Ask me today what my favorite thing in the world is and the answer is simple: being with my husband and my son, possibly traveling to unknown places, and discovering new worlds together.
But before I take you into the beating heart of my story of making memories together, let me just tell you this. We love to travel! My husband and I have been in a lot of places like France, Holland, Turkey, and even Mexico, just to name a few.
But there is one place that we visit every December. Wien, Austria. Why in December? Because December in Wien means Magic. You can actually find there the Joy and Magic of Christmas. Every market is filled with carols, twinkling lights, and Christmas trees. So, in the beginning of December last year, armed with our shopping Christmas list, we decided to take a road trip to Wien together with our three year old son. Crazy right?
Well, not quite. Of course, traveling with a kid is never easy, but we still want him to take part of it with us. For a kid, traveling is a learning opportunity, and a new experience: new sights, smells, sounds, and languages. This is very important discovered from an early age. I want to instill in him a love for discovering new places, and an interest in geography, world maps and car trips.
So, I started my little research for our trip. We wanted a child-friendly trip, so we’ve included new places to visit for our son to enjoy, which I’ll share with you and, maybe, will give you some tips about traveling to Wien, Austria with kids.
Here are the 6 best Things to do in Wien with kids
Schonbrunn Zoo
You can’t miss Schonbrunn Zoo when you’re with the little ones in Wien. This was our most important place to visit in our trip. It’s a sensational place and you have to plan a whole day for visiting it. Don’t worry. You’ll find there a lot of places to get snacks and even restaurants to eat.
They even have a feeding schedule for every animal, so your kid can see them eat. It’s an amazing experience. My son was excited to see how and what the hypos eat. And you have the chance to see them out of the water. Great tip, right?
It’s also important to know that all the way through the zoo you can use the trolley, so do not worry if you go with baby in pram. Also, all the buildings sheltering animals have access slopes and you will not find any sidewalk which can not go down smoothly.
Schmetterlinghaus (The Butterfly House)
The Butterfly House is a beautiful museum, located in Burggarten, very close to Wien’s Opera House.
It is, in fact, a very big conservatory with beautiful tropical plants through which butterflies are flying freely around you.
I have an important tip for you. Inside is very hot and the humidity level is high. There is a place, at the entrance, where you can leave your coats. It’s a good idea for when it’s winter and outside it’s cold.
Also, you are not allowed to touch the butterflies, so have a little talk with your kids before entering the museum.
Schonbrunn Palace
This is the place to learn about the Austro-Hungarian empire and princess Sissi. The palace is very big and the general tour take a lot of time. But don’t worry. If your kids don’t have the necessary patience, there is a tour specially created for kids. It’s a little shorter and they can also play dress-up, which is so fun.
Schonbrunn Gardens
If you don’t have the time to visit the palace, you can take a walk through its gardens. It is actually an enormous park.
I advise you to visit the gardens in the spring or summer, when you can experience the beautiful sight and smell of so many flowers.
You can spend a whole day in the park, visiting its attractions. There is also a magnificent fountain and a fun maze, consisting of paths between tall and narrow hedges.
ZOOM Kindermuseum
This is a perfect playground/museum for kids with so much hands on and fun activities to do. There are people who help the kids through the museum.
It’s good to book a few weeks ahead if possible.
Prater
Because of the cold weather I didn’t put this amusement park on our to-visit list, but we intend to come back in the spring and we will definitely include it in our plan.
Here is another tip! Wien is one of the cities where you can purchase a Vienna Card. With it you can enter to the top attractions of this beautiful city and spend less money, than buying each individual ticket.
Well, have I convinced you yet to take a trip to Wien?
Written by Oana Popescu
Oana Popescu is a freelance writer from Bucharest, Romania. As a mother of a four-year-old boy and a mommy blogger, she contributes articles about parenting and lifestyle. She has published articles on BabyGaga, TheBabySpot, and Date With Time. You may visit her blog Blondie Mommy’s Stories.
