Summer of ‘24 Pt.2 - Austria

My favourite trip so far…

Vienna

The rolling alpine hills stretching up into rocky peaks, the meandering grassy valleys dotted with groves of spruce and pine trees. The grand marble buildings and cobbled streets of Vienna. Austria somehow managed to surpass any vivid depiction of its beauty. It’s a place I have always dreamt of visiting. Ever since watching The Sound of Music, as cliché as it may be, some of my heart was plucked and dropped in the musical centre of Europe, calling for me to retrieve it. The summer of ’24 marked my first chance to go and explore the place I had so longed to see, and it did not disappoint.

My trip through Austria marks my longest and most expensive trip so far. My friend Juanita and I managed to get £75 return flights over a week nearing the end of June. By returning before the school summer holidays began, we managed to avoid hiked flight prices. Once we booked the flights it was only then we formulated a plan. After lots of back and forth, research and parental consultations we landed on a mini interrail to three of Austria’s major cities. Two nights in Vienna, two nights in Graz, two nights in Salzburg, and one more night in Vienna before flying home. We organised stays in Hostels, not hotels or Airbnb’s. This was both for cost reasons, as well as the experience youth hostels can give you – in our case this proved extensive. With an average of £60 a night each for the hostels, accommodation for the week totalled around £350 each. This was a pleasant surprise for a place with a fairly expensive reputation, but it did not come without its caveats.

So off we went – first stop the vibrant city of Vienna. We had booked to stay in the Hostel Ruthensteiner, near the Westbanhopf. It was... amazing. The hostel was far closer to a hotel. A private en-suite room, free WIFI, toiletries and air conditioning. With 33-degree temperatures this was greatly appreciated. The hostel was beyond accommodating. Breakfast in the morning covered, and dinners at night cooked by fellow guests and paid for by an honesty system. Whatever you could give. Unfortunately, the night we could have gone for dinner, after a very long nap we awoke too late, but alas one could not take advantage of everything. They ran bike tours, grape-picking tours, they offered travel passes, music nights, game nights, basically whatever you could imagine – they had. This also proved to be the cheapest hostel we stayed in. I could not recommend it more. Its proximity to public transport was also more than ideal. Although the Vienna transport system was so brilliant, you were never really out of its proximity. The public transport in Vienna runs on an honesty system. At the risk of potentially being fined, you could be dishonest and travel for free across the bus, tram, and subway. Whatever we decided to do is… inconsequential.

Having been out for food a lot in Glasgow’s west end, and feeling that was generally quite steep, Vienna was a daunting prospect. However, it proved far more economical than I anticipated. Accounting for the conversion rate, the prices for food was nearly identical to what you would be paying in Glasgow. We visited two iconic brunch spots, and both restaurants provided main meals for around €14. Coffees were a bit steeper, but we chose to explore the coffees specific to Austria. The einspanner was particularly yum. Coffee and whipped fresh cream could never go wrong. We managed to go out for food for two brunches, and two dinners, without breaking the budget. For late lunches we went to the little Billa stores scattered across the city for their fresh lunch tubs. Also, very yum. We used one debit card, with no conversion charges the whole trip and just sent it in what we both owed. This made budgeting and spending much more straight-forward.

Vienna is bursting with tourist attractions: Stephen Platz, Belvedere Palace, Vienna University, Prater, and the National bibliothek; you could never be short on things to see. I was 18 while travelling, while Juanita was 19. 19 is the cut off for cheap tickets to attractions. Although we split it overall, if you are travelling as an 18-year-old it’s even easier to avoid the occasionally steep prices of attraction tickets. If you are wanting to avoid them completely, that would be a feasible option. Vienna, like Paris, is a sight to behold unto itself.

Thus, with heavy hearts, we departed Vienna on a €30 train to the city of Graz. Had we booked the trains further in advance, we could have avoided steeper prices on trainline, but we wanted flexibility. On the return to Vienna before flying home we visited the gardens of the Schonbrunn palace, for free, which was a lovely end to the trip and filled our last day. Graz proved a different story entirely.

Graz

The second largest city of Austria was our second destination. Designated as the European Capital of Culture in 2003, we had high hopes going in. We had booked into the Sishaus hostel after seeing good reviews online. Although being more expensive than Ruthensteiner, it was not so expensive as to put us off. After arriving we explored the city a bit, and both agreed it was a lovely place. Winding streets lined with detailed and multicoloured buildings, with trams sauntering past wherever you went. It struck a nice balance between the charm of a small Austrian town while maintaining the bustle of city living.

It was the night of our arrival when things took a turn. We had checked into our hostel and embarrassingly went to McDonald’s for dinner. We were too tired to try and expand our cuisine-based horizons and were a bit too late for a restaurant dinner either way. Upon our return to the hostel, we settled back in and began getting ready for bed. This particular hostel had shared bathrooms. Juanita had been back and forth to the toilet a couple times and had noticed a man, a fellow guest, seemed to be lingering around them while she was there. She noted him giving her a rather unsettling smile. I, in trying to settle her, convinced her it was likely just a weird smile and nothing more. As it often happens, women are usually right. I then went to the bathroom and while exiting, encountered the man Juanita had spoken of. No hello, just silence as I passed him. I mentioned this to Juanita as a way of saying don’t worry. Juanita then went to the bathroom for what was going to be our final trip of the night before settling in. She came back shaken. The man had been peering out a bathroom cubicle at Juanita while she washed her face. I started to become more sceptical of the man’s intentions but still tried to diffuse any worry. The window of our room looked onto the windows that lined the Hostel’s café. Juanita had been demonstrating using the curtains, how the man was looking at her in the bathrooms. Once she left the window, before closing the curtains I looked out. There he was. Sat in the dark, head down, eyes forward, psycho staring into our room. Even after meeting eyes, he did not even flinch and kept his eyes fixed on our room. I informed Juanita, who thought I was pulling her leg. A few minutes later she also looked out the window and he was still there and had not moved an inch. We locked the door and sat. What were we going to do? I attempted to phone the hostels number several times, as well as their “emergency” number several times too. No answer at all. It was then we could hear footsteps outside our door, and breathing. For around an hour he was stood outside our door, wating. After being abandoned by the hostel staff we phoned our parents. Juanita’s Dad was very keen on us getting out of the hostel as soon as possible. He informed us he had booked a hotel room and phoned the police. A mere ten minutes later we heard the police arrive, and the man return to his room for the first time. They came in, asked if all was okay, and then left once they heard no responses. Upon their exit, we made ours. We sprinted out of the hostel into an uber to the hotel. When looking back at the man’s door, we saw what appeared to be a code-lock door handle attached to the hinge-side of the door. When researching that the next day, we discovered it was a portable door camera. He had been watching us go back and forth to know when to come out. This left us… shaken, to say the least. Once at the hotel we both took very long showers and sat up talking until four in the morning.

Our next day was spent in recovery, but also trying to act in defiance of what had happened. Why let this experience ruin our whole trip. We climbed the hill in Graz to the iconic clock tower and had a pint of Austrian beer at the summit looking out over the city. A view like that could help wash away any bad night. We made several attempts to contact the hostel to inform them of what happened and to seek a refund of our second night, which we decided not to spend there. No answer. We still had the room key, and they did not respond by phone call, or booking.com.

We booked our second night at the ibis budget hotel. This was as you can imagine, not nice. Simple words to describe a simply bad experience. However, anything was better than returning to that hostel. Our last morning in Graz was spent at this cathedral outside of the city, which was magnificent. We were basically the only people there which enhanced the experience.

We then returned to the hotel and prepared to leave. I try and look back on Graz fondly, it was objectively a lovely place and somewhere I would recommend visiting if you are given the chance. However, do not stay at the Sishaus hostel. My main advice from our experience would be, do not leave it so late to phone the police. If someone is being creepy, trust yourself to know. Try simpler means prior but do not feel bad about involving the police. If they had not come, I have no idea what Juanita and I would have done.

Anyway, off to Salzburg!

Salzburg

The Rome of the North, Salzburg. Arguably the place I was most excited to visit. The train from Graz cost around €30 each. Again, this would have been cheaper had we booked further in advance. We selected on of the dorm rooms at Yoho International Hostel. This proved a daunting prospect after our previous experience but in the end, was absolutely fine. It did not have the same luxury of the Hostel Ruthensteiner, and was still more expensive but we did not feel hard done by. Our time in Salzburg was mostly spent wandering about, exploring. While we were there, the city was bidding adieu to the Salzburg music festival, but the lingering buzz was still present.

We did try and explore the Fortress Hohensalzburg, but expensive tickets put us off. However, the walk around the castle is free and the views are stunning. The cost of food was similar to Vienna, so we were not put out by that. A coffee and strudel here and there, a trip to the building used as the Von Trapp family home, and we were satisfied.

Salzburg was a lovely place, but a small place all the same. As Juanita is more of a city-goer she enjoyed the countryside vibes a bit less than I did, but could still appreciate the city’s undeniable charm. This trip was ideal for ticking off bucket list locations. Granted, it was a more tiring trip than Aix, but we crammed so much in, it was more than worth it.

So finally, a train back to Vienna for a similar cost as our previous two journey’s. Another night at the Hostel Ruthensteiner, talking to fellow travellers with the ambience of live music, proved an excellent way to conclude our Austrian soujorn.

Despite the obvious qualifying factors, this marked my favourite trip so far. Excellent company, dream destinations, I could not have asked for anything more. Well… maybe better hostel-mates.

Affordability - 8/10

Visitability - 9/10

Transport Availability - 9/10

Accommodation - 7/10