WHY WE CHOSE VIENNA:
in a city where cake and champagne are socially acceptable to order at any time of day and entire restaurants are dedicated to schnitzel – i immediately knew i would fit in. vienna was never on our original travel plan [we'd heard mixed reviews and people either love or hate it], but coming from poland it seemed to make the most sense on a direct route, as we were ultimately heading west for the holidays. in a way, vienna is known to be the yin to budapest’s yang and we were excited to see the other half of the austro-hungarian capital cities. 

we arrived on a cold but sunny day and felt the city’s energy almost immediately. we’d come off an overnight bus from krakow and were exhausted, but didn’t want to waste a minute and were antsy to get out and explore. it’s definitely more button-ed up... classy, hip and the architecture is gorgeous, ornate and grand.

everything about this city is visually stunning – combined with cool shops, a trusty public transit system, awesome food, great beer, charming people and more christmas markets than i’ve ever seen – we ended up adding another night to our stay to ensure we truly got the full experience. vienna is a fairly large city so it takes some digging to find the neighborhoods you'd want to hang out in. that being said the history and culture definitely pull you in and make this a pretty cozy city to explore for a few days.  

A FEW FAVORITES WORTH SEEING:

burggasee 24 [vintage shop and cafe] | schnitzelwirt [all schnitzel all day] | the breakfastclub & vollpension [neighbors, both worth a stop | naschmarkt [and a drink at NENI am] | salonplafond [for a drink or snack at the bar, also check our their cool shop] | ludwig & adele [for a drink and a snack] | and of course, visit one of their many christmas market's if you happen to be there in winter – they are sprinkled all over the city and are filled with warm drinks, GOOD food and fun gifts.