everything that catches your eye.
On Vienna's oldest square, the Hoher Markt, the Ankeruhr city clock interests children and adults alike. At midday, figures of famous people from different eras move in front of the watch, faces to the music.
If you're wandering around Vienna, take advantage of the Hundertwasser House, a quaint building near the old town. Painted walls, uneven floors, windows of different shapes and trees growing inside the building look like a bold child's drawing.
Vienna's parks and gardens are also free to visit. It includes the Stadtpark, the Prater, the Volksgarten, the Schönbrunn Gardens and the Belvedere.
There are always playgrounds in the green areas, but don't look for brightly coloured slides and swings: playgrounds are often made of unpainted wood, and there is no standard design — children will find something new everywhere.
Attractions
How to answer the question of what to do in Vienna with children? There's only one answer: everything. Even preschoolers may not be able to grasp the intricacies of architecture, but they can appreciate the overall beauty of the city. So offer your child a variety of tours and share your enthusiasm: It's the best way to introduce your child to culture.
Two easy ways to show your child Vienna without boring them with long sightseeing tours are the half-hour historic tram ride on the Vienna Ring around the Old Town and the sightseeing bus.
Buses have different routes: read about what to see in Vienna and choose the route that suits you.
If you are visiting Vienna with children, take advantage of the iconic sights of the Austrian capital. On the contrary, take your child to places where you can feel the city's unique spirit. One such attraction in Vienna is St Stephen's Cathedral.
You can spend a long time looking at the patterned roof tiles, the bizarre animals on the portals, the sundial, the medieval, and the particular bread measure. Tourists usually try to climb one of the cathedral's towers, from where they can see the whole city, and descend into the catacombs.
Another attraction that many people dream of visiting is the Vienna Opera. The children's opera has four concerts in its repertoire, including The Magic Flute to the music of Mozart. Teenagers can attend adult performances, while younger schoolchildren should attend one of the children's performances.
A day at the palace
We are, of course, talking about Schönbrunn Palace. We've already mentioned the zoo and the gardens within the complex, but that's only a tiny part of what the palace has to offer. Here are some other exciting places for children to visit:
- The Children's Museum, where you can become a prince or princess for a while, experience the joys and hardships of palace life, take part in a gala dinner and dance the quadrille;
- A green labyrinth, or rather three mazes, one of which — with playgrounds — has been built especially for children;
- The Puppet Theatre, where short musical shows are performed for children and, after the show, children are told about puppet-making and working with marionettes;
- The Palm House, where tropical and Mediterranean plants grow in greenhouses;
- The Imperial Carriage Museum, with its bulky, uncomfortable, slow-moving but beautiful carriages;
- Café Residenz, where the "Strudel Show" ends with tasting a freshly baked dessert. We are, of course, talking about Schönbrunn Palace.
Museums with kids
If Vienna's children's museums do not need any recommendations, parents often doubt whether the adult museums will be interesting for their children. We will tell you some of the secrets of each museum: share them with your child and try to keep up when they are in a hurry.
Remember a pleasant nuance: children under 18 can enter almost all the major museums in the capital free of charge (they are marked with an asterisk in the list).
1. Museum of Art History. For art lovers, this museum is a treasure trove of original works by Titian, Dürer, Vermeer, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and other masters. And for children, it is a luxurious palace with sweeping staircases, huge windows and comfortable sofas in every room. If a child is not interested in paintings, show them the mechanical toys and music boxes in the Kunstkammer.
2. Belvedere Gallery. The Upper Belvedere Palace houses a museum of Austrian art from the 19th and 20th centuries. Take the opportunity to see the paintings of Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele and other famous painters with your own eyes.
3. The Habsburg Armoury. Europe's most extensive collection of arms and armour is housed in the New Palace of the Hofburg and occupies 12 rooms. The collection is rather pompous, which is not surprising: ceremonial weapons decorated with precious stones, fine harnesses for horses and armour inlaid with gold were used for parades, coronations and royal weddings.
4. Natural History Museum. For children, the main attraction of this museum is the skeletons of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. But there are also stuffed animals and birds, shells and coral, rare minerals and gems, and a collection of meteorites and objects made by primitive people.
5. Technical Museum. How was the steam engine invented? Why don't aeroplanes fall? Who invented the washing machine? You can read about all these things in books, but it's better to learn by looking at a real steam engine, a light biplane or a wooden washing tub with a drum and a handle to turn it. Preschoolers are introduced to technology in the playground Das Mini.
6. Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Many of the people children hear about on tours of Vienna's palaces are no longer alive, and you can only show them pictures — or in the wax museum. The museum also has waxworks of contemporary celebrities. How easy it is to imagine Empress Sisi walking in the gardens of Schönbrunn or Mozart composing music.
7. Esperanto Museum. If you spend 1 hour a day studying Esperanto, you'll be fluent in just six months. The museum explains how the language was created, why it's so easy to learn and what other artificial languages exist.
8. Globe Museum. Have you ever seen a globe of the moon? Or the starry sky? If not, take your child to the small museum at Palais Mollar-Clary in Vienna. Its halls house 250 globes, including one from 1536, and astronomical instruments, maps and models of the Earth's surface.
9. Papyrus Museum. Europe's largest museum dedicated to ancient Egyptian literature boasts unique exhibits - fragments of the "Book of the Dead" and Euripides' tragedy "Orestes". For children, there are papyrus amulets and homework written by an Egyptian schoolboy.
10. Chocolate Museum. "Chocolatl" made by the Aztecs was bitter and hardly seemed like a treat. But the chocolate you can scoop from the fountains in the museum is delicious and fragrant. As well as tasting chocolate and learning about the properties of cocoa beans, you can watch the Heindl confectionery at work, see an exhibition of chocolate sculptures and, if you like, take a masterclass in making desserts from the cocoa mass.
Visiting the Time Travel attraction is another excellent way to see Vienna's past in person. It isn't just a 5D cinema; it's a chance to meet members of the Habsburg dynasty, take a carriage ride through the Old Town and see all the sights of Vienna from a bird's eye view.
Where to stay: Vienna districts
Vienna is divided geographically into 23 districts, each with its number and name. If you look at a map, Vienna's districts 1-9 form the central part of the city, where the main sights are located. They are the most convenient to stay in if you want to spend maximum time on excursions.
District 1 is the Inner City, the city's historic centre, which was the whole of Vienna until 1850 when the city was expanded. The Ringstrasse runs around the area, marking the boundaries of the Inner City.
It is the most popular area with tourists, as the main attractions are here. The most expensive and fashionable hotels are located here. If you are travelling with children, Inner City is convenient regarding pedestrian accessibility to historical sites and museums and well-developed transport infrastructure.
When choosing where to stay in Vienna, consider hotels adjacent to the inner city (1st district). In this case, you can stay in a quiet place, literally a few minutes from the centre by metro or tram. In the first district, next to the Ring, there is a city park with playgrounds for children. On the downside, the inner city is always crowded with tourists, so it's noisy from morning until late at night. These include Leopoldstadt, Landstraße, Wieden, Mariahilf, Neubau, Josefstadt and Alsergrund.
Accommodation in Vienna's 6th district (Mariahilf) is ideal for families who want to combine an intensive sightseeing programme with shopping, as it is dominated by the main shopping street, Mariahilfer Straße, after which the district is named.
Accommodation in the picturesque and prestigious 13th district of Vienna — Hietzing — will appeal to those who want to stay close to one of Austria's most beautiful palaces - Schönbrunn. It is also home to the world-famous and oldest European zoo — Vienna Zoo. Disadvantages — a bit far from the centre, about 10 km.
Choosing a place to stay near Vienna for reasons of the economy is not reasonable. Accommodation in hotels on the outskirts of the capital and outside the city will cost the same, and in the vicinity of Vienna, public transport tickets are not valid in the town, and you will have to pay extra to travel on the suburban train.
Choice of accommodation with your children
As a tourist city, Vienna offers a wide range of affordable and budget accommodations, and its excellent transport links mean you can get to any tourist attraction or museum quickly and easily.
When choosing where to stay in Vienna with children, it is essential to understand what you want from your trip — if you wish to stay in the heart of the city, packed with sightseeing and tourists, or in a quiet area close to the centre, accessible by underground or tram.
Or maybe you want to stay close to a particular landmark (e.g. near Schönbrunn Palace or Prater Park).
Hotels and apartments
Vienna has both luxury and relatively inexpensive hotels. How do you know where to stay with children? Our advice is to look at the comfort of the room and the services the hotel offers young guests. Here is what family hotels in Vienna have to offer
- Free accommodation for children up to the age of 2 (sometimes up to 6);
- Baby cots and high chairs;
- Children's menu in the restaurant;
- Babysitting service, baby monitors.
You can also choose apartment hotels or apartments for a more independent holiday in Vienna with children. It is often cheaper than staying in a hotel without compromising on comfort. Apartments also have a kitchen and a washing machine, which is handy if you are on holiday with a baby.
Sometimes apartments have the added advantage of a well-maintained courtyard and playground. The disadvantage of flats — is the absence/limited number of cots or the provision of cots at an extra charge.