The thing is – even though we had 3 days in Austria – we wasted the first day just sleeping. We had an overnight flight from Toronto to Vienna. Neither of us slept on the flight because Myrra was too excited to be on an airplane. The 6-hour time difference did not help either! That left us with only two days in Austria. We drove to Hallstatt and Salzburg for a day. Day 2 was exploring Vienna and all that it had to offer. This is how we spend a day in Vienna with our girls.
Renting a car
First off, I would like to tell you how convenient it is to have a car when you are traveling with little ones. You can make your own schedule and move as you please. Most importantly, you can roam around while they sleep in the car. Having a car really made our trip manageable. We were able to let them sleep while we discovered the city driving.
St Stephens Cathedral
We started our morning exploring the St Stephens Cathedral and the circle around it. This cathedral is so majestic and beautiful that pictures will not do justice to it. The circle where the cathedral is located is home to the famous Christmas Market in Vienna. We were a couple of weeks early for the market. Just seeing the set up was exciting because we had heard so much of the Christmas Market in Vienna!
There were a few souvenir shops around and they were fairly reasonably priced with a good selection of knick-knacks! Don’t miss visiting the chocolate store and trying the lovely Mozart balls. These delicious balls are made of a pistachio marzipan covered with dark chocolate. They are extremely famous in Salzburg but we did not get a chance to try them there!
Because we only had a day in Vienna with our girls, we couldn’t visit the Schoenbrunn Palace and Belvedere Palace. This is reason enough for us to visit Vienna again as a transit city for one of our future travels. After spending a good chunk of time near the St Stephens Cathedral, the girls needed a nap. We drove around the city taking in the beautiful sights of the Danube River and the city of Vienna.
Danube Tower
After their nap, we visited the Danube Tower to take in the spectacular and remarkable views of the city. Atop the Danube tower, in their revolving restaurant, along with a nice glass of wine, we tried the delicious Sachertorte – a Viennese culinary specialty. This Austrian Jewish treat comprises of chocolate cake with apricot jam and dark chocolate icing. It was an absolute delight for our taste buds. I wish I could have packed some of this goodness to bring back home because Myrra practically devoured the cake and this is a very rare sight! To purchase tickets for the Danube Tower, Click Here!
Brunnenmarkt
With an early morning flight to Cape Town the next day, we knew it was time to head home. While trying to find a grocery store to pick up some fresh fruit, we literally just stumbled upon Brunnenmarkt. This is a local Viennese market with roadside food stalls and vendors. We ate some of the best Kebaps at one of these roadside joints and they were only 2 Euros each! The food in Vienna was undeniably a pleasure for the culinary experts. There was something for everyone to eat and even Myrra gobbled down half a Kebap.
By the time we returned back home, we realized that we had been out for over 10 hours and the girls had been absolutely fine. This was only the start and we had a long trip ahead of us and knew that to keep them going there were certain things we would definitely have to keep doing.
Things we learnt
- Rent a car – We were able to roam around so much more because of this. We were able to keep their nap schedule a little bit and haul them in the car when they needed the downtime. We could still explore at our pace – even if it was driving past.
- Nap, nap, and nap – I can’t stress enough on how important it is to give them a chance to nap. Myrra was so resistant to sleep but we did not want her to push herself to a point where we then had to deal with a stubborn toddler. Driving around gave her that chance to nap and when they woke up, they were fresh and willing to explore more – even if it was an hours nap.
- Having a stroller – We did a lot of walking that day and Myrra was certainly getting tired and needed to sit down and just rest. The stroller helped us to keep her going even with all that walking! It definitely helped us while we spend our day in Vienna with our girls.
Tips on exploring with toddlers
One thing I would really like to share with you guys is: Be flexible! It is so important for us as parents, to accept the fact that we may not be able to see everything we want to. Things will change every minute when kids are involved and you may need to improvise on the road. Even though we really wanted to see the Schoenbrunn Palace, we were unable to and that is okay! On a brighter note, we were able to do things we had not planned (going up the Danube Tower) and just enjoy our time together as a family. When we left in the morning, we had a different plan than what we ended up doing and neither of us were disappointed because we had really under planned our day not knowing what to expect. Kids are so unpredictable and the less you try to make everything perfect, the more it will be!
Final thoughts
Our trip to Austria was such a success and more importantly, I was truly stunned by its beauty. Every corner of this country had something magical to offer and the girls enjoyed it maybe a bit more than we did. This part of our trip really helped us understand how to make our days more productive with the two of them. Most importantly, it gave the girls a chance to adjust to the time difference. South Africa was going to be on the same time zone as Austria and we were reassured that they had adapted well before we left.
I hope you enjoyed reading how we spend a day in Vienna with our girls. If you need any tips on travelling in Austria with littles, do not hesitate to contact me by filling out the contact form or commenting below!
