traveldk.com

You can cut your travel costs by choosing the right public transport ticket for your purposes. There are cards for 72 hours or 24 hours, as well as tickets that allow you to travel on public transport from 8am–8pm (Einkaufskarte ). However, single tickets are better value if you don’t plan to use public transport very frequently. Buying tickets at a newsagent is also a little cheaper.

This card is a ticket for the city’s public transport in combination with reductions at 170 museums and sights, concerts, theatres, shops, restaurants, cafés and Heurigen (wine taverns). For €16.90 you can travel on Vienna’s underground, buses, trains and trams for 72 hours. You can purchase the Vienna Card at hotels and from tourist offices.

There are several youth hostels in and around Vienna, and some student halls of residence are converted into hotels in the summer. A room or an apartment in private homes for a stay of three days or more can be arranged via a private accommodation agency.

Bringing your own tent or campervan and staying at one of the four camping sites in Vienna certainly cuts down accommodation costs. Don’t attempt this in winter, however – temperatures reach far below zero. For further information see www.wiencamping.at.

If you have a small travel budget, it does help to pick the right area for a bite to eat and accommodation. Central Vienna can get pretty expensive but staying in a hotel or a B&B a bit further afield reduces the costs considerably.

Although traditional Viennese cafés might be expensive, you will never be told to leave when you have finished your cup of coffee. You can sip your Melange (see p77) and your glass of water for hours, while having the choice of reading a range of daily national and international newspapers and magazines.

Vienna’s theatres and concert halls offer a superb programme and are also affordable for small budgets. There are reduced prices for children under 15, for students and people doing army or community service. Thirty minutes before any performance, the remaining tickets are sold at a cheaper price, and on producing a valid student ID they cost even less. For between €1.20 and €2.00 you can get standing tickets for a performance in the Burg-theater or the Staatsoper.

Cinema Monday means all seats are the same price (€5.40), regardless of where you sit, following the first-come-first-served principle. But many cinemas also offer reduced prices on other days of the week.

Although eating out in Vienna can be expensive, there is a wide range of reasonably priced restaurants and a midday set menu, on offer in most places, is always a bargain. Avoid eateries along the tourist trails and go for traditional Viennese places, particularly around the university and the Town Hall and Museumsquartier.

Vienna’s sights have high admission fees, but most offer reduced fees to students with ID, to pensioners and to families. Some sights and museums have one day a week where entrance fees are reduced or free.