Comments on: To book a cheap trip to Vienna

By: JennyBarnes

JennyBarnes — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 20:37:21 +0000

Vienna is beautiful but it can be a bit pricey I guess, depending on the time of year you visit! We went in June and we used laterooms.com to find a great hotel deal, and lynxcarhire.com to find cheap car hire. Very pleased overall and it saved us loads!

By: Klaus at Wombats

Klaus at Wombats — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:05:28 +0000

Hej,
We went to Sweden July 6-16, so the weather was probably as good as it gets!
We booked the flight pretty late, so there was no hope of finding anything for a reasonable price in a less remote area, but Tvärnö was just fine as well. OK, the next alcohol shop is in Östhammar, a one-hour drive away and basically always closed, but who goes to Sweden to get drunk anyway? Once we bought alcohol-free wine – it tastes exactly like grape juice, but costs twice as much.
The farmers where we stayed were very nice and the children really enjoyed the daily horsebackriding.
The rental company was Hertz, but I did not book directly there. The booking went through one of those find-the-cheapest-car-websites (I don´t even remember which it was) and apparently my booking never properly arrived at Hertz. They had my name but were obviously flabbergasted I stood there on that particular day. I saw the clerk making nervous phonecalls and it took a while until the situation was sorted, but in the end they gave me a nice car. The V70 is called “Schwedenziegel” (swedish brick) here, did you know that? Unfortunately the newer versions don´t look like bricks any more – I liked the old design.
We will certainly be back in Sweden sometime (thanks for the tips!), but next year we finally want to go the USA for six weeks. We usually prefer to travel off-season, but in 2010 our older daughter will be in school (no more off-season travelling until 2022), so next year is sort of the last chance to make that trip.

Since I always like to hear what tourists say about my own country, here are my two pennies!

Falsified prejudices:
We have a Per-Albin-Hansson-Siedlung here in Vienna (a 70ies public housing project). I thought if everything in Sweden looks like that, I never want to go there. But! We really liked Stockholm and Uppsala. Great cities.
Not all Swedes are drunkards. In fact, I saw not even one. They only seem to drink a lot when they are outside their borders! Still, even when Swedish tourists indulge too much in our beer, they still behave well like sober Japanese. Highly remarkable.
Swedes seem to be very patriotic. I didn´t expect that. They all drive Swedish cars (except for some traitors with a Toyota!) and they all have huge flagpoles on their front lawn.

Verified prejudices:
Sweden is the most civilized country on earth. Really. Impressive! Everybody is polite, everything is neat, tidy and well-kept. Nobody rips off tourists, everybody (and I mean everybody!) speaks even better English than the English! Everything is so children-friendly, too! In Italy, it´s often a pain to travel with two small children, Sweden is the total opposite of that.
The weather.
The cuisine. I don´t like fish too much and I can only eat meatballs so many times without getting sick of them. Fortunately, at least Stockholm has a lot of immigrants who already solve that problem.

Cheers,
Klaus

By: Lifecruiser

Lifecruiser — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:26:09 +0000

Yes, that was a funny coincidence. No Klaus, not everybody has a Volvo V70, the very cool ones (like us) has a Toyota…. *giggles*

What car rental did you use when getting that free upgrade? The same happened to us when we used ebilhyra.se (part of traveljigsaw) when we were in Spain this spring, the free upgrade I mean. They used aurigacrown.com car hire this time. That’s always a nice surprise – especially when it our case were a brandnew car that only had run about 200 km before we got it.

I think it’s funny when you mention Tvärnö, that I had to look it up to know where it was! OK, it’s a bit far from Stockholm, but I had never heard the name. So now I learned something from a tourist – again! Zinkensdamm I knew of of course

I hear you about the climate improvement for Sweden and think that you were a bit too nice and polite there. We need a BIG improvement when it comes to the weather. Summer months are June-Aug, so that’s when I recommend to visit. May can be very nice, but unpredictable, so can the first half of September.

When you plan a trip to Sweden next time, try to include the island Gotland, it’s Swedens summer paradise island. Be aware though that you have too book well in advance, it’s that popular. If you go, make sure you continue to the north tip of Gotland and take the ferry over to Fårö – the best, very fine sand beaches among many other things. It’s where we stay every summer holiday.

In any case, very welcome to ask me of tip’s or other things next time you plan a trip to Sweden.

Happy travels

By: Klaus at Wombats

Klaus at Wombats — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:02:38 +0000

Funny coincidence – we did the budget trip in the reverse direction this summer. Air Berlin has direct flights between Vienna and Stockholm/Arlanda, we paid EUR 242 for a return flight for a family of four. I have booked the cheapest car I found online for a week, but we got a FREE upgrade to a Volvo V70 with ethanol engine, so we even saved on fuel and could travel swedish-style: EVERYBODY seems to have a V70 in Sweden, except for a few nonconformist punks who drive a Saab.
We stayed on a farm on Tvärnö island for a week and since there is only one restaurant on the island we were glad our cottage came with a good kitchen.
The last five days we stayed in Stockholm, at the Zinkensdamm hostel, which is a fairly good deal for families: it has a large courtyard where the children can play, there´s a good guest kitchen and it´s in the middle of a park with a large playground.

We usually travel to Italy and Spain in Summer, this was the first time we went north. Sweden is such a great country! Contrary to common belief it´s NOT expensive and if you travel with children it´s just the perfect place. Well, the climate needs some improvement maybe. We´ll be back!

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:51:09 +0000

Great post. Have you also seen our Vienna destination guide - we have a great tip - on Sunday nights in summer there are popular free screenings of classical music concerts or operas in front of the town hall on Rathausplatz. Tamaras last blog post..Smith’s all-new online wedding and honeymoon hub

By: Traveler

Traveler — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:10:52 +0000

Thanks for the tips. I’ve always wanted to go to Vienna. i hope i will someday.

By: Cookie

Cookie — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:52:19 +0000

Ah, Vienna, the imperial city! Enjoy your trip, the city truly is amazing and stunningly beautiful. It’s been years since I visited but I remember we had heaps of fun in the Vienna amusement park (maybe not the biggest one, but surely one of the best in Europe). Also remember to drink the traditional vienna coffee

By: claudie

claudie — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:45:38 +0000

Yes, you did really a great job! As my daughter will live in Finland during a year, I will have to prepare a such plan to visit her and discover the North World!

claudies last blog post..Cats by Steinlen

By: RennyBA

RennyBA — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:22:57 +0000

How exciting and typical you: how well prepared and well planned and thanks for sharing – I know Diane now will require the same trip next year

It seams like September this year will be very adventurous to you then

RennyBAs last blog post..Internet intelligence for teens

By: A.

A. — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:58:41 +0000

Vienna is the most wonderful city. I was there as a teenager, more years ago than I care to remember! but I loved it. I saw the Spanish Riding School too.

We often fly Flybe. I don’t think it’s quite such good value as Ryanair, but very good too.

We’re on our way to Brittany near Vanees for a long weekend next week. I’ll have to tell you all about it

A.s last blog post..Et voilà