Find a Flight to Vienna

Vienna International (VIE) at Schwechat is served by full-service and low-cost carriers across Europe and by a reasonable long-haul network, with Austrian Airlines using it as a hub.

Before you book

Check the airport code. Some low-cost flights marketed as serving Vienna land at Bratislava (BTS), in Slovakia, 55 kilometres away. It works — there are direct buses taking about ninety minutes — but it is not the same thing.

Three trains run from beneath the terminal. The S7 is cheapest, to Wien Mitte in about 25 minutes. The Railjet reaches Wien Hauptbahnhof in about 15. The CAT costs several times the S7 to save around nine minutes. See airport to the city.

Terminals 1, 1A and 3 are connected and walkable; there is no shuttle to worry about.

Austria is in Schengen and the eurozone. Time here counts against the 90-in-180 allowance for non-EU visitors, and there are no border checks arriving from Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia or Czechia.

When fares are lowest

January to March, excluding the New Year period, and November. These are also the cheapest months for hotels, and Vienna in winter — concert season at full strength, museums, coffee houses — is arguably the better trip.

December is expensive because of the Christmas markets. May, June and September command the good-weather premium. August is quieter and cheaper than you might expect, though the State Opera is dark.

Mid-week departures beat Friday and Sunday consistently.

The overland alternative

Vienna is a rail hub and the trains are genuinely competitive. Bratislava is an hour, Budapest two and a half, Prague four, Munich four, Salzburg two and a half, Zurich eight, Venice seven. Night trains — ÖBB’s Nightjet — run to Hamburg, Brussels, Paris, Rome and Milan from the Hauptbahnhof.

For anything inside about five hours, the train wins once airport time is counted.