Vienna Morning Tour
I am going on The Blue Danube on October 27th. The tour booklet said we are in Vienna on Nov 1 and have a morning tour. Does anyone know approximately what time that tour ends. I would like to book the Lipizzaner Stallions and it starts at 11 a.m. Don't know if I can make it in time or if I can leave the group a little earlier to catch that show. Apparently it is only at 11 a.m.
0
Comments
When we did this tour in May it probably ended a bit later than that, but not much. We went into St. Stephens and another church afterwards before having lunch, but I think our lunch was a bit late.
But leaving the tour early isn't a big deal as long as you already have the info on where to meet the shuttles back to the ship later. The end of this tour isn't all that significant, and if you left early you would be at or close to the stables.
A word of caution. No matter what happened on someone else's tour, yours could be different. All sorts of things can change the timing which is why you never get the detailed (by the hour) schedule until the day before. Best of luck.
Mind what Claudia says.
Update: I just looked at the SRS calendar which shows a performance (no Morning Exercise) on Friday, 1 Nov. They are still showing afternoon tours, too. So, you could drop some serious coin by going to a performance at 11:00 then taking the tour at 2:00 (or later). You can do this!!! Go for it!!! The performance is only 70 min. so you can do both!!!
That being said, when we went in April 2018 The Tauck walking tour ended near the Michaelerplatz entrance to the Hofburg. At about 11:00 +/- and we did the following. We pre-planned to see the Lipizzaner Morning Exercise (rider training and exercises and basic maneuvers- nothing fancy, no jumping, but you get to see how these beautiful animals move- you can read about it on the official Spanish Riding School website at this link . The Winter Riding School Arena is actually in the Hofburg. The "Exercise" runs from 10:00 until 12:00 on weekdays. We may have bailed out of the walking tour which ends nearby a bit early, but not much. Tickets must be purchased on the day of the visit and are available at the office just inside the left arch of the Hofburg. The Stallburg (stables) is just across the street from the arena- you walk right by it on the Tauck walking tour. Fortunately we read on TripAdvisor that many people thought that two hours was more than enough time, actually too much time to spend there, so we didn't rush. You can come and go at any time. Tickets prices are a bit steep but since we arrived late we only paid about half(?) price!!! We watched the last 45 minutes/hour of the "exercise" from the gallery and felt satisfied with what we saw (photography of any sort is not allowed, there are minders roaming the gallery!!, however . . . wink, wink).
There is a cafe in the Hofburg but we had time to kill so we walked a few blocks to the historic and well known Cafe Central then took a carriage ride and did some window shopping before returning for the full Lipizzaner stable and arena tour (English version) at 2:00 . I booked that on the SRS website a few weeks/months(?) before leaving the States. You make payment and meet the guide in same place where you paid for the Morning Exercise viewing. You can't pet or touch the horses but are eyeball to eyeball and only inches away from them at the stable. You can read about the tour at my link, but the tour covers the stable, tack room, arena, etc. Potography allowed of everything but the horses.
Check out Google maps to get an appreciation for how close these and other places are in Vienna.
A photo, taken from the street of a Lipizzaner in his stall horse at the Stallburg.
"Greeter" at Cafe Central
Each Lipizzaner has its own custom tack.
The practice and show arena.
On our tour in May Tauck had a few tickets available to the stables on one of the two days we were in Vienna, which were offered to those interested as they lasted. I gathered this was not usual but it happened in this case, so you might be lucky.