Vienna Tourist Cards

There are plenty of things to see and do in Vienna and it's no surprise that the museums, palaces and gardens of the Austrian capital offer the best options, so if you're planning a tour of the city, buying the Vienna Pass or Vienna Card might be a good idea.

The Vienna Pass gives you free access to more than 60 attractions without queues or unnecessary delays in 1, 2, 3 or 6-day passes that also include unlimited use of the Vienna sightseeing bus with free stops around the city, while the Vienna Card gives you access to public transport and airport transfers for 24, 48 or 72 hours, plus discounts at major attractions.

Within the Vienna Pass you can also add the Travel Card for free access to public transport for the full experience. So, is it worth buying a Vienna Tourist Card? I'll break it down for you below so you can make the decision that best suits your trip.

You can buy the Vienna Pass for 1, 2, 3 or 6 days, so it's worth getting one if you're planning an intensive tour of the city during the days of your stay.

If, on the other hand, you opt for the Vienna Card, you'll need to choose a 24, 48 or 72 hour pass which will give you access to public transport, sightseeing buses, airport transfers and discounts at the main attractions. Let's take a look at what they are and when each one is best for you.

Vienna Pass

This card is activated from the first use and from then on the Vienna Pass gives you access to over 60 attractions including a visit to Schonbrunn Palace, tickets to the Belvedere Palace and Vienna's best museums, so if you want to see the main attractions it will be useful and will also give you the chance to explore other options.

Also note that the card includes free access to Vienna's sightseeing buses with free stops for the duration of the pass, so you can also get around the city enjoying the sights in comfort while saving money. If you add the Travel Card option to the Vienna Pass, you'll also be able to use local public transport.

In order to make your decision it is important that you take into account the pace of your trip, as you will have to accumulate the visits in the few days that the tourist card is valid.

Remember that the activation period starts to run from the first time you use it, so I advise you to visit the first excursion first thing in the morning so that you can get the most out of it from the first day.

Vienna Card

This card is also activated from the moment of first use, but unlike the Vienna Pass, the Vienna Card has an estimated duration in hours.

You can buy 24, 48 or 72 hour passes that are mainly focused on public transport access and can be used on trains, metros, buses and trams, as well as on sightseeing buses and transfers to and from Vienna airport.

This card will be useful if you plan to get around the city and if you arrive or plan to leave the city by plane, as it will save you a lot of money on airport transfers.

It also has small discounts on hundreds of Vienna's attractions, although its main focus is on public transport, so it's only useful if you plan to use it intensively.

Interesting details

• Price of the 1-day Vienna Pass... From 86 euros.
• Price of the 2-day Vienna Pass... From 119 euros.
• Price of the 3-day Vienna Pass... From 149 euros.
• Price of the 6-day Vienna Pass... From 188 euros.
• Price of the 24-hour Vienna Card... From 61 Euro.
• Price of the 48-hour Vienna Card... From 69 Euro.
• Price of the 72-hour Vienna Card... From 73 Euro.

The Vienna Pass is very useful if you are going to spend a few days in the city and plan to do an intensive tour of the attractions of the Austrian capital, but it also offers a lot of options, so it will be difficult for you to do several excursions in such a short period of time.

To strike a balance, if you decide to buy the tourist pass, I advise you to choose the two-day and longer options.

It is worth buying the Vienna Sightseeing Card for a long trip if you plan to visit several sites and if most of them are included in the Vienna Pass you will save money and also a lot of time, because the attractions include skip-the-line entry to Vienna's museums and palaces.

If you are planning a long stay in the Austrian capital and you can use the Vienna Pass for your travel itinerary, a good idea would be to visit the attractions on the pass during the Vienna Pass and then opt for the rest of the excursions that are not included, such as classical music concerts or a tour of Vienna's city centre.

On the other hand, the Vienna Card can be purchased for 24, 48 or 72 hours, so it will not be useful for a long trip, especially because one of its main benefits is the transfer to the airport, so if the maximum period of 72 hours is met, you can no longer use it. In conclusion, the Vienna Card is a tourist pass focused on public transport and especially useful for a short stay or a weekend getaway.

The Vienna Pass is best used on a short trip as it allows you to organise a travel itinerary to take in the sights, saving time by avoiding queues and also getting around efficiently on the sightseeing buses, so you can discover both the traditional side of Vienna and its modern skyline

The same goes for the Vienna Card as it has a maximum validity of 72 hours, but if you're planning a short stay in the city or a weekend break you can use it to make the most of public transport.

If you plan to visit Vienna for three days and are travelling by plane, you can save a lot of money with its main benefit, which is a return transfer to and from the airport.

Keep in mind that the Vienna Pass gives you access to more than 60 attractions, so if you buy the pass for just one day you will be able to visit some sites but you will be left with a lot to do.

That's why I advise you if you decide to buy the Vienna Pass to choose the options that give the card validity for two days or more, especially the three or six days cards, which will allow you to visit many attractions, but without so many rushes.

The Vienna Pass is very comprehensive, as it includes more than 60 activities, including most of the main attractions in the Austrian capital. This makes buying the card an interesting option even if you only want to see the most popular sites.

With this card, you can save money and time by being able to get in without queuing. Some of the sites included in the pass are the following:

• Schonbrunn Palace
• Hofburg Palace
• Belvedere Palace
• Museum of Fine Arts
• Albertina Museum
• Sigmund Freud Museum
• Leopold Museum
• Jewish Museum Vienna
• Schonbrunn Zoological Gardens
• House of Music of Music
• Danube Tower
• The Prater

Perhaps the only criticism of the list of attractions included in the Vienna Pass is that it does not include tours or excursions around the city, One of the best things to do in Vienna is to discover the city on foot. Nor does it include cycling options or gastronomic tours.

Apart from the activities offered by the Vienna Pass, the best feature is the free access to the city's sightseeing buses for the duration of the pass.

The Vienna Card, on the other hand, does not offer free admission to the main attractions, but small discounts of one or two euros at each attraction included in the list of benefits, but it will give you access to the entire public transport network, so you can travel freely around the city and access the main sites in an agile way and save money on transfers.

The Vienna Pass offers a special rate for children between the ages of 6 and 18 and children under 6 get free entry to all attractions when accompanied by an adult, so this sightseeing card can be a good option for combining sightseeing in the Austrian capital with children.

This is especially useful if you visit some of the options that are most fun for the little ones, such as the old Ferris wheel in the Prater or the Schonbrunn Zoological Gardens.

Children can also enjoy the colours and lights of Vienna during Christmas, and tour bus tours during the festive eve or the Natural History Museum, which is also included in the Vienna Pass.

The Vienna Sightseeing Pass can offer many options to enjoy Vienna with children at a good value for money.

This is where the Vienna Card has its biggest advantages, because for every tourist card you buy, one child under 15 can travel for free on any of the transport services included in the pass, so you can save a lot of money on Vienna's trains, metros, buses and trams if you plan to travel with children.

Summer is the best time of the year to visit Vienna, especially as the warm weather can be your best ally when visiting the open spaces such as the Prater or the great gardens and zoos, such as Schonbrunn, or for the interactive tours that are included in the Vienna Pass such as the Spanish Riding School.

Summer will also be the ideal time to get the best views of the city from the Danube Tower or to enjoy a ride on the MS Blue boat on the river. It also gets dark later so you'll have more time for sightseeing and sightseeing bus tours will be more enjoyable.

The Vienna Pass can also be a great way to see Vienna at night and avoid the snow and cold of the city during the winter.

During the summer, the Vienna Card will also be useful, as you can travel in comfort and save money on air-conditioned public transport to cope with Austria's hot summer days.

Vienna in winter may not seem to be at its best, but if you're visiting the city during the cold and snowy season you'll find ways to make the most of it.

The Vienna Pass can help you combat the inclement weather with a wide range of museums and palaces, as well as covered sightseeing buses to keep you out of the cold.

The same goes for the Vienna Card, which is more convenient in this respect because in addition to the tour buses, you can also use the city's extensive public transport network to keep out the cold.

Vienna has a lot of attractions to see, so it can be a bit overwhelming to organise an itinerary to discover the city.

However, it is a small city that is easy to explore on foot and has an extensive network of public transport and tour buses that you can access with the Vienna Card, so it can be very useful if you are only visiting the Austrian capital for a weekend, especially as the Vienna Card can be purchased for a maximum of 72 hours.

Bear in mind that if you're visiting Vienna for a weekend, it's best to organise your itinerary between the different excursions based on proximity to save time in order to make your movements more efficient. This will help if you decide to buy the Vienna Pass, as it includes many activities with queue-free entry and no delays, thus optimising your income.

Keep in mind that if you travel during the winter, the days get dark earlier. Here is a list of a recommended itinerary to get around Vienna in just 2 days.

The palaces and museums are the main attractions in Vienna, so if you are one of those many visitors waiting to get to the city to see them, with the Vienna Pass you will have access to most of them.

The Vienna Pass also includes other attractions, but most of the activities are related to the city's palaces and museums and also to some of the twinned activities such as a visit to the Schonbrunn Zoological Gardens or the Belvedere Palace Museums.

If your main goal is to discover the best palaces and traditional museums of the Austrian capital at its best, without queuing and saving money, you can certainly do it with the Vienna Pass.

In this case, the Vienna Card won't be too useful, as it doesn't include free admission but only small discounts, apart from the fact that you can use public transport to get to the city's main palaces and museums.

The answer will depend on your travel plan, the pace at which you want to explore the city and also the budget you have for your visit to the Austrian capital.

Tourist passes are not usually cheap options and that is a fact to consider, but I can also tell you that the Vienna Pass has a very complete offer of attractions and that if you opt for the 3 or 6 day pass you will have enough time to get to know the city in detail and save money.

If you opt for the Vienna Card you should bear in mind that to get the most out of it you will have to use mainly public transport and tour buses, and that it will be particularly useful if you plan to arrive and leave the city by plane, as it includes airport transfers.

If you finally decide to buy one of the tourist passes, the best way to get the most out of your visit with the Vienna Pass is to organise an itinerary for each day the pass is valid so that you can travel comfortably with the free hop on-hop off bus that is included in the tourist card and thus optimise your tour of the city.

With the Vienna Card, on the other hand, you can use it for urban transfers if you plan to do an intensive tour of the city,

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