4 Days in Vienna - A Family Experiment

Admittedly, the memories are no longer quite fresh. But I can't help that the last Easter I could travel with my family "free" was in 2019. "C…" (I don't like to call it) is to blame, though.

I'm Olaf from the EasyCityPass team. My family and I spent 4 full days in Vienna and every day I visited one of our partners - undercover and out of curiosity.

Day 1 - Music Culture

Logically, the kids have always known Mom as a music teacher. If you make their heart beat faster right at the beginning, the vacation will be a piece of cake. To make a music teacher happy in Vienna is easy. The only difficult decision: Strauss, Beethoven, Haydn, or Falco. In the end, our choice fell on Mozart. His residence, which is now a cute museum, is located just behind St. Stephen's Cathedral, across from the entrance to Blutgasse, a wonderful name. Also worthwhile, with great big backyards and a small, fine bar with good wine.

Appropriate to Blutgasse is around the corner in the Domgasse: a wonderful, whimsical, creepy mask store. A visit there after the museum, I would strongly recommend as a motivator.

Keyword Domgasse - here it is, the Mozarthaus.

Photo: Stefanie Jost

For the historical greatness of the artist, it actually looks modest from the outside. However, it probably wasn't in his time. If one may believe the testimonies of the time, Mozart did not live here in "saus und braus".

The nice thing about this house is that you are not only informed in detail about his work, but you also learn something about the bourgeois life of that time. We liked the colorful mixture of visitors - it was a melting pot of cultures and age groups - wonderful.

The museum is a real recommendation for a visit with children and young people. It is informative, quite exciting, and is centrally located (no long distances and long discussions about why 😉). This is important - not too big and thus within the time frame of the cultural capacity of the youngsters, at least ours.

We as a family, by the way, had a very special ah-ha experience. In the middle of the visit, our children stopped in front of a display case longer than usual and eagerly discussed it.

There was an "ancient" model of a stage set that they knew. Mozart's Magic Flute was shown by the Berlin State Opera in 2018 in the stage design of the premiere version from Vienna in 1791. This happened to be the Christmas performance that we saw together as a family. Not only did we, as the parents, think it was great; apparently our offspring did too.

In short, we can recommend the Mozarthaus.

Day 2 - Sophisticated tombs, beautiful parks and famous people

We live - as always in Vienna - in the 7th district, near Neubaugasse. Here in the 7th district, you can find nice restaurants and cool stores everywhere.

Today, on the 2nd day, we went to the 11th district with a combination of a subway and streetcar ride to the central cemetery. It is one of the largest in Europe and one of the most beautiful. This cemetery is next to Père Lachaise in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London, and is probably the largest celebrity density in the world. Vienna itself calls itself a place of rest and reflection. It is the only cemetery I know of that has its own bus line.

Bild: Olaf Luft

My family and I, had another reason to go out to the 11th district. Friends from Berlin run their stables here for their hackney carriage business. Of course we know that nowadays this is not undisputed nowadays. On site, we could convince ourselves about the good conditions for the horses - spacious stables, wide meadows, loving care and good feed.

Together with Walter and Frank (Frank Wulf Fiakerbetrieb), we went to the main entrance (gate 3), where the carriage stood ready and it set off.

There are whole websites full of whose graves you can see there - but this much should be revealed, as in the Mozart Museum, my wife was immediately in her element here - it feels like all the world's famous musicians of all eras are "at home" here.

A small tip: On foot we visited the old Jewish cemetery (Gate 1) - an enchanted world, magical.

In short: The Central Cemetery is a bit outside, who was here, knows more than most visitors to Vienna - a recommendation for the "second" visit to Vienna.

Day 3 - Off to lofty heights, but first to the Remise

Once again, a trip to the outskirts is on the agenda. It's probably because it's not the first time we've been to Vienna, and we're already putting out "feelers" into the surrounding area.

The forest rope park on the Kahlenberg is also tempting. Above the vineyards, Grinzings has a fantastic view over Vienna. The park is so wonderfully designed for all ages and "courage" levels. You can visit the observation terrace on the Kahlenberg beforehand, but for food and drink it's best to go to the Josefinenhütte right at the entrance to the Waldseilpark, quaint as in Tyrol.

If you still have time after your visit, don't miss Nussdorf or Grinzing and their Heurigen - pure joie de vivre. Don't worry, the Kahlenberg is easy to reach - the bus 38A goes up, and before that, you just take the streetcar or subway.

Photo: Olaf Luft

But the task was to visit one of our partners every day. This time we chose Remise, the transport museum of Wiener Linien. It is near the subway stop "Schlachthausgasse" (nice name as it means "slaughterhouse street"😉). Here you can relive the mobility development of Vienna. Absolutely not dull, because I felt everything could be touched.

In short, these were 2 insider tips for visitors to Vienna. You should absolutely visit at least one of these attractions if you want to make children happy.

Photo: Wiener Linien

Day 4 - Haus des Meeres (Aqua Terra Zoo) / Torture Museum

It's nice when the whole family can agree. This time it was made easy because 4 days in Vienna are too short. Today was our last day, and the day was packed.

First, on the agenda was to go shopping on Mariahilfer Street, and then still the challenge was to "visit Daddy's EasyCityPass partner". So it had to be pedestrian-friendly and compatible with our shopping.

The choice was in the underground, then above it in the high bunker in the Haus des Meeres. Both are worthy highlights of a great short trip.

The Torture Museum is definitely a place for teenagers. The basement room alone, where you can recreate a bombing raid in WWII, is something you'll never forget. Some other stuff from the Middle Ages is a bit of "folklore" but informative. At the end, there is a glimpse into the present that makes you think and creates topics of conversation.

(Editor's note: The Torture Museum no longer exists. There is now the Gaming Museum Vienna on these premises).

Photo: Haus des Meeres

The House of the Sea afterward is like "breathing freely"— so many wonderfully tremendous and positive things. Here you can get really close to animals, or rather, the animals get really close to you. Once you have conquered all the floors of the high bunker and lived through this lively animal world, a fantastic terrace with an enchanting view over the city beckons as a reward.

This is a worthy conclusion to a memorable trip.