Vienna

We chose Vienna for a short city break in October as we were able to get flights from Southend which is only a 20 minute journey for us. We made use of the airport lounge at Southend which offers a range of snacks and drinks you can hep yourself to.

We took a taxi from the airport upon arrival which took about 20 mins and cost 40 Euros with tips.

The De France hotel is in a great location with very friendly welcoming staff who in fact upgraded us to a Suite which was nice. Very nice 4 * hotel.

We dropped off our luggage straight away and went to explore the city. There was a local market selling local food and drinks and we thought we would try a rather interesting Sturm which you can only buy this time of year and it's a young wine which is freshly pressed grape juice and we rather enjoyed the taste (see picture).

If you like designer shopping there are many of the well known brands along with markets and bargain shops too. The famous strip runs from the opera house to St Stephens Cathedral.

We found a lovely pub/restaurant near our hotel in the evening which sold traditional Austrian food at reasonable prices roughly 10 Euro for a main, house wine was nice and reasonable price too. They do allow smoking inside in Vienna so if you aren't a smoker then head for the non smoking section like we did.

We found the food to be so good here we are here again on our second night, it's called the Leupold at Schottengasse 7.

The breakfast was amazing at the hotel and offered everything you could think of cooked breakfast, cereals, eggs made to order, fruits, cold meats and salads and an abundance of Austrian cakes.

We set off for the day full up from our hearty breakfast and bought a 24 hour bus pass which allows you to explore the blue and red routes and hop on and off at anytime. I would have to say I thought the Red route was better as there was a lot of culture, history and great architecture to view but the Blue route did allow you stop at the Belvedere Palace which was beautiful and well worth the visit. The bus tickets were 25 Euros each and lasted the full 24 hours so you could use over 2 days but you can also buy them that include entry to museums etc and also to include a Danube boat trip.

The Praterstern looked a great place to stop but we were pushed for time as it had a Giant ferris wheel one of the oldest in the world, a fairground and lots of family fun.

Overall a great city to explore and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to clients or to return there myself one day as I didn't feel we saw enough in the 48 hours we had.