Wien, Wien

destination • experience

The Hofburg

Imperial apartments, silver collection, Sisi museum. This is a must-see if you’re bothering to go to Vienna. Epic and well curated, I wouldn’t feel obligated to look at every little thing but just skip through to the parts that seem the most interesting.

Wien, Wien

cafe

Café Sperl

a classic viennese cafe with sweets and coffee. Bring a book and hang out for a couple of hours. I went a couple of times to read and write in my journal.

Wien, Wien

experience

Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

Highly recommend hanging out here, very central and they have a great cafe for yet another coffee to keep you going through all of the museums. Make sure to see the Canaletto room and the tower of babylon by pieter bruegel the elder. There’s also a vermeer and an calculator from 1727 by Anton Braun.

Krems an der Donau, Niederösterreich

destination

Ringstraße

tram ride around the ringstrasse - regardless of if you need to go anywhere, I highly recommend bringing a map and riding the public red #1 and #2 trams around the city. You’ll need to get off and change trams part way (grab a map while you’re there so you know which stops) but the public version will be much less touristy than the yellow ring tram and you can use the normal public transport tickets instead of an expensive special ticket.

Wien, Wien

lodging

Vienna Hostel Ruthensteiner

amazing hostel, reasonably priced and good location -- probably the best one I’ve every stayed in. Has a great bar, cool people, and fantastic music all the time (it’s a focus of the place). You can play the piano, guitar, etc. anytime or listen to someone else.