Weekend in Vienna
Why not spend a weekend in Austria, in the city that best represents it with its imperial and anachronistic elegance? Let’s start talking about how to get there: flying is, without a shadow of a doubt, is the fastest way of getting to Vienna from Italy. Vienna’s airport is Flughafen Wien and is located only 25 minutes from the city. You can get to Vienna from the airport with the city’s metro S7 (Schnellbahn) which arrives in the city centre from Landstrasse/Wien-Mitte and North Vienna. Another option are the trains, which leave every half hour and are well-known by everyone as being the cleanest and most efficient in Europe.
Otherwise, in my opinion, the best option is to take the car from the North: take the A8 (Autostrada dei Laghi) and then take the A4 towards Tangenziale est E66 Brescia-Venice-Milan Viale Zara, which then becomes Autostrada della Serennissima; staying on the left hand side, take the A23 Autostrada Alpe-Adria towards Udine-Tarvisio-Villach crossing Austria. Keeping to the right take the A2 towards Favoriten-Flughafen, take the Knoten Wien-Inzersdorf Sud towards Wien-Altmannsdorf-Inzersdorf, go into it via the B17 Wiener Neustradter Bundesstrasse towards Zentrum-Gurtel. I know, all these names seem like tongue-twisters, but all you have to do is follow the directions and you’ll get there without any problems. The best thing to do to enjoy the options the city offers to the full, is to book the rental of an appartamenti a Vienna, maybe in the central area of the city, so you’ve got the full run of the handy public transport available to tourists.
I would firstly advise you to visit the Viennese squares: the most central ones are Maria Theresien Platz and Helden Platz: the Art History and Natural History museums stand out from the first one, which places the sovreign monument of the same name in the centre, while the second one – the Victorious Heroes’ Over The Turks Square looks out over the magnificent Hofburg complex’s new fortress (Neue Burg).
As well as being one of the most lively meeting and shopping places, the Am Of Square is surrounded by Baroque palaces and offers the “Virgin’s Column” to the centre, while the Baroque church of the Jesuits stands out on the right hand side.
Other Baroque palaces surrounded the lively Graben Square which places “The Plague Column” in the centre, which was built at the end of the 17th century after the epidemic which hit the city. These are:
Karlsplatz
Which deserves to be visited not only because of the Saint Charles Borromeo’s Church (Karlskirche), which is a valued Baroque building, but also because of the metro’s refined pavillions, made by Otto Wagner in marble and gold.
Rathaus Platz
The area in front of the Town Hall (Rathaus), surrounded by gardens, is home, in December, to the wooden benches and the big tree lit up by the famous and very busy Christmas market.
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