Easy Weekend Trips from Vienna!

Hallo aus Wien!

I am currently in my second week at the IES Vienna—Summer Internships program and am having a blast. Coming into this experience, I wasn't sure how much I would be able to travel or explore the areas around Vienna, but with the work and class schedule for the internship program, we are able to travel basically every weekend. Before this trip, I'd been to only Mexico, Canada and (briefly) France. Those experiences were all amazing,  making me hope for more travel in the future. In only two weeks, I've almost doubled my country count, definitely helping me towards my travel goals! I thought it would be fun to share how I've been able to do this so far and where I've gone (and places you should go too!).

Budapest, Hungary

My first tip for getting to go to lots of places is find organized (and travel hungry) friends! We were able to find bus tickets to do both of these day trips for pretty cheap, and saw some amazing things along the way. Budapest was our Saturday trip, and we left around 7 am and arrived in Budapest at 10 am. We stayed until 6 pm, which got us back to Vienna around 10 pm. I'd definitely recommend staying in Budapest for longer since it was so beautiful! We started at the Budapest History Museum / Castle Museum (ask for student discounts!) which gave us a good understanding of the city before we embarked on the rest of our day. We then wandered through a market and ended up at an amazing restaurant called Gerlóczy Kávéház. It was pretty affordable due to the currency exchange, but was probably the best meal I've had this whole trip. After that, we made our way to Buda Castle and walked around through the outer parts of the castle and the gardens. Gelato and Chimney Cakes are a must also! 

Bratislava, Slovakia

Sunday, we departed on another day trip—this one to Bratislava! We left around 1 pm and arrived in Bratislava around  2:30 pm. We stayed until 10:30 pm, which got us back to Vienna around 11:30 pm (which was more than enough time to visit everything we wanted). When we got there, we first walked through Old Town and found cute touristy shops and enjoyed the historical architecture.  Then we headed towards the river and had lunch on the beach at wagamama (which was pretty good). Then we walked back towards Old Town and saw Bratislava Castle! We didn't go inside since it was closed, but if you get the chance, I'd definitely recommend going up there! The views over the city and the river were amazing, and the gardens were simply stunning. My group ended up playing cards at the park on top of the castle, just enjoying the nice weather and the views. We ended our day by going to Billa (a European grocery store chain) to pick up a cheap dinner, and sat on the Old Bridge to eat and watch the sunset.  It was also beautiful and very relaxing! After that, we continued on the bridge towards the other side of the river and found a little beach club area and sat in the lawn chairs that looked over the river. If you want some fun, I'd definitely check out that area, as there were volleyball courts , trampoIines, and more! If you're looking for a chill, low-stress day trip from Vienna, this is the one to do. The bus ride was only an hour or so, and the tickets were ridiculously cheap. 

Next week, I'm headed to Munich and Salzburg, and the weekend after that, Brussels and Amsterdam! Stay tuned for more travel tips and tricks, and I hope to find some more places to share during my next adventures.