How to Find Cheap Flights to Vienna
Obviously, we 100% support sustainable travel. Especially when you are based in Europe, traveling via train is so easy and often even a lot more convenient than flying! However, not everyone lives on this beautiful continent of ours, and sometimes there is just no way around boarding a flight if you want to see the world. The great thing about today’s age of information is that it’s incredibly easy to save on plane tickets - and also, offset your carbon emissions at the same time with your savings.
So even though we’re not about to sell you on some travel credit cards or tell you the magic secret to travel hacking, we thought we would put together a few important tips on how to find cheap flights to Vienna, Austria.
Get the timing right.
When looking for international fares, start shopping early and buy around 3-6 months before departure. Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone, but when you can be flexible with dates to get the best rates. In our experience, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are the cheapest days to travel. Sunday and Monday are usually more expensive. Another important thing to remember: There is no single search engine that consistently shows the lowest price! To get the best deal, check many. Our favorites include Google Flights, Momondo and SkyScanner. When possible, be sure to save your flight searches and flag them for email notifications so you will know immediately when the price suddenly drops.
Stay flexible with your destination.
Sure, you want to end up in Vienna. But what about flying into Bratislava and spend a quick day touring Slovakia’s capital and then take a short one-hour train ride to Vienna and save several hundreds of dollars at the same time? Working backward from your destination and looking for low-cost carriers that fly there can definitely work wonders, especially when you factor in the amazing, convenient and (if booked in advance) reasonably priced train connections in Europe. Budapest, Prague, Munich, Salzburg - all these hubs are within 3-4 hours of Vienna.
Travel off-season.
Again, this doesn’t work for everyone - if you are travelling with school kids, you are obviously limited in when to travel, especially internationally. But if you can, avoid peak travel months in Austria in general - not only because there will be less people, but also because rates for flights and hotels will be much lower.
Off-season in Austria counts as the following:
January through mid-May
September through mid-November
There are so many things to do in and around Vienna, no matter the time of the year! Another important thing here is to research big events in your destination. In Vienna, we have the immensely popular Opera Ball in February, the City Marathon in April or our famous Christmas markets in December. Airlines know when these events happen, of course, and raise their prices accordingly.
We assure you: A couple of hours invested into your research and you will easily be able to save hundreds of dollars on your airfare, which you can then spend on sausages, wine and apple strudel once you've made it to Vienna. See you soon!
