We are trying to plan a vacation in Austria and decide where to go. How would you compare Vienna to Paris, if you%26#39;ve been both places? I%26quot;m interested in general impressions, specifics or whatever you can say. Your comparisons may help us decide.
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Paris is to downtown NYC, and Vienna is to Cambridge MA (across the river from Boston).
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Paris is definately larger and much more expensive
PS much more lifts and escalators (-_^) in the under ground stations. If you have small children or if you have difficult walking then I would not recommend Paris
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Have you visited Paris already? Are you trying to decide whether you can skip Vienna because you think that you will find it too similar to Paris?
We have travelled to both Paris and Vienna recently and loved them both.
- People say that Paris is very walkable, but Vienna is even more so. Like stated above, if you have mobility problems or children you will find the metro system in Vienna easier to use.
- Vienna still retains a lot of its royal history with the palaces of the Hapsburgs Hoftburg and Schonnbrun in close proximity. You have to travel to Versailles in Paris to gain a sense of how the French royal family lived. If you have visited Versailles you will appreciate the connection as Marie Antoinette lived in both places. Also, Napolean%26#39;s son lived at Schronnbrun as his mother was the daughter of the Emperor. There is a lot of historical connection between Austria and France as they were the two predominent Royal Families in Europe at that time. If you like history, you may appreciate seeing a few more pieces to the puzzle.
- Vienna has a real cafe culture, where you can sit down, read a paper and eat a delicious cake.
- Both Vienna and Paris have fantastic museums with great art collections.
- Karlskirche - a fantastic Baroque style church was the highlight of our visit. I have seen churches in the gothic style like Notre Dame, but never in the Baroque.
- Wine - Vienna and Austria produces very good wine - we sampled quite a bit on our stay.
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Hi,
If you plan to have vacation in Austria, do not miss Vienna. It is the heart of Austria, the seat of the former vast empire of Habsburg.
There is hardly any other cosmopolitan city in Euorpe that is more walkable and easy to go around its places of interest than Vienna.
Most sights are within or less than 5 minutes from Inner Stadt encircled by a Ring Boulevard (Ringstrasse). The Schonbrunn Palace is only few stops on line U4. This palace was built to rival Versaille and the interior and vast gardens are just as impressive.
Both cities are my favorites in Europe. Paris is stunning at night especially with its romantic and subtle lighting and Vienna come close. While Paris wins over with its world known monuments and towers, Vienna is close second with its amost all impressive buildings within and around Ringstrasse. No where in Europe is so clean, well maintained and organised as a metropolitan Vienna.
If you love Paris, you will enjoy Vienna%26#39;s steep culture and elegant, majestic buildings.
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Hello somerset. Boy that is a tough question to answer. Thay both have their charm. The buildings in Vienna are beautiful. It did remind me a bit of Paris,but without the negative things,like rude people,and haughty waiters. Vienna is more laid back,it is really a great city. I believe the prices are lower in Vienna. It is wonderful to sample the many cafes for afternoon tea,or coffee. Both times we were in Venice we stayed at the Hotel de France. It has a good location on the ringstrasse and reasonably priced. Travelrrr
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Have just returned from Vienna and it is beautiful. Have been to Paris many times but I prefer Vienna. The people are friendly, everywhere is within walking distance and the buildings are out of this world, so ornate and so much to see. The food is cheap and the wine is very good. There are lots of small local restaurants, which we ate in. They dont always have English on the menu but we took a menu reader and most of the people spoke some English. Everywhere is easilly accessible on the Ubahn, but buy a ticket for 72 hours or however long you are going for, it is cheaper and you can travel all day on the underground. We are not very cultural but stil found it a fascinating city. If you are, there is opera, theatre, art galleries, museums, if not, just wander around the streets and look at the lovely buildings or take a horse drawn carriage. New Year was fantastic with street parties everywhere. It is also very clean.
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I have been to both cities several times in the last few years. I often split my vacations in Europe between Paris and Vienna. It is very convenient and cheap to fly Air Berlin from CDG to VIE. But during the summer I have had to take the long train ride.
Paris has more things to see; the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre are great. Vienna has nothing to compare to the Eiffel Tower, but the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is one of the greatest museums in the world, not as large, but comparable to the Louvre in quality.
If you like opera and operetta, Vienna is far superior. During the ten month season, you can attend a different opera (Vienna State Opera) or operetta (Volksoper) every night during a 5 night stay. In the summer there are many festivals, for example the Morbisch (operetta) Festival south of Vienna. In Paris there usually has been no opera or operetta available while I have been there, even though there are two opera houses. I have seen only one opera in Paris (at the Grenier).
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thanks for all the information. its helpful. Partially I was trying to decide whether to include Vienna in a visit to Austria as it is farther away from, say Salzburg. If it was as attractive as Paris, I would want to include it and it seems it is. However, now I am trying to deal with the very high airfares from US to Austria--they seem to be higher going into Austria than other European countries. Of course Austria is farther away from the US.
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Hi Somerset,
There are many cheap budget airlines flying from main European gateways to Salzburg and Vienna (both city is only 3 hours away on train).
Munich (1 hour from Salzburg), London (Ryanair flies to Salzburg at low rate but from Stansted airport which is 45 min north of central London). Air Berlin operates many flights to Austria. Google these airlines and click %26quot;destinations%26quot; or %26quot;route map%26quot;.
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hi.
both cities have a lot to offer.they both are beautiful full of history and monuments.but...paris is the city of cities.paris cannot be compaired to any city in the world.
however, europe%26#39;s capital cities are all alike but at the same time so different and exciting.
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