Vienna
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“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between”,
Mozart once mentioned. I love to believe this was a thought cultivated by his life line meandering in between the sumptuous city walls of his Vienna, Austria’s majestic capital. A city distinguished by a richness in architecture shaping the echo of local history’s grandness, dragged forward into the future of our own current world. Buildings that merely form the notes of an elegant song, the music being composed by the culture flourishing on the streets among all this material splendour. A culture bringing forth men such as Beethoven, Freud and Gustav Klimt, who at their turn re-establish and redefine what Vienna means, soaking the city further in its own graciousness.
Praising words I’m poetically feeding you like sugary hot cakes, not taking away one major objection: Vienna is expensive. So goddamn expensive. It’s like all that gold in those constructions still needs to be paid off by means of charging excessive prices for basically anything you might ever need in life.
An impossible location for your next budget getaway… or is it?
Budget Bucket List presents: 8 ways to save money in Vienna
Mozart once mentioned. I love to believe this was a thought cultivated by his life line meandering in between the sumptuous city walls of his Vienna, Austria’s majestic capital. A city distinguished by a richness in architecture shaping the echo of local history’s grandness, dragged forward into the future of our own current world. Buildings that merely form the notes of an elegant song, the music being composed by the culture flourishing on the streets among all this material splendour. A culture bringing forth men such as Beethoven, Freud and Gustav Klimt, who at their turn re-establish and redefine what Vienna means, soaking the city further in its own graciousness.
Praising words I’m poetically feeding you like sugary hot cakes, not taking away one major objection: Vienna is expensive. So goddamn expensive. It’s like all that gold in those constructions still needs to be paid off by means of charging excessive prices for basically anything you might ever need in life.
An impossible location for your next budget getaway… or is it?
Budget Bucket List presents: 8 ways to save money in Vienna
1. Visit museums, but don’t pay for it
No no, calm down, I’m not implying you should just instantly break the law and stealthily sneak in when no one’s watching (although I absolutely hold no moral objections against that: art belongs to humanity… and illegal shit gives life more flavour). Outside of the quotation marks I’m merely informing that Vienna’s art in fact can be free, also for the well-behaved. Most of the cultural big shots have a free day or time period when all cash registers are demonstratively closed. The AZW is free (Architecture Centre Vienna) Wednesday from 5-7PM (students only – or people with a fake / expired student pass, wink-wink) and the Kunsthalle Wien observes a pay-as-you-wish-policy on Sundays, for example. If you plan your visit well you can leave your wallet at home entirely, as every first Sunday of the month a whole bunch of them open their doors to the public free of charge (including the Wien Museum, Römermuseum and Otto Wagner Hofpavillon). And if you plan it ridiculously, obsessively well you might even be there on the 26th of October, Austria’s National Day, when all museum’s entrance prices are tossed out of the window entirely.
Then there are also those that are always free, such as the Geldmuseum and Bezirkmuseum… a fact that obviously causes some healthy suspicions, strengthened by the looks of their websites. And, of course, if I haven’t sucked up on the city of Vienna enough already: [cliché] the whole municipality is an open air museum in itself [/cliché].
No no, calm down, I’m not implying you should just instantly break the law and stealthily sneak in when no one’s watching (although I absolutely hold no moral objections against that: art belongs to humanity… and illegal shit gives life more flavour). Outside of the quotation marks I’m merely informing that Vienna’s art in fact can be free, also for the well-behaved. Most of the cultural big shots have a free day or time period when all cash registers are demonstratively closed. The AZW is free (Architecture Centre Vienna) Wednesday from 5-7PM (students only – or people with a fake / expired student pass, wink-wink) and the Kunsthalle Wien observes a pay-as-you-wish-policy on Sundays, for example. If you plan your visit well you can leave your wallet at home entirely, as every first Sunday of the month a whole bunch of them open their doors to the public free of charge (including the Wien Museum, Römermuseum and Otto Wagner Hofpavillon). And if you plan it ridiculously, obsessively well you might even be there on the 26th of October, Austria’s National Day, when all museum’s entrance prices are tossed out of the window entirely.
Then there are also those that are always free, such as the Geldmuseum and Bezirkmuseum… a fact that obviously causes some healthy suspicions, strengthened by the looks of their websites. And, of course, if I haven’t sucked up on the city of Vienna enough already: [cliché] the whole municipality is an open air museum in itself [/cliché].
Some cool spots to check off (if only from the outside): Rathaus, Museumquartier, Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens, Belvedere Museum and District Heating Plant Spittelau... check out the Free Budget Fact Sheet for more suggestions! ↑
Something that shows a rather distressing element of Vienna’s not-always-so-grandiose history: the plates on the street reminding of the Jews that were once dragged out of their houses and instantly deported by the Nazis, after which the wealthy Austrians greedily snatched them away like nothing happened. Yuuuup, Austria was a true Nazi-nest, during WWII even part of Hitler's Nazi Germany (Anschluss).
2. Don’t pay for transport either
Again, I’m not suggesting you should break the law. Although honesty forces me to confess the ticket control on Vienna’s metro- and tram system (the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn) is obscenely low, up to the point of entirely non-existent (and yes, I might have taken advantage of that, sue me). But besides fare evasion, there are some ways to get around in this city and still go to heaven.
The first time I visited Vienna, as a young innocent flower of 26 springs young (who am I kidding), the Citybike system served as my means of exploration. It’s quite easy really: Sign up online or at one of the bike stations, pay the one-time €1 registration fee by credit card, select your bike and boooooom: off you roll! If you return the bike to one of the countless stations within 1 hour, you pay absolutely nothing! (and even if you don’t, the second hour is 1 buck, so no reason to panic either).
2. Don’t pay for transport either
Again, I’m not suggesting you should break the law. Although honesty forces me to confess the ticket control on Vienna’s metro- and tram system (the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn) is obscenely low, up to the point of entirely non-existent (and yes, I might have taken advantage of that, sue me). But besides fare evasion, there are some ways to get around in this city and still go to heaven.
The first time I visited Vienna, as a young innocent flower of 26 springs young (who am I kidding), the Citybike system served as my means of exploration. It’s quite easy really: Sign up online or at one of the bike stations, pay the one-time €1 registration fee by credit card, select your bike and boooooom: off you roll! If you return the bike to one of the countless stations within 1 hour, you pay absolutely nothing! (and even if you don’t, the second hour is 1 buck, so no reason to panic either).
But if I could only have imagined little electronic scooter bikes would be released in the city anno 2019, that would obviously have been my prime choice. Rock Vienna with swagger! This time you have to download an app linked to your credit card, paypal or apple pay. It’s not as cheap as the bikes, as it’s first €1 to unlock your tiny vehicle and then €0.15 per minute, but hey, a small price to pay to enter the domain of the Austrian-hipsters-species.
They even made a super cheesy video about it:
They even made a super cheesy video about it:
Fun fact: Wearing that safety helmet is Austria’s natural way of contraception. Because you’ll never get laid in the first place.
That said, Vienna’s true treasures (ugh – there I go again) are best revealed when simply tightening up those walking boots and go for a stroll. Lose weight and get a culture fix!
That said, Vienna’s true treasures (ugh – there I go again) are best revealed when simply tightening up those walking boots and go for a stroll. Lose weight and get a culture fix!
When throwing yourself in Vienna's traffic, keep an eye out for the 'ampelparchen'... the little traffic-light-puppets promoting gay tolerance! - Source
3. You decide what you want to pay for your meals
Wonderful concepts attract wonderful people. And cheap-skates, like us. Truth told, I really do wish the owners of ‘Der Wiener Deewan’ were my friends, because creating a pay-as-you-wish-restaurant undoubtedly promotes you to the elite of altruistic humanitarians everyone has a fair share to learn from. Besides a delicious buffet of Pakistani food (incl. vegan options), this admirable eatery also embodies a more political angle. Afzaal Deewan, a former asylum seeker himself, not accidentally included the slogan ‘pay as you wish – stay as you wish’ on his website… A national discussion firing up more fiercely than ever on the streets of Vienna, both in word and image:
First image partial translation: “It’s no stream of refugees. It’s a sum of many individuals […] who determined to take their future in their own hands. […] People, who have nothing to lose, but everything to win. It’s not a crisis. It’s a war. […] A war, its impacts now intruding the civic comfort zone, questioning the excessive concentration of money and privileges. The State and dominant economy attempts with claws and teeth to protect your interests, by means of billions of Euros spent on barbed wire, deportations, fortifications, military equipment and border guards.[…]” … Then zoom in on that sticker portraying refugees being deported, titled: “Have a nice trip… because it is our country.” Ouch. Not okay, Austria!
Other excellent options for your daily dose of pretzels and sauerkraut are the ethnical Brunnenmarkt, where inflation stood still, and the more-touristy-so-more-expensive Naschmarkt. Flush it all away with my favourite non-alcoholic drink of all times, only available in Austria: Almdudler!
Other excellent options for your daily dose of pretzels and sauerkraut are the ethnical Brunnenmarkt, where inflation stood still, and the more-touristy-so-more-expensive Naschmarkt. Flush it all away with my favourite non-alcoholic drink of all times, only available in Austria: Almdudler!
That said, Vienna’s tap water is known to be one of the world’s healthiest drinking water options!
4. Visit the opera for 3 bucks
Some alert readers might have been wondering whenever I would bring up the one sole thing everyone must do in Vienna: visiting the opera! There’s simply no way around it. And no, my man, not even your tight budget will serve as an excuse this time. Believe it or not, you can actually choose whether you pay 3 or 150 euro for an entrance ticket. A choice simply determined by whether you might or might not object to standing the entire performance.
4. Visit the opera for 3 bucks
Some alert readers might have been wondering whenever I would bring up the one sole thing everyone must do in Vienna: visiting the opera! There’s simply no way around it. And no, my man, not even your tight budget will serve as an excuse this time. Believe it or not, you can actually choose whether you pay 3 or 150 euro for an entrance ticket. A choice simply determined by whether you might or might not object to standing the entire performance.
I don’t. Hell, it’s my time of the day to slide in that butt-and-quadriceps-training I saw on some pathetic YouTube video one time. (Just realized it’s a very curious sentence when you stop reading after the word ‘butt’… okay don’t mind me, continue with the article).
So how do you get it done? Let’s start with the absolute highlight: The Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). It seems hard to believe you can attend a performance in the world’s most renowned opera for 3 or 4 bucks, but you just gotta take my word for it. 80 minutes before every performance the standing-tickets go on sale, and to make absolutely sure you get in be an extra 60 minutes earlier to join the line, because the secret is definitely out. It’s not the best passing of time with (in my case) an outside temperature of -6, but it’s aaaall gonna be worth it. This is theatre in its purest form, presented in a downright knee-weakening beauty of a building. Budget Bucket List check!
So how do you get it done? Let’s start with the absolute highlight: The Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). It seems hard to believe you can attend a performance in the world’s most renowned opera for 3 or 4 bucks, but you just gotta take my word for it. 80 minutes before every performance the standing-tickets go on sale, and to make absolutely sure you get in be an extra 60 minutes earlier to join the line, because the secret is definitely out. It’s not the best passing of time with (in my case) an outside temperature of -6, but it’s aaaall gonna be worth it. This is theatre in its purest form, presented in a downright knee-weakening beauty of a building. Budget Bucket List check!
Personally I visited the ballet performance Sylvia
In summer, performances are projected on a screen outside for free.
Not as impressive as the holy Staatsoper, but an interesting one nevertheless: the Volksoper. The great part is that you can simply order your tickets online, including the cheapo-standing-ones. Prices vary from 3-8 Euros for the latter, although I must warn you there are some very inconvenient pillars blocking the views of some ground floor spots. Not the brightest architect, if I might mention. The technical potential of the stage as well as the performances scheduled are simply outstanding.
In summer, performances are projected on a screen outside for free.
Not as impressive as the holy Staatsoper, but an interesting one nevertheless: the Volksoper. The great part is that you can simply order your tickets online, including the cheapo-standing-ones. Prices vary from 3-8 Euros for the latter, although I must warn you there are some very inconvenient pillars blocking the views of some ground floor spots. Not the brightest architect, if I might mention. The technical potential of the stage as well as the performances scheduled are simply outstanding.
I visited the production of My Fair Lady, an old time favourite. Yes, in German.
* Most other theatres offer extreme student discounts when showing up an hour before the performance.
A few last words: Dress up, at least a little. Everyone else will go all out in black tie and glitter dresses, so try not to show up in hiking boots and leggings. They might actually refuse access if you do. Also, bring a scarf and hang it at the spot you’d like to stand. It’s the Vienna-way to mark your territory in a theatre-context, and somehow everyone seems to honour this rule.
* Most other theatres offer extreme student discounts when showing up an hour before the performance.
A few last words: Dress up, at least a little. Everyone else will go all out in black tie and glitter dresses, so try not to show up in hiking boots and leggings. They might actually refuse access if you do. Also, bring a scarf and hang it at the spot you’d like to stand. It’s the Vienna-way to mark your territory in a theatre-context, and somehow everyone seems to honour this rule.
5. Go to the church
Wait, don’t slam the door in my face just yet! I’m not here to praise the holy saviour, I’m wearing a Slayer-shirt for fucks sake. I just wanted to point out that churches know how to decorate their shit (why feed the poor if you can also buy gold?) and the least they can do - and are doing - is showing it off for free. Have a peek into the St. Stephens Cathedral to witness where your tax money partly goes to! Other ones you can add to your personal check-off list: Augustinian Church, St. Michael’s, St. Peter’s, Maria am Gestade, Kirche am Hof and the Schottenkirche (Scottish Church).
Wait, don’t slam the door in my face just yet! I’m not here to praise the holy saviour, I’m wearing a Slayer-shirt for fucks sake. I just wanted to point out that churches know how to decorate their shit (why feed the poor if you can also buy gold?) and the least they can do - and are doing - is showing it off for free. Have a peek into the St. Stephens Cathedral to witness where your tax money partly goes to! Other ones you can add to your personal check-off list: Augustinian Church, St. Michael’s, St. Peter’s, Maria am Gestade, Kirche am Hof and the Schottenkirche (Scottish Church).
6. Sleep for free
Bit scared for the big bad city? Well, come on then, out of your shell! Make some friends! The internet made it a tad easier for you as all you have to do is send a kick-ass Couchsurfing-request to the person you think you would hit it off with the most and hoppa, there you go: Not only you got yourself some amazing company, you also got a free couch to crash on and a local tour guide to show you what’s beyond those lame Lonely Planets. I ended up with Vienna’s best, if I might say: The Austrian-Kurdish globetrotter Shamo, lighting up every night with both his personality and hashish… every inhalation looking more and more like Serj Tankian from System of a Down.
Bit scared for the big bad city? Well, come on then, out of your shell! Make some friends! The internet made it a tad easier for you as all you have to do is send a kick-ass Couchsurfing-request to the person you think you would hit it off with the most and hoppa, there you go: Not only you got yourself some amazing company, you also got a free couch to crash on and a local tour guide to show you what’s beyond those lame Lonely Planets. I ended up with Vienna’s best, if I might say: The Austrian-Kurdish globetrotter Shamo, lighting up every night with both his personality and hashish… every inhalation looking more and more like Serj Tankian from System of a Down.
If you want a place all to yourself without paying... Trusted Housesitters has Vienna listings all the time as wel. Just sayin'
7. Get drunk on the streets
Throwing yourself in the local nightlife of Vienna’s pumping dance halls and nightclubs is a magnificent idea. It’s also the fastest way to get rid of every last scrape of cash in your wallet. I think it took me about 13 minutes to spend everything I took for the night on a club-entrance-price and a round of beers… skipping myself, as it turned out I didn’t even have enough for the last drink. Fuck me walking. Now, I don’t know if I just hear what I want to hear, but I recall some friendly voices telling me drinking on the streets is totally legal here. And there are plenty of spots where people do so, mainly in parks and on squares with live music (like the Brunnenmarkt). When in doubt, remember that red wine looks like coke when poured into a coca-cola-bottle (stop looking at me like that, we all got our problems – joking, mum). This is more of a summer-thing by the way, it gets pretty damn cold in winter and I’m not sure if the signs of hypothermia reach the alcohol-infiltrated cerebral cortex.
8. City meets nature
Hiking is the hobby of the cheapo’s (total self-mockery)… and even a giant like Vienna offers some splendid opportunities! I name a Vienna Woods (Kahlenberg) or a Danube Island, that are besides kick back eco-paradises also interesting locations geographically. Or stay within the city walls and join one of them free* walking tours not one self-respecting capital can do without nowadays (10:30AM/2:30PM @ Albertinaplatz + 11AM @ Stephansplatz).
* That’s a marketing-falsehood obviously, immunise yourself against being guilt-tripped into tipping as much as normal tours cost, because they'll definitely try.
“Geld wurde zu Konfetti und wir haben besser geschlafen
Ein Goldbarren ist für uns das gleiche wie ein Ziegelstein […]
Ich zeig den Kleinen Monopoly, doch sie verstehen's nicht
Ein Hundert-Euro-Schein? Was soll das sein?
Wieso soll ich dir was wegnehmen wenn wir alles teilen?”
- K.I.Z. ft. Henning May
Hiking is the hobby of the cheapo’s (total self-mockery)… and even a giant like Vienna offers some splendid opportunities! I name a Vienna Woods (Kahlenberg) or a Danube Island, that are besides kick back eco-paradises also interesting locations geographically. Or stay within the city walls and join one of them free* walking tours not one self-respecting capital can do without nowadays (10:30AM/2:30PM @ Albertinaplatz + 11AM @ Stephansplatz).
* That’s a marketing-falsehood obviously, immunise yourself against being guilt-tripped into tipping as much as normal tours cost, because they'll definitely try.
“Geld wurde zu Konfetti und wir haben besser geschlafen
Ein Goldbarren ist für uns das gleiche wie ein Ziegelstein […]
Ich zeig den Kleinen Monopoly, doch sie verstehen's nicht
Ein Hundert-Euro-Schein? Was soll das sein?
Wieso soll ich dir was wegnehmen wenn wir alles teilen?”
- K.I.Z. ft. Henning May
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