Are you going to visit Vienna in 1 day and are looking for a tourist circuit to do on foot to see the most beautiful sites in Vienna? So, maybe my article will inspire you to organize and make the most of your day in the beautiful capital of Austria.

Indeed, I share with you for free my self-guided walking tour to follow on the attached Google Maps. This tourist circuit tours the most beautiful sites in Vienna. It makes for a simply perfect day to get a global overview of this wonderful city.

How to visit Vienna in 1 day?

We're not going to lie to each other: Visiting Vienna in 1 day is possible, but you have to make compromises. Indeed, it will be impossible for you to make the complete visits of all the monuments and museums.

However, to visit Vienna in 1 day, you still have several possibilities that allow you to discover the city as a whole:

• Vienna sightseeing bus tour
• Guided tour of Vienna and its Opera
• Visit to Vienna and Sissi Castle
• or visit Vienna on foot following my tourist circuit, the details of which you will find below. It will take you a full day and will allow you to see most of Vienna. See details of the itinerary below.

Can you visit Vienna on foot?

When I planned my city tour, I wondered if it was really possible to visit Vienna on foot? Are the tourist sites close enough to each other, where are the most beautiful monuments located, can we take a walking tour to see everything?

Well yes, apart from Schönbrunn Palace which is a little out of the way but accessible by metro, the most beautiful monuments in Vienna are close enough to discover them on foot. In addition, there are many horse-drawn carriages that one can take to get from one site to another.

For your information, the short route of Vienna on foot that I present to you below is only 8 kilometers long and divided into two:

• 4 km course in the morning (50 minutes walk)
• Lunch break
• 4 km course in the afternoon (50 minutes walk)

Program and itinerary for your day in Vienna

When you only have one day, you have to resign yourself to only visiting the must-see sites in Vienna without visiting all the museums. Thus, you will be able to discover the majority of the most beautiful monuments and mythical sites but on condition of following an optimized itinerary to see everything in 1 day.

For this unique day in Vienna, here is the program and the itinerary which allows you to visit the city on foot following my self-guided tour (to download for free):

• Morning:
  • Vienna Opera
  • Mozart's House (Mozarthaus)
  • Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom)
  • The Hofburg Imperial Palace
  • Heldenplatz Square
  • The Museum Quarter + Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  • Saint-Charles-Borromée Church next to the Resselpark
• Afternoon :
  • Belvedere Palace
  • Schwarzenberg Palace
  • The Konzerthaus
  • The statue of Johann Strauss in the Stadtpark
  • Schönbrunn Palace (Sissi Castle)

Vienna Self-Guided Walking Tour Map

Here is the Google Maps route map to download for free and to follow in pedestrian GPS mode:

Morning tours of Vienna

The morning route represents 4 kilometers of walking. So you have to leave early to be able to see everything!

Vienna Opera

It is with an emblematic monument of Vienna that we will begin my tourist circuit: the Vienna Opera.

In Renaissance style, it was built between 1861 and 1869 by the Viennese architects Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg.

St. Stephen's Cathedral

From the opera, take Kärntner Strasse to reach St. Stephen's Cathedral in 15 minutes on foot.

Its gothic tower is 137 meters high and can be seen from any corner of Vienna.

Mozart's House (Mozarthaus)

Right next to the Cathedral, at no. 5 rue Domgasse, is Mozart's House. Indeed, it is there on the 1st floor, that Mozart lived between 1784 and 1787.

Hofburg Imperial Palace

My circuit takes us a 15-minute walk towards Burggarten Park. You will arrive at the Hofburg Palace which was one of the residential palaces of the Habsburgs. Successive Austrian royalty stayed here during the winter months for nearly 700 years.

You may be able to choose to take a tour inside the Palace: Sissi Museum, Imperial Apartments, Spanish Riding School or Imperial Treasury of Vienna.

Heldenplatz Square

Next to the Hofburg Palace is the Heldenplatz square, which is a historic square in Vienna. From this Heroes' Square, you will have a view of the Vienna Parliament and the town hall. And you can also access the Museum of Art History through the Burgtor door.

Museumsquartier

A few 800 meters to go by taking the street via Bellariastrabe and you will be in the heart of the Museum district. It is one of the largest cultural complexes in the world where many private museums are concentrated.

If you only have to visit one, I recommend the Kunsthistorisches Museum which is one of the finest fine arts museums in the world.

Church Saint-Charles-Borromée

Continuing on Getreidemarkt then taking the direction of Teich vor der Karlskirche, you will arrive after a 15-minute walk at the Church of Saint-Charles-Borromée. It is in fact an 18th century cathedral built during the reign of the Habsburgs. It was Emperor Charles VI who had it built in homage to Bishop Saint Charles Borromeo.

Afternoon tours of Vienna

After a well-deserved lunch break in or around the Park, you will continue the circuit by heading towards the Belvedere Palace (a 20-minute walk from Saint Charles Borromeo Cathedral).

Belvedere Palace

The Belvedere Palace is one of the most beautiful Baroque castles in Vienna. It houses collections of exceptional paintings including major works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka.

Schwarzenberg Palace

Crossing the magnificent Belvederegarten park of the Castle, our circuit brings us back in 15 minutes on foot to the Schwarzenberg Palace. This baroque palace belongs to the princely family of Schwarzenberg, whose current heir is Prince Karl VII of Schwarzenberg.

Vienna Konzerthaus

600 meters from the Schwarzenberg Palace is the Vienna Konzerthaus. It is a superb concert hall which was built between 1911 and 1913 under Emperor François-Joseph.

Stadtpark with the Statue of Johann Strauss

You can then reach the Stadtpark (400 m) to take a photo of the Statue of Johann Strauss. You will also be next to the Stadtpark underground station.

Schönbrunn Palace (Sissi Castle)

From the Stadtpark metro station, you can take the U4 line to reach Schönbrunn Palace in 11 minutes by metro.

This castle is one of the most visited tourist sites in Vienna. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, everyone knows it because it is Sissi's castle!

In fact, this castle served as a summer residence for the Austrian emperors and of course for Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth of Wittelsbach known by the nickname of Sissi.

Where to stay to visit Vienna on foot?

For a short weekend in Vienna, I recommend that you avoid the neighborhoods of vienna too far from the historic center. Indeed, if you only have one day to visit Vienna, your hotel must be located very close to the monuments to visit.

The two most beautiful and convenient areas for tourists are:

• Inner city (the 1st district)
• New build in the Museumsquartier (7th district).

Which hotel is well located for visiting Vienna on foot?

Right next to the Museum Quarter, the Mariahilfer Strasse shopping street and the Neubaugasse metro station, here is a hotel whose location is ideal for visiting Vienna on foot: HENRI Hotel Wien Siebterbezirk.

For tourists who do not have a big budget, here is a hotel with very good value for money. It is convenient for visiting Vienna on foot and is not far from the West Station, metros, trams and buses. See Cheap hotel in Vienna

Other weekend ideas in Europe? Cheap weekend in Marseille, The Bordeaux wine route in 2 days, Weekend in Amsterdam, Weekend in Lisbon, Romantic stay in Collioure