The Joy of Hiking and Making New Friends Highly recommended!…read more Saturday's Hobbit Hike through the hills, woods and pasturelands surrounding the village of Michelbach, 45 minutes NW of Vienna, was as lovely as Karin's website suggested. With Karin as our host and guide, our group of 5 (from Austria (2), Brazil, (2) and the US (1)) really clicked. And we alternated between enjoying fresh air, lovely farmland, woods and fun conversations. These trail chats formed and reformed -- in the easy way that only hiking permits. Karin was a warm, well-organized, and easy-going host. I look forward to more trips with her, as a great way to explore the Austrian countryside and to make new friends.

Karin arranged a meeting spot and transportation to the Grand Canyon of Austria for our adult group…read moreof 6 - it was a spectacular trek through the valley and up some steep climbs. Karin offered us options along the way and stopped for photos. At the end of the hike we stopped to swim in the natural water formations and had lunch a beautiful hut that served delicious local food and cold beer! A highlight of our time in the Vienna area with Karin who is fun, friendly and a natural and knowledgeable guide!

The Leopoldsberg is a good tour for tourists visiting Vienna. You need about half a day time for it…read morebut you will not regret it. Up there there is a tremendous view about the River Danube and the older and newer districts of Vienna. You can reach the Leopoldsberg either with a bus - or - if you fancy a little hike you can travel with the "U4" to Heiligenstadt, then ask for the Bus to "Kahlenbergdoerfl" (just print it and show it to someone at Heiligenstadt) and then you can climb the Leopoldsberg using the famous "Nasenweg" (Nose-path) along the "nose" of the Leopoldsberg. Be sure to take a camera with you.

This is a nice cluster of architectural buildings and monuments and accessible by car or hiking up…read moreCity Trail 1. St Joseph Catholic Church is in the center of the area and across the street is a ceramic commemoration of the battle of Kahlenberg in 1683, this ceramic relief was created in 1960, There is also a small monument to Kaiserin Elisabeth and the Stefanie-Warte tower.

If you have time you have to visit this amazing location! We did the Hop off Hop on tour and went…read moreoff the beaten path to this bus that takes you into the countryside view. You won't regret it. It allows you a glimpse of what the birds see when they look into the city of Vienna.

Stadtwanderweg 1a is not one of my favorite trails. It covers the distance of 11 Kilometer & takes…read moreabout 3 hours to complete, on a normal pace. The starting point is at Nußdorfer Platz, reachable by Strassenbahnlinie D & Schnellbahn S40. We begin on a long walk along the Donaustrandpromenade, next to the Danube river. I guess this was supposed to serve as a warm-up for what awaits us next. Suffice to say, we were greeted by steep way up on Nasenweg. After 30 minutes of mentally exhausting climb of stairs & concrete road, we finally made it to the top, bleh~ We managed to catch the orange fiery sky as the sun sets & the view of Vienna at dusk. The way down the concrete road is equally steep, thus a good pair of sports shoes is highly recommended. Direction: Nußdorfer Platz - Donaustrandpromenade - Kahlenbergerdorf - Nasenweg - Leopoldsberg - entlang der Höhenstraße zum Kahlenberg - Kahlenberger Straße bis Abzweigung Eichelhofweg - nach Norden (zuerst Feld-, dann Waldweg) zum Waldbachsteig - Kahlenbergerdorf - Donaustrandpromenade - Nußdorfer Platz Rest stops: Restaurant Leopoldsberg beziehungsweise Kahlenberg Heuriger Sirbu (Kahlenbergerstraße) Heuriger Klapf (Eiserne Hand-Gasse) Heurige und Restaurants im Kahlenbergerdorf und in Nußdorf P.S. For those interested in Stadtwanderweg, kindly inquire at the info center (behind Rathaus) for hiking maps around Wien.

Cannot be missed most famous Cathedral when in Vienna. Centrally located. Stunning architecture…read morefrom outside to inside. Free to visit, pay to climb the stairs to skip morning exercise. Gothic architecture with high ceilings and asymmetrical towers, 137 meters South tower and shorter unfinished north tower. Enjoy the organ music, check the schedule. Touch and feel the details with the 1:100 scale miniature sculpture outside. Much to see and listen to. Magnificent during the day and stunning at night.

My friend and I visited Domkirche St. Stephan a week or so ago when we were in Vienna for vacation…read moretogether. The Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Church, the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna. The cathedral has some incredible architecture - Romanesque and Gothic - as it dates back to the 12th century. It seemed to be the heart of Vienna - at least as far as tourists are concerned. We must have walked past it three or more times - it's centrally located within Innere Stadt and near a lot of other Vienna attractions. This means that Domkirche is a hot spot for tourists. It was packed - inside the cathedral, outside the cathedral, everywhere. We purchased all-inclusive tickets (25 euros each), which you have to pay for in cash. It includes a self-guided tour of the cathedral, entrance to the south and north towers, the option to join the tour of the catacombs, and more. We enjoyed the tour of the catacombs. The guide did the tour in German and English, and it was interesting and informative. Unfortunately, the cathedral in the afternoon on a Monday was just too crowded to enjoy. We took the elevator up to one of the towers (I can't remember which), because you can only access it by elevator. The wait to go up took 10 or so minutes, because the elevator only fits a few people (maybe 4?). But the wait to get down took even longer. By then, we weren't sure we had time for the other tower (which have been the better tower anyway?). It was interesting, and I did enjoy the catacombs tour and the views from the tower we had time for. But I recommend going as early as possible in the day to avoid the crowds so you can enjoy it.