Private Vienna Half-Day Small-Group Tour: City Landmarks and Highlights

Do NOT Waste Your Money

Don't waste your money - it will be less expensive to book an Uber than to rely on this "tour" company. My family and I booked what we believed would be a small, private tour of the highlights in Vienna, Austria, through Viator, which bills itself as “A TripAdvisor Company.” Since we regularly use TripAdvisor and the company has a good online reputation, we expected that Viator would deliver everything that was promised on the web site that advertised the tour. At a cost of more than $433 for the five of us (two adults and three young children), the tour was not cheap, but we’ve previously found small private tours to be one of the most effective ways to share a lot of information with our children and to still keep them engaged in spite of their age. The TripAdvisor and Viator web sites promised "a 3-hour, private tour in a comfortable vehicle." As promised, we expect to "hear stories about the city’s kings, queens and revolutionaries" from a knowledgable tour guide. Instead we got a driver, who was not from Vienna (he lived in Bratislava, Slovakia) and only spoke broken English. While he was a perfectly fine driver, he hardly knew a thing about the places he drove us to and he certainly did not know much about the history or stories about the city. By the 20-minute mark, I felt that we had been ripped off and, short of being driven to the sights, the experience was a complete waste of time. After finishing the tour, I contacted the tour operator, who was non-cooperative and refused to recognize that there was a problem. I then raised the issue to Viator, who was equally uncooperative and insisted that this tour did not include a tour guide. My family and I travel frequently, but we will never use Viator again. I'm also questioning my willingness to utilize TripAdvisor going forward.

Fascinating!

Our tour guide Norbert was not only knowledgeable about the city & historic buildings in Vienna, but shared with us that he also restores paintings to their original glory. What talent! Seeing the Vienna through his eyes was fascinating. I especially enjoyed the rose garden at the Summer Palace.

Wasn't worth the money. We booked...

<p>Wasn't worth the money. We booked this tour so my elderly mother who has difficulty walking long distances could experience more parts of Vienna. Our guide was okay - she was very knowledgeable but was very rigid in delivery. The highlights were as expected and due to traffic we spent lots of time parked and going in circles. I have been on a lot of Viator private tours and have really enjoyed them - this tour I would not book again nor would I recommend it.</p>

Amazing professionals. Guide was so...

<p>Amazing professionals. Guide was so helpful and understanding. Helping with every single issue. Highly recommend! Thank You very much. looking forward to coming back to Vienna! :</p>