WEEKEND IN VIENNA

How to eat + drink like a king in the Austrian capital (without a royal budget).

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Hello!

It’s been a long while since I brought you a travel piece. In this short pause between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m thrilled to share an itinerary with you from a city that has fed me emotionally and artistically for over a year —VIENNA.

Last year, when we were living and schooling in Hungary, Greta and I spent a long weekend in Vienna celebrating her 12th birthday just before Thanksgiving.

Vienna is a short 1.5-hour train ride from our village in Hungary, and Andras lived and worked there in his early twenties and knows it well. Though I visited twice in my pre-parenting days, I hadn't spent much time in Vienna recently beyond flying in and out of the (clean, organized, and frankly beautiful) Vienna airport from New York many times. So when I stepped off the train into this magical city, my first thought was, why are we not all talking about Vienna??

A longtime bridge between the East and the West, Vienna's inviolable self-expression is immediately apparent—via art, music, fashion, and food. Every culture, language, and lifestyle seems right at home here, making it incredibly dynamic. Vienna is beautiful and historical but unmistakably modern, uniquely poised to evolve with the times without losing its considerable charm.

You’ll find the best of Paris, Budapest, and Austria in Vienna—art, architecture, coffeehaus culture, sizzling sausages, perfect pastry, remarkable wine, and history in spades. And since we’re all about food here in this space, it’s worth noting that we ate better in Vienna in three days than I have eaten in an entire month in almost any grand city—including Paris, Lyon, and New York—without a royal budget.

There are thousands of notable places to eat, drink, and see art in Vienna—but my goal below is to give you my picks for a manageable, walkable experience over three long days. Bonus: since it’s just shy of Christmas when the city is dripping with crystal chandeliers and dreamy trim on every building, it feels like the perfect time for me to tell you how to do Christmas in Vienna—should any of us be so lucky. Read on!

xx

Sarah

STAY, EAT + DRINK GUIDE // VIENNA 2023