Useful Travel Tips for Tourists and Visitors Coming to Vienna, Austria

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Are you planning to visit Vienna for the first time? Are you unsure about what to pack in your luggage? How to pay for stuff and how to get along in a foreign city? We have gathered a couple of basic information that will come handy for you if you have never been to this part of Europe.

The COVID-19 Situation

Due to the COVID-19 situation there are travelling restrictions throughout Austria. Many facilities, hotels, cultural venues had to close down and public events had to be cancelled and postponed. The situation has eased and now most public venues are open but certain official guidelines still have to be followed. Please check with your own country's official authorities about foreign travel and how it impacts your plans for visiting Austria.
Here are links to current regulations from official sources:
- Latest Covid-19 information for Vienna (source: www.vienna.info)
- Entry Regulations for Austria (source: www.austria.info)
- Current travel information (source: Austrian Embassy, Washington)
- Austria travel advice (source: www.gov.uk)

General info about Vienna

Vienna (Wien in German) is the capital of Austria. Austria is situated in the Western part of Central Europe. It is a republic and a member state of the European Union. The official spoken language is German. In the capital a lot of people understand and speak English as a second language. The population of Vienna is about 1,8 million people. The city has 23 districts and an area of 415 km². Vienna and Austria are in the Central European time zone, which means that you need to add 1 hour to the Greenwich Mean Time. The country uses daylight saving time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.

Money

The official currency is the Euro. Most shops, hotels and venues accept the major bank cards / credit cards, however, there are still many places - mainly smaller establishments - where cash is required. Make sure that you keep an adequate amount of cash with you to avoid possible uncomfortable situations when it comes to settling the bill. There are many places in downtown and in high-trafficked spots of the city where you can change money from foreign currency to euro and vice versa.

Electricity

Main voltage is 230 volts (AC). If you bring a charger for your electronic equipments, be sure to have the right adapters with you.

Units of measure

The metric system is used in Austria.

Telephone

The country code for Austria is +43, and the area code for Vienna is 1, so if you want to make an international call from abroad to Vienna, the dialling code would be +43 1 and then the phone number.

Climate and weather

As most Central European places, Vienna has a mild continental climate. Winter days can be really cold and in the height of summer temperatures can easily climb above 30°C, but otherwise the weather is quite nice.

Here are some average temperatures for the year:
(Please note, that in recent years, due to the effects of climate change, temperatures have spiked noticably, resulting in summer-like weather days long before the start of summer.)

January 0°C - 4°C
February 1°C - 6°C
March 4°C - 11°C
April 8°C - 17°C
May 13°C - 21°C
June 16°C - 25°C
July 18°C - 27°C
August 18°C - 27°C
September 14°C - 21°C
October 9°C - 15°C
November 5°C - 9°C
December 1°C - 4°C

Opening times

Most shops are open from morning till late afternoon. If you need a prolongated shopping time, try one of the shopping malls. On sundays, with a few exceptions, stores are closed. Should you need some food or urgent items beyond opening times, try the shops at petrol stations. To find the nearest pharmacy beyond opening hours, call the 24-hour pharmacy hotline at 1455.

Free WiFi

If your hotel doesn't have a free or paid wifi service but you need to be online, there are several places throughout the city where you can surf the net for free. For example:
- City Hall Square
- Stephansplatz
- MuseumsQuartier
- Naschmarkt
- Prater
- many train stations and subway stations
- tourist information office on Albertinaplatz
- check out the interactive city map for wifi hot spots here (on the left of the page: 'Show on the map' --> Communication & business --> WLAN hotspots)
- list of hotspots on Freewave's site: https://www.freewave.at/hotspots/

Emergency services

The following toll-free numbers can be dialled anywhere in Austria:
- Fire service: 122
- Police: 133
- Ambulance: 144
- European emergency number: 112
- Emergency doctor: 141
- Evening and weekend dental service (taped service): +43-1-512 20 78
- Emergency services for the deaf and hard of hearing: 0800/133 133 (SMS text, FAX)
- Evening and Sunday drugstores (0-24): 1455

Breakdown services

ÖAMTC: call 120, link: https://www.oeamtc.at/
ARBÖ: call 123, link: https://www.arboe.at/

Embassies

Here is a list of the addresses of embassies located in Vienna: https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/tourist-info/embassies

Vienna City Card

Save money during your stay in Vienna with the city card. More info about it: https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/vienna-city-card

Public holidays in 2023

January 1: New Year
January 6: Twelfth Night / Epiphany
April 10: Easter Monday
May 1: Labor Day
May 18: Ascension Day
May 29: Whit Monday
June 8: Corpus Christi
August 15: Assumtion of the Virgin Mary
October 26: National Day
November 1: All Saints' Day
December 8: Immaculate Conception Day (stores are open)
December 25: Christmas Day
December 26: Stephen's Day

We hope that these tips will help you in planning an enjoyable vacation to Vienna.