A Birthday Trip||Vienna, Austria

The wait is finally over, here it is my long awaited Vienna Post. I haven't done a personal travel post this year yet (as I have only managed to get to see one city so far) but I really hope this post is the start of things to come. I booked Vienna last year as (what was meant to be a surprise) Birthday trip away for my boyfriend. Read on to find out exactly what we got up to on our mini break..




-Day 1 (The Morning)- 

So on the first day we woke up eye watering early to catch our flight from London Gatwick. I booked our flights back in January and decided to go with Easyjet mainly because of the price. It cost me around £250.00 for two people return which I thought was very reasonable, considering the price has now dramatically increased

We always opt for the early morning flights when going on mini breaks because the quicker we can get to a place the more time we have to explore. I also like to have a little look around the duty free shops at the airport to see what perfume and make up I can get deals on, so we left even earlier this time round for that very purpose. 


Our flight took off (with no delays, thanks Easyjet) at 10:45 am and we were there within a few hours. I usually can never sleep on planes and usually opt to either read or watch films on my Ipad but this time round we both fell into a deep sleep as soon as the plane took off. So we were both feeling refreshed and ready for a day of sight seeing. 







-Day 1 (The Afternoon)- 

So we reached our beautiful 5 star hotel called the 'Grand Hotel Wien' which is located right in the heart of the city and around a 20/25 minute taxi ride away from the Airport.  We were memorised the moment we stepped out of the taxi and into the lobby, the décor of the hotel was so grand, whoever named this hotel 'The Grand Wien' got it spot on! We couldn't wait to see our room and what other facilities the hotel had to offer us. 








As you can see above the hotel has a very impressive outside courtyard area, which was so lovely on the one sunny day we had in Vienna. We sat outside on the terrace (which isn't in this shot) and sipped some very special cocktails. 






Here are a few photos taken inside the hotel, in the lobby and very impressive seating area which looks more like a grand lounge if you ask me. The hotel is very quiet and peaceful and it was lovely to be able to sit here whilst we waited for everything to be finalised during the check in. 





We opted for a suite and couldn't have been more happier with our choice. This is certainly one of the higher end 5 star hotels we have been lucky enough to stay in. The hotel thought of just about everything. The bed and bedding was super soft and comfortable, you could just sink into the bed. The rooms each come with the usual suspects of a 5 star hotel including huge flat screen LCD TV mounted to the wall, Minibar and tea making facilities, Electronic safe, controlled air conditioning, a heated mirror, hair dryer and complementary bathrobes.As it is a 5 star hotel it also comes with a complementary turn down service. 







The Hotel itself  has some pretty outstanding facilities on offer to its guests- if you think the rooms are nice, just wait and see what else they have for you. We were lucky enough to take advantage of  their fitness centre/ cardio area which included state of the art gym equipment including running machines, rowing machines and bikes (free for guests). To be honest working up a sweat is not really how I like to enjoy my holiday, I must prefer to soak in a nice bath or have a few facials, and you can do both here at The Grand Wien, they have an amazing grand spa with sauna, steam baths and a relaxation zone and a range of treatments. One of best things is they have a separate women's area, so if you want total peace ladies do check this place out! 


-Day 1 (Evening)- 

So after we explored our beautiful hotel surroundings we decided to order some room service, unpack our bags and see where we could order some amazing Austrian food. Luckily we didn't have to venture too far we had an amazing selection of restaurants in our hotel! Obviously we couldn't fit them all into our mini break but for the purpose of this post I think we should pretend we did... 



So here's a round up of each restaurant and where about's they are located in our hotel. 


1. Le Ciel by Toni Morwald

Photo Credit: Grand Hotel Wien
This one is THE restaurant you want to be dining at whether you are staying at the hotel or not, everyone wants their name down for a table here.  This is the one with the awards and the fancy gourmet food (It has 2 Michelin stars). So if you are a guest at the hotel this place should be your number one priority.  'Le Ciel by Toni Morwald' restaurant restaurant can be found on the 7th floor of the hotel, so expect great views over the city.   You can view these views by sitting outside on the rooftop in the summer. The roof top terrace holds an extra 32 seats and it also includes a private room (Private room 2), as well as the 72 seats inside the main restaurant. 

Stand out dishes: (taken from the a la carte menu)

Starter- Scallop (pan fried scallop with mint pea cream) 
Main- Milk fed Veal Loin & Cheek with Morel
Dessert- Milk (Burnt Milk Ice Cream with Cardamom)


Photo Credit: Trip Advisor

For more information please visit the official website here.

2. Grand Brassiere

Photo Credit: Grand Hotel Wien

This lovely restaurant is conveniently located on the 1st floor of the hotel. You can get some good views down the Vienna Ringstrasse from this restaurant, as well as direct access to the Ringstrassen Galerien Shopping Mall. (We went here a few times and always came back with a few goodies). This restaurant is a little bit bigger that the Le Ciel as it holds an impressive 92 seats, and is a bit more relaxed.
 I think it would be fair to say this is one of the most popular restaurants in the hotel not only for the factors above, but also because it offers an authentic taste of Vienna. The style of dishes here are all Viennese classics and because it is an all day dining restaurant it attracts lots of people, tourists staying in Vienna especially love their perfect traditional menu's. 


Stand out dishes:

Starter- Deep fried breaded filet from free range Chicken on leaf salads with buttermilk dressing.
Mains- Lamb chops with rosemary jus served with potato gratin.
Dessert-Chocolate cake with liquid core


Visit their website here for more details.

2. Unkai

Photo Credit: unkai-grandhotel

Located also on the 7th floor directly opposite Le Ciel, this Japanese restaurant is also very popular.

Myself and my partner didn't visit this restaurant (we're not big Japanese food fans) but I kind of wish now we went in to have a peek at least, the interior looked gorgeous.
You might be interested to know they have a very extensive menu and also have a takeaway option too.  All dishes are created by Chef Masahiro Yamada and his wonderful team, and 'Unkai' is another award winning place you shouldn't miss.


Stand out Dishes:
Starter/Appetizer- Grilled Oyster
Main- Wagyu beef on hot stone and freshly prepared vegetable


To find out more visit their website here. You can also find the opening times as well.   

Photo Credit: Unkai-Grand Hotel


3. Unkai Sushi

This delightful little Sushi bar which opened in 2008 is another fantastic addition to the hotel. Like its sister restaurant 'Unkai' on the 7th floor, this is also another popular place to dine with the locals and guests alike. This bar is located on the and not only does amazing Sushi rolls and Sashimi it also does some of the best cocktails found in the city. Unfortunately we only stayed in here for drinks as we are not big Sushi fan's but they were AH MAZING! (maybe just my opinion).  This restaurant/bar only has 19 seats so be quick to snap one up!


Photo Credit: Unkai-grand hotel Wien

4. Rosengarten
Photo Credit: grandhotelwien
This was the first place we visited in our hotel. It is known as the Hotel Lobby bar area. We noticed this was more like a meeting area, or somewhere to wait, most people move on from here pretty swiftly. I sat in this bar for a few moments whilst  checking in and checking out. It was very comfortable to say the least.  The sell pretty much any spirit you like as well as some signature cocktails.

4. Kavaleir bar
This is the hotels main bar, and its speciality is cocktails. We spent lots of time here during the evenings before arranging where we wanted to eat. I loved the atmosphere in here it was very chilled and laid back but also with a classy atmosphere. This place in my opinion is great for couples or a nice place to go for a catch up drink with a friend.
Photo Credit: hotelsthatinspire.com
So there we have a little round up of all the food options we had at our hotel, I must admit we were a bit overwhelmed with the choice of restaurants, its a shame we couldn't fit everything in, in a short weekend. If you are lucky enough to stay at the same hotel as us I cannot recommend Le Ciel enough.




-Day 2 (All Day)-



The day was finally here, the day we were off exploring the city. We started at the main tourist street of the city, the Ringstrasse Boulevard, and let me tell you it was an adventure and a half. Our first pit stop was to look at all the pretty buildings scattered along the street. Here's some photos I took along the way. 

1. Imperial Palace






2. Vienna Opera House 





3. Parliament






4. City Hall






5. Votive Church






6. Stock Exchange






So there we have a selection of the best photos taken from our little tour of Vienna's most famous road. 


-What we ate- 
One thing I will say is there are loads of great restaurants/bars and cafe's in the main city centre of Vienna, unfortunately we couldn't fit them all into our stay (we ate our hotel a lot as well as it is was convenient and nice) we did venture into their Hard Rock Cafe, as it is always a tradition for us to go here in each place we visit together. I did a post on all the different Restaurant's we have visited a week or so ago you can read that here




The thing we love about this restaurant is the amazing American menu and gorgeous cocktails, which is found in every restaurant around the world!. We decided to head to this particular one for lunch on the second day of our trip. Here is what we ate and drank whilst there: We both shared the nachos to start, I had some Chicken Strips, Chips and some dip my partner went for one of their delicious cheese burgers with chips. (We ended up halfing our meals and sharing both, it was really yummy) 









-Day 3 (Afternoon/ Early Evening)-

(Wiener Riesenrad (Big Wheel) Museum Quarter)

These were both something we ended up checking out one afternoon (think it was our 3rd afternoon) on a bit of a whim, as they were recommended to us by our lovely hotel staff just as we were frantically leaving for a day of sight seeing one afternoon. I must admit the kid in me was very excited for the ride, and for 9.50 Euros pp I definitely wasn't disappointed. The view was excellent from the top.  The wheel itself is located very centrally in Prater public park just located off of the main Praterstern ring road, and is open daily 9am-10pm- very popular with tourists so be prepared for queues. 



After our little ride on the Big Wheel we jumped in a cab to the Museum Quarter, (around a 20 minute journey by car- 45 by foot). This is one place I found really interesting to people watch, most people were young (around my age mid twenties) and most seemed to be students, you especially get art students mingling the streets of the Quarter. To be perfectly honest we didn't want to come here for the art we came for the lovely little cafes, and because the whole place had such an exciting buzz. We did check out one museum which was the Leopold Museum, this was a modern art museum featuring the collection of passionate Art lover Dr. Rudolf Leopold. To find out about the latest exhibitions go to their official website here. The Museum opening times are daily (except Tuesdays) 10am-6pm and 10am-9pm on Thursdays. 



-Day 4-

So this is it, our last day in the beautiful city! We were very sad to be leaving this wonderful place behind, we felt like we had so much more to explore. To be honest we didn't really do much during this last day it was mainly spent just having a little goodbye lunch in the Grand Brassiere in our hotel, before our driver came to pick us up for the airport.  For anyone thinking about booking a flight to Vienna I cannot recommend our hotel 'The Grand Wien' enough!. The staff were on hand to help us each day of our stay, they were polite, efficient and very charming. The rooms were kept to a very high standard and were so big and spacious you felt like you were in a royal's living room not a hotel. I thoroughly enjoyed my Austrian experience and would consider coming back (after Rome of course), I now cannot wait to get stuck in to some more travelling this year. 


Let me know your thoughts of the city and the places you visited whilst here?

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