Getting to Vienna

Vienna airport outside panorama

S-Bahn logo

By Plane

The Vienna International Airport (VIE) is located just outside the city at the border to Lower Austria. Most European airlines have direct connections to the airport. Budget airlines that have flights to Vienna are: Sky Europe, Fly Niki, Air Berlin, ClickAir and Germanwings.

There are several options to get from the airport to the city centre of Vienna:

• S-Bahn

The cheapest way to get to the city center from the airport is the S-Bahn (local railway). You can either buy a ticket for two zones for € 3,40 at the VOR Ticket machines (not the green ones!). Or you can buy a ticket for one zone (€ 1,70) plus a ticket for Public Transport in Vienna (see page Vienna - Getting around). The S-Bahn runs twice an hour from about 5:00 a.m. to midnight. Through summer there is also a hourly train between midnight and 4 am. It takes around 25 minutes to get to the center.

City Airport Train near Vienna

• City Airport Train

There is also a special City Airport Train (CAT, tourist trap!). One way costs € 8,00 (only at green ticket machines). The train leaves every half hour and takes 16 minutes to the center.

• Bus to/from airport

A similarly expensive bus (€ 6) runs from the Airport to Südbahnhof, Schwedenplatz and Westbahnhof, the UN HQ and through some southern suburbs to Liesing.

• Departure

If you want to know if your flight is delayed or cancelled before you actually journey out to the airport, check the airport's website.

Bratislava-Airport Vienna's second airport is just across the border in the Slovak capital of Bratislava (BTS). It is mainly served by low cost carriers. Several companies run busses from Bratislava Airport to Vienna (underground U3 stop Erdberg or U1 stop Südtiroler Platz), one company also connects the two airports. Direct buses from Bratislava airport to Vienna take about 100 minutes, tickets cost around 10 Euro one way. One of the cheapest connections is the Terravision Bus for Ryanair customers. (But anyone can use the bus.) A single is 8 Euros if you book online: www.terravision.eu

By Train

Westbahnhof in Vienna

• Westbahnhof: serves mainly trains to and from the west and north-west (Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands,…) and some trains, that go from east to north-west.
• Südbahnhof: serves mainly trains to and from the south, east, north-east (Graz, Klagenfurt, Bratislava, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungaria, Slovakia, Czech Republik …)

Some international trains also arrive at smaller train stations like Wien Meidling or Wien Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof.

There are special train offers to many bigger cities close to Austria, mainly destinations in Germany and Italy. The offer is called SparSchiene. A list of the destinations can be found on the website of the Austrian railway company (ÖBB) - SparSchiene. Prices for a seat are 29 Euro, for a couchette 39 Euro. Tickets have to be booked quite a bit in advance (one - two months), especially for popular destinations like Berlin or Hamburg.

There is a door to door timetable service on the website of the Austrian railway company, which also includes the trains of most other European countries.

By Bus

The Vienna International Busterminal is located right next to the underground station Erdberg (line U3). Amongst others, Euroline buses arrive and depart from there. For more information which Euroline buses go to Vienna, visit the Eurolines-Homepage.

Some other international buses arrive next to the Südbahnhof (railway station).

a Student Agency Bus

• Czech Republic

There is cheap Czech bus company called Student Agency which has daily buses to Vienna. A ticket from Brno costs 6 Euro, a ticket from Prague costs 12 Euro to Vienna. If you're a student or below 26 you can also get a discount. Student Agency also has destinations in a lot of other countries. For more Information have a look at the Student Agency-Homepage.

• Budapest

There is also a cheap bus to Budapest. The bus company is called Orange Ways. A one-way ticket to Budapest costs around 8 Euro. From Budapest you also have cheap buses to Ljubljana, Zagreb or Romania. For more Information have a look at the Orange Ways-Homepage(Note: In Hungarian Vienna is called Becs).

By Boat

Twin city liner

Hitchhiking

Hitchhiking definitly is the cheapest way to get to Vienna. All neighbouring states of Austria have highways to the city, which makes it relatively easy to get to Vienna. Good locations for hitchhiking are gas stations or feeder roads to the highway. Hitchhiking on the highway itself is illegal, as in many other countries. Tips for hitchhiking in and out of Vienna can be found on the Hitchwiki. Tips about hitchhiking itself can be found on Travelwiki.