Three days in Vienna

We arrive on a Tuesday morning in December and depart on Friday mid-morning. We%26#39;ll have our 2 year old son with us need a little help with making an itinerary.

We have never been to Europe so please excuse me if some of my questions seem naive. :)

We would like to see the Schonbrunn Palace and take our son to the Marionette Theater but can%26#39;t find a schedule online. How much time should we devote to this outing?

We would also like to pop in on the Lipizzaner rehearsals, spend a little time touring the heurigers (will they be open?) and see the Imeperial Palace. In between all that we%26#39;ll be hitting up as many cafes as possible and visiting the Christmas markets.

A trip to Demel is also a must-do!

Despite all of my research I%26#39;m having a hard time nailing down a schedule for us and would appreciate any help as well as any suggestions for things we might have overlooked.

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For marionettes

www.marionettentheater.at

note the performances are not held on a daily basisi.

Thus you must make your plans based on that schedule to include Schonbrunn Palace and the market.

www.schoenbrunn.at

Plan at least 1/2 day for this vist.

A nice restaurant in the Palace complex , so a place to eat , drink and relax.

Restrooms there too on the lower level.

For the horses

Morning exercise

www.srs.at

no need to wait in lkine - go a little later than the opening - you miss the crowd that way and most do not stay for the lrngth of the workout - 2 hours.

Many like to see the horses cross the street from the stables to the Hall. This is easily done and you get a clse up view- also fun to look in the big windows and see the horse stalls- often the horses looking at the crowd.

Stop at the rathaus - City Hall Christmas Market as it becomes dark this about 4:30 ( 16:30 ) The parks nearby and the city hall itself well lighted.

Many heurigers will be open

www.wien.info

is a good source of information on most things and offer a quick guide for your visit.

Demel is not my favorite cafe , but liked by many -

So many to visit - so no trouble to find one during your travels.

Many like Cafe Central, Diglas, Sperl and more.

For your schedule - just review the above sites and you can plan around the specific things you need. Plus taking the habits - sleeping, eating , attention span of your child .

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Thank you for your helpful reply! Based on your suggestions and what we want to see I%26#39;ve made a rough draft of an itinerary. Our toddler likes to sleep in his stroller but despite that we%26#39;re trying to not pack too much in a day. Please take a look and tell me if this is a realistic plan. :)

Tuesday (day one)

Arrive Vienna at 9:30 AM

Relax at B%26amp;B

Ride around the Ringstrasse

Christmas Market at City Hall 4:30 PM

(taking it easy since we%26#39;ll have spent the night before traveling)

Wednesday (day two)

Morning visit to Imperial Palace (how long should we dedicate to this?)

Visit St. Stephen%26#39;s

Afternoon at heuirigers

Thursday (day three)

Morning exercises at Spanish Riding School

Schonbrunn Palace

Christmas Market

Marionettes @ 4pm

Friday (day four)

We depart at 11:00 AM so we%26#39;ll have a few hours to play with)

Any museums we should/could fit in somewhere in there? Also, my next step is to make a list of restaurants close by to these attractions. We%26#39;re major foodies but with a toddler we%26#39;re very sensitive to eating out so places with more action are always good as they keep him occupied. :) We%26#39;ll be eating in for most dinners so he can roam in the apartment in the evenings.

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If you%26#39;re going to Schönbrunn I wouldn%26#39;t bother with the apartments at the Hofburg. They%26#39;re similar, but less impressive. Much more impressive would be the Schatzkammer - probably the finest Crown Jewels in the world. As the Spanish Riding School is part of the same palace complex I%26#39;d do the two at the same time. To give your youngster something to see at Schönbrunn I%26#39;d take in a visit to the zoo whilst you%26#39;re there - it%26#39;s very child friendly.

http://www.zoovienna.at/e/index.html

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good suggestion by Norman regarding the Hofburg.

Also leave time for the unexpected - you are certain to see something that needs extra time.

a short relief for your child - a visit to a toy store

Kober - this old shop on Graben , not far drom the meinl food shop on the pedestrian zone in the city center .

You will see the window advertisement and the elevator to take you up the one floor.

Small tradional shop - many stuffed animals among other things too.

for cafes

Cafe Braunerhof

Stallburggasse 2

very near the Spanish Riding School-

food and drink in a Vienna atmosphere.

Landtmann

just across the Ringstrasse from the Rathaus Christmas market - nice atmosphere.

www.landtmann.at

this firm also has the Restaurant residenz at Schonbrunn palace - some info on this site about that too.

Cafe Central in Palace Ferstel

on Herrengasse

very near to the Freyung Christmas market.