Visiting Vienna with Children
May 3rd, 2008 by
travel
Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city, with architectural and cultural delights that can enthrall you for days, if not weeks. But what if you’re traveling to Vienna with children? The last thing you want, when you’re admiring a particularly delightful building, is the dreaded words - ‘I’m bored’.
There’s a great deal in Vienna for children too, giving you the opportunity to sample this city’s delights without boring your kids. One of the best is the wonderful Prater amusement park. This funfair contains playgrounds, ponds, sandpits and plenty of room to run around, as well as the more traditional attractions of a funfair. These include the big wheel that will be familiar to James Bond fans.
Vienna contains many parks and gardens, but you need to be a little careful if you’re taking children to one of these. Many are designed to be attractive to walk through, rather than fun play areas. Keep an eye out for signs saying ‘Bitte nicht betreten’, which translates to the familiar phrase ‘Please don’t walk on the grass’.
Many hotels offer a babysitting service, so talk to the concierge and find out what can be arranged if you want a night out on the town without your kids. Check what time you need to return, as you may find you need to pay the babysitter’s taxi fare home if you get back any later.
Restaurants vary in their attitudes to children. Many will tolerate them if they are quite and well behaved, which doesn’t help much if your children don’t co-operate! So check first to see if the restaurant is happy to have children as guests, and whether they offer children’s portions. Some of the bigger hotels offer special meal deals for children on Sundays, which can be a good way to save some money. In the warmer months, the many informal street cafes, or Heurige, are also good places for families to eat.
Like all major cities, Vienna also has its share of zoos, museums and sporting events. This means you are sure to find activities that will appeal to your children’s interests and ages. Traveling with children can be a wonderful experience, giving you the opportunity to experience the world through their eyes, and Vienna is no different.
If you want to find out more about traveling in Austria with kids, click over to Gordon’s site at http://www.travelaustriainfozone.com.
Tags: Austria, Travel Austria, Vienna, vienna children