The Student Backpacker

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A day trip to Vienna turned into a speedrun through its imperial streets, Klimt’s sparkly masterpieces, and a budget stretched tighter than a Strudel pastry. After spending too little time there, I can confidently say: Vienna is beautiful, expensive, and mildly baffling to navigate. As part of my longer student trip based in Budapest (check out 7 Days in Budapest), me and my cousin decided to hop over the border for a day trip to see what all the Baroque fuss was about.

Spoiler: Vienna costs money. Real money. We racked up nearly €30 extra on spontaneous RailNinja train tickets alone by booking in the station. But if you prep properly and stick to the center, it’s doable.

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Getting There: The (Slightly) Chaotic Start

We took the RailNinja train from Budapest Keleti station, buying tickets on the day (a mistake I won’t repeat). The return cost us about €60+ each, and while the ride was comfortable, the price stung. If you’re planning ahead, you can usually find cheaper tickets for around €20-€30 if you book in advance with Trip.com, so you can find the best prices. The train is a comfortable 2 and some change hours, with beautiful scenery along the way chasing the Slovakian border, even with a glimpse of the Bratislavan skyline at one point.

What We Actually Did (and Didn’t Do)

Vienna’s centre is absurdly grand — imagine someone gave a Disney concept artist an unlimited marble budget and told them to go nuts. It’s like one giant free museum; just one imperial building after another until your brain stops processing how fancy everything is. Palaces become background noise. Gold leaf? Barely worth a second glance.

We walked everywhere. Not for fun — though it was scenic — but because Vienna is built for it. The centre is compact, mostly flat, and distractingly pretty. Blink and you’re in another postcard.

Here’s a rough flow of what we saw:

• Upper Belvedere Palace: First stop. We did go inside here to see Klimt’s famous The Kiss. The painting itself is beautiful, textured, sensual, like a gold-leafed fever dream. The room was full of people pretending they weren’t blushing while staring at it.

• Stadtwildnis Park: A weird detour based on a parkour video I saw online. Mostly irrelevant, but there were cats. That’s it.
• Subway to Stephansplatz: This area hits like a film set. You emerge into a square that’s absolutely dominated by:
  • St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom): Massive, spiky, and Gothic to its bones. We didn’t go inside (student budget + long queue), but you really don’t need to. The exterior alone will stare into your soul.
  • Graben + Kärntner Strasse shopping streets: These fancier-than-your-life streets shoot off in all directions. We walked them to feel something. Window-shopped stores we couldn’t afford. Saw a man eat a €9 cake.
• Down toward the Opernring (Opera Quarter): We passed the Pestsäule — that towering plague column in the middle of the Graben — which looked somewhere between religious guilt and baroque fever dream. Dramatic, unclear, but impressive.
• Sisi Museum / Hofburg Domed Entrance: We continued into a roundabout with roman ruins in the center, horse-drawn carriages causing a traffic jam, and the Sisi Museum as the most dramatic backdrop. Into a grand domed corridor we went, underneath the Sisi Museum entrance of the Hofburg complex. The ceiling had elegant mosaics, the whole space echoed, and there was a lone statue dead center — a very imperial funnel into what felt like a private royal universe.

• Heldenplatz & National Library (but not really): We passed through into Heldenplatz but quickly veered right, skimming past the Austrian National Library, which genuinely looks like it should have guards and a moat. We didn’t go in — partly due to wallet fatigue, partly because we were still recovering from the Klimt-induced cultural coma earlier.
• Volksgarten & Burgtheater: We followed the edge of the park, catching some sun, seeing the Thesustempel along with a strange horse-headed accordion player, and admired the grand white Burgtheater — very ornate, very closed when we were there.
• Rathausplatz (Town Hall Square): Ended up here by chance, mid-movie festival chaos. Stalls, sausages, smells, people drinking beer in broad daylight — all in the shadow of the spiky gothic Rathaus building. No idea that the festival was happening, but it gave the square some proper buzz.
• Parliament & Courthouse: We looped north past the Austrian Parliament (pillars, statues, and gravitas), then past the Justizpalast (even more pillars, even more gravitas). Vienna really commits to its façades.
• Natural History & Kunsthistorisches Museums / Maria-Theresien-Platz: Crossed through the twin museums facing each other like marble siblings, with a dramatic square in between. We didn’t go in this time (already did the Belvedere earlier), but the exteriors alone feel like they’re about to host a coronation.

• Hofburg Palace Complex (Properly This Time): We circled back into the Hofburg from the Maria-Theresien-Platz side and actually took in the Heldenplatz this time, with full panoramic views of domes, horse carriages, statues, and the kind of pomp that makes you feel underdressed just walking on the gravel.
• Burggarten & Mozart Statue: Collapsed for a minute here. It’s a smaller park tucked behind all the palace muscle. Mozart’s statue watches over treble-clef-shaped flower beds like he’s judging your picnic.
• Hard Rock Cafe Vienna / Schwedenplatz Area: Yes, we ended up here. No, it’s not ironic. We were sunburnt, dehydrated, overstimulated, and hungry. It had toilets, alcohol, and aircon. Sometimes survival > authenticity.

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Budget Food = Bakery Hopping

Vienna’s food scene is legendary — if you’ve got the budget. I didn’t.

So I survived on:

• Lidl.
• Tram stop €5 Currywurst (just a sausage, brown bread and sauce)
• Tap water like it was vintage wine
• Food from Budapest, because it was cheaper

You can splurge on Schnitzel or Sachertorte, but expect €20+ just to feel like an emperor. I was a peasant. And honestly? I was fine with it. You can feel classy with a cheap sandwich if you believe in yourself.

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Cost Summary

Rough Total: €85–95

• Train from Budapest: €50 (RedJet, booked same-day)
• Museum: €14 (Belvedere student entry)
• Food + drinks: €20–30
• Free sights: unlimited

It’s doable in a day, just don’t expect to sit down much, or eat anything that needs cutlery. Did we both sit down on a bench overlooking the parliament and call our parents for extra money? Yes, but we also didn’t plan!

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Lessons Learned

• Vienna is stunning and surprisingly walkable
• You only need one paid museum to feel like you “did culture”
• Street food and bakeries will save you
• Tap water is elite. Bring a bottle and refill everywhere
• Free toilets exist, and they are sacred: parks, museums, train stations
• UK student ID? Worth a try. Some places shrug, others bless you.

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What We Skipped (But You Might Not Want To)

• Schönbrunn Palace (not walkable from the city center, but neither was the Stadtwildnis Park, and I know which one I’d pick!)
• Horse-drawn carriage tours or entry to any of the buildings (all very cool, all very expensive.)
• Naschmarkt (Super student-y, unique street food, cheaper than the city center, similar to Camden Market prices and vibes)
• Any classical concert (our budget only allowed for street musicians, shoutout to the Horse accordion guy.)

If you’re into history, palaces, or Habsburg drama, a second day would be worth it.

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Part of My Budapest Trip!

This was one wild detour during my 7-day chaos in Budapest; check out the full trip [here].

If you’re really into history or royalty, those would be worth stretching the visit into two days.

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Top Tips for a Day Trip:

• Book trains early. RedJet and Railjet both offer discounts if booked in advance.
• Walk everywhere — Vienna’s city centre is compact and safe.
• Choose one paid attraction and make the most of it.
• Bring your student ID (and pray they accept UK ones).
• Use free toilets inside museums, parks or Hard Rock Café. Seriously.

Final Thoughts & Budget breakdown

Vienna was gorgeous, polished, and kind of surreal — like walking through an imperial theme park. While I do think it’s worth a full city break, I think you’d need to have a lot of money and a very detailed plan. To reduce costs where it matters, I’d recommend Trivago for a hotel/hostel room; there are some near/in the centre for £25-40, or as low as £15 if you’re willing to take a tram in. For us, it was a wild, educational detour in the middle of our Budapest trip.

Rough Cost Breakdown:

• Train from Budapest: €50 (RailNinja, booked on the day)
• Museum: €14 (student entry)
• Food + water + extras: €20–30 (even cheap meals aren’t cheap)

Total: €85–95 for the day.

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Related Posts:

• 7 Days, 7 Must-Do’s in Budapest.
• Coming soon: Zagreb in a day.

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“Vienna is what happens when architecture, wealth, and dignity get together and bully your budget, but I’d 100% go back, just maybe with a scholarship or a lottery win.”

— Me, as I was writing this post and reflecting.

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Planning your own city-hopping chaos?

Use my free itinerary planner [coming soon] or follow along for honest, budget-wary travel ideas that don’t involve skipping lunch too.