This is part 4 of a series on my trip to Austria, Germany and China.
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 1 – How I am going to Timewarp in Germany AND Beijing in Business Class for $184
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 2- 12 Amazing Places I want to see on my trip to China. The last one is terrifying!
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 3 – How I got paid to take a free trip.
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 4 – 9 Hours in Vienna
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 5 – Frankfurt, Robert-Johnson, and Timewarp
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 6 – The Flagship Austrian Airlines Business Class Lounge
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 7 – Vienna to Beijing Business Class on an Austrian Airlines Boeing 767-300
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 8 – Beijing, Tian’anmen Square, The Forbidden City
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 9 – The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling
- Austria, Germany, China 2014: Part 10 – How my Discover Card saved my life in China
- Austria, Germany, and China 2014: Part 11 – Bullet Trains and Zhengzhou
- Austria, Germany, and China 2014: Part 12 – Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors
- Austria, Germany and China 2014: Part 13 – Zhangjiajie, Monkeys and Avatar
- Austria, Germany and China 2014: Part 14 – Changsha, Wuhan, and Hefei
- Austria, Germany and China 2014: Part 15 – Intercontinental Hangzhou: Is this the coolest hotel I have stayed at?
I received 40,000 of the 100,000 miles I used for this award ticket by getting the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard®! This is a great card and one I still carry. These miles will eventually become American miles which are some of the most valuable. Click here to apply now for one of your own!
Since you can have layovers of <24 hours for free we built in a 9 hour layover in Vienna and ended up meeting with a friend from Austria as a local tour guide! We arrived in the Vienna airport and made our way to the train to the city center. They had a neat flight status wall as you exited from immigration.
After we arrived at the city center our first stop was University of Vienna which was established in the 1500s! It was a beautiful classically European campus.
Here we are with our host Nina who had come in from Salzburg where she lives to give us a tour.
The library reminded me of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movies!
We did mainly a walking tour of Vienna checking out the beautiful architecture.
We ate a traditional Austrian lunch of schnitzel and some Austrian beers and then wandered around a bit more.
But then it was time to head back to the airport to catch our flight to Frankfurt. I think 9 hours was a bit tight and we were a bit rushed so a little longer layover next time would be preferred. Now that I have spent a little time in Vienna, I do think I would like to go back for a more extended trip. Since they are the hub for the very nice Austrian Airlines, it isn’t a bad spot to transit through either! Next stop… Timewarp!