Vienna is a Western European capital and prices accordingly. It is meaningfully more expensive than Budapest, two and a half hours down the railway, and meaningfully cheaper than Zurich, Copenhagen or central Paris. Austria uses the euro.
Daily budgets
Rough, per person per day, excluding flights:
- Frugal: hostel or shared apartment, 72-hour transport pass, supermarket breakfast, one Mittagsmenü, a Würstelstand dinner, free churches and parks, one museum, standing at the opera.
- Comfortable: mid-range hotel, a Beisl lunch and a proper dinner, two or three museums, a coffee house every day, a seated concert ticket.
- Generous: central hotel, Plachutta or a starred kitchen, palace tours with guides, taxis.
The frugal figure is genuinely achievable here, because the two things Vienna is famous for — music and museums — are among the cheapest in Europe if you approach them correctly.
The great bargains
Standing tickets at the State Opera. Around 560 places sold eighty minutes before curtain for a couple of euros. The same at the Musikverein, the Volksoper and the Burgtheater. This is the single best value in European culture and it is not a gimmick — the acoustics from the standing area are excellent.
Tram 1 and tram 2 around the Ringstrasse on an ordinary ticket, passing the Opera, the museums, the Rathaus, the Burgtheater and the university. The tourist “Ring Tram” charges many times more for the same rails.
The parks and gardens. Schönbrunn’s gardens, the Belvedere gardens, the Prater, the Augarten and Stadtpark are all free.
Free museum days. Many federal museums are free for under-19s year-round. Several city museums, including the Wien Museum, have free permanent collections.
Where the money goes
Accommodation is the largest line and swings hard by season. Museums are moderate individually and add up fast — the Kunsthistorisches, Belvedere, Albertina and Leopold together are a substantial sum. Schönbrunn and the Hofburg collections are the priciest single items.
Coffee houses are not cheap: a Melange and a slice of cake in a grand café costs about what a full lunch costs in a Beisl. That is the rent on the table, and it is worth paying once or twice.
Passes
The Vienna Pass covers many attractions plus a hop-on bus and pays off only if you visit a great deal in a short time — do the arithmetic against your actual list rather than assuming.
The Vienna City Card is mostly a discount card plus transport, and is usually beaten by simply buying a 72-hour transport pass separately.
For museums specifically, the Kunsthistorisches combined ticket with the Neue Burg and Treasury is good value if you are staying several days.
Practical savings
Mittagsmenü — the weekday set lunch — is the cheapest good meal in Vienna, typically soup and a main.
Würstelstand dinners are a legitimate meal, not a compromise.
Supermarkets (Billa, Spar, Hofer) sell decent bread, cheese and cold cuts, and Vienna’s parks are made for it. Note that supermarkets close on Sundays almost without exception, which catches people out badly. Buy on Saturday.
Tap water is Alpine spring water and is free everywhere.
Cards and cash
Card is widely accepted but Austria is more cash-attached than its neighbours, and small Beisln, Würstelstände, some Heurigen and market stalls may still be cash-only or have a card minimum. Carry some.
Decline dynamic currency conversion at any terminal that offers to charge you in your home currency.
Seasons
January to March (excluding New Year) and November are cheapest. December is expensive because of the Christmas markets, and May, June and September command the best-weather premium. August is quieter than you would expect — the Viennese leave, some restaurants close, and the opera is dark.
What is genuinely worth paying for
If you are economising, do it on restaurants and souvenirs rather than on these. The Kunsthistorisches is one of the half-dozen great picture galleries in the world and three hours in it is not substitutable. The Imperial Treasury holds a tenth-century crown. Schönbrunn’s Grand Tour costs a little more than the Imperial Tour and includes the rooms worth seeing.
Conversely, the Sisi Ticket and the various palace combinations only pay off if you were going to do all their components anyway. Read what is actually in a combined ticket before buying it at the desk.
Booking ahead and its effect on price
Vienna’s museums rarely discount for advance booking, but the opera and concert halls do the opposite of what you would expect: the cheapest seats sell first and the expensive ones last, so leaving it late means paying more or standing. Standing, of course, is the better answer.
Long-distance ÖBB train fares work like airline fares — Sparschiene advance tickets to Salzburg or Munich cost a fraction of walk-up.
A realistic three-day sum
Two people, mid-range hotel outside the 1st, 72-hour transport passes, four museums between them, two proper dinners, coffee houses daily, and standing tickets at the Opera one evening: Vienna comes out below Amsterdam or Copenhagen for the same trip and above Prague by a clear margin.