Six (6) hour layover in Vienna - enough time to do anything other than wait?

September 6, 2012 2:57 PM

This coming Saturday morning (September 8th, 2012) I have a six hour layover in Vienna. Do I have enough time to do anything worthwhile outside the airport?

I've never been there before. My flight gets in at 8:25am. The connecting flight leaves at 2:25pm. TIA folks on the green.

posted by Calloused_Foot to Travel & Transportation around Vienna, Austria (8 answers total)

I don't have an answer, but I think it might help a little if you gave a rough indication where you were flying from and to. Coming from and/or keeping within Schengen could make a difference.
posted by Jehan at 3:36 PM on September 6, 2012

When I flew into Vienna I found the transport in and out of the city to be pretty easy and on schedule. If you plan out what you want to do/ see along with any customs and security timings you should be fine to go walk around for two or three hours.
posted by raccoon409 at 3:48 PM on September 6, 2012

Response by poster: I'm flying out of New York. The connecting flight is from Vienna to Split, Croatia if that affects anything.
posted by Calloused_Foot at 4:17 PM on September 6, 2012

I wouldn't risk it, never know how long customs and security will take.
posted by Raichle at 4:20 PM on September 6, 2012

I don't think it's that risky, you should be able to get into town fairly quickly and then you just have to evaluate the time required to return like any other traveller, so three hours early or four hours or whatever your personal preference is. If your exit time is excessive then you turn around, nothing lost.
posted by Wood at 4:44 PM on September 6, 2012

I've never been to Vienna, but in Amsterdam a 6-hour layover has given me enough time to leave the airport, walk to the train, purchase a ticket, ride into the city, and do a mini-boat tour in the canals. Awesome and totally worth it. Just don't cut it too close. Give yourself as much as 2 hours to get back into the airport and on to your flight. I had to get a stamp on my passport to leave so that might be a good opportunity to ask for advice on how much time will be needed to clear customs on your return.
posted by bchaplin at 6:14 PM on September 6, 2012

Best answer: They just opened the new terminal in Vienna for Austrian Air/Star Alliance flights that should speed things up. You should be able to get into town, do a quick walk through the 1st District (the old city), grab lunch and get back in 6 hours. The fastest way into the city are the city airport buses right outside the arrival level. There is a bus that goes to Morzinplatz on the canal side of the 1st. Buses leave every half hour and take 20-25 minutes to get into town. From Morzinplatz, it's about a 5 minute walk to Stephansdom. From there you can walk to the opera or up the Graben to Hofsburg Palace. You can catch the 1 tram around the Ring Road back to the Morzinplatz airport bus depot (get out at the Salztorbruck stop).

Alternately, you could take the CAT train, but it's more expensive and you have to switch to the u-bahn if you want to see anything interesting.
posted by chrisulonic at 6:16 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Ended up with less time than I thought I had to play with, so I ended up taking the CAT downtown, walking about a bit (I saw St. Stephens, and had a gazillion Mozarts try to sell me some concert tickets). Had a light breakfast, and got back to the airport - a much better layover than just falling asleep on a airport chair.
posted by Calloused_Foot at 2:13 PM on September 19, 2012