Welcome to this blog related to my relocation to Vienna!
This site aims at helping other Expats to settle down in
Austria... Enjoy the visit and send me your feedback!

Famous Viennese Schnitzels

The famous Viennese dish is the "Schnitzel". Schnitzels from Vienna are famous for their size, bigger than the dish :-) There are a few restaurants which are known for their schnitzels, but actually most restaurants do serve schnitzels. Figlmüller (www.figlmueller.at) is the most touristy schnitzel restaurant, probably serving the best in town. They don't look so impressive but delicious! Try them ;-)

Vienna Expat Community of Internations

Check out the Vienna Expat Community of Internations @ http://www.internations.org/expats/home/austria/vienna

You'll be able to build up valuable contacts with other expats, find some reliable information and trustworthy tips about the expat life in Vienna, and join InterNations events to meet fellow expatriate members in town!

Furnished Apartments in Vienna

Additionally to the other links in previous posts, here is another one for furnished apartments in Vienna near the city center (4th district): www.cityhomes.at

Highways in Austria

To use the Austrian highway network, you have to pay fee like in some other European countries (e.g. Switzerland). Highway stickers can be bought in most petrol stations. Always carry your driving license, vehicle registration document and certificate of motor insurance.

When entering Austria with a rental car, ensure that you have such a sticker ;-) Austria permits drivers to purchase an "Autobahnvignette" for various periods of time, from ten days to a full year. The so-called Mautvignette (toll sticker) must be affixed to the inside of the front windshield. The stickers come in varying colors in different years, making it easier for the police to spot an invalid Autobahnpickerl, Austrian slang for “autobahn sticker”.

Calendar of the Viennese Balls

For finding the calendar of the balls in Vienna, visit this site http://www.ballkalender.info/. Search engine well done!

Christmas Markets in Vienna

Enjoy the Christmas Markets in Vienna starting from around mid-November and running through Chrismas Eve (December 24th)! You can find "Christkindlmarkte" on nearly every corner of most Austrian cities :-) The small huts provide you with small Christmas presents, food and most important hot punch and Glühwein... The most traditional Christmas markets in Vienna are the ones of Rathausplatz, Schoenbrunn Castle and Spittelberg (the nicest).

Parkings and Garages in Vienna

Find more information about parkings and garages in Vienna, look at http://www.parkeninwien.at/. Useful guide (in German and English) on the short-term and permanent parkings and their regulation in the city.

German Websites

For looking at information on websites in German, try this
Google search: Google translates your query into German and find German web page results, then finally it translates the German web pages results back into English for you. Quite useful!

Vienna Metro System

Useful unofficial website, available in English, on the metro system in Vienna: http://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.prillinger/metro/. You'll find information on the maps, timetables, orientation in the city, tickets and fares, airport connections... Very useful!

Public Holidays in Austria

The public holidays in Austria are the following:

• 1st January (New Year's Day)
• 6th January (Epiphany)
• Easter Monday
• 1st May (Labour Day)
• Ascension Day
• Whit Monday
• Corpus Christi
• 15th August (Assumption)
• 26th October (Austrian National Holiday)
• 1st November (All Saints' Day)
• 8th December (Immaculate Conception)
• 25th December (Christmas Day)
• 26th December (St. Stephen's Day/Boxing Day)

Traffic Information

For traffic information in Austria, and especially in Vienna, visit the following website which provides real time data (incl. maps and webcams...): http://www.verkehrslage.at

Weather in Vienna

For the current weather in Vienna, few useful links:
- http://www.wetter.at/wetter/oesterreich/wien/wien
- http://wetter.orf.at/wie/

Costumes for Carnivals

For all your costumes for carnivals, parties..., visit the shop "Witte" on Nashmarkt (Linke Wienzeile 16, 6th district) or www.witte.at. Great stuff!

Health Links

To search for doctors/specialists in Vienna, visit this search page: http://www.aekwien.or.at/997.py. For an overview of the open pharmacies, you should check this very useful link: http://business.geolook.at/apothekerkammer/index99.asp. Although the doctors' search function allows you to specify foreign language skills (Fremdsprache), neither website is available in English Thanks Peter for these links :-)

Goldene Kugel

Very convenient shop "Goldene Kugel" (www.goldenekugel.at, 1040 Wien) to find most of the things related to kitchenware, glassware, cookware, household article and garden needs...

Free City Bike System in Vienna

Find more information on the free city bike system in Vienna at www.citybikewien.at. Quite convenient: You can hire our bikes at 50 bike stations across Vienna and return them at any station, independent of where you started your trip, it's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

International Video Store

For DVD in English (and plenty of other languages), visit Alphaville, the main international video store in Vienna, located in the 4th district: www.alphaville.at. Enjoy!

Car Rental with Lauda Motion

I heard about the nice offers of Lauda Motion for renting a car in Vienna: 1 Smart, 1 Day, 1 Euro... www.laudamotion.com. It's worth trying it :)

Timetable Information

Useful website for finding timetable information: Verkehrsverbund Ost Region (www.vor.at).

Cinemas in Vienna

For information (in German) about cinemas and movies in Vienna, go to www.film.at. This site contains links to all the cinemas, the movies programmes, the trailers...

There is a number of cinemas in Vienna showing films in English (or in their original language). To find the right version, you need to look for the following abbreviations in the cinema programme: OV (original version), OmU (original version with subtitles) and OmeU (original version with English subtitles). Two main cinemas showing English movies: www.burgkino.at and www.haydnkino.at.

TBE/FSME Vaccination

It seems that the TBE/FSME (Tick Borne Encephalitis) vaccination is recommended in Austria (and mainly in Central and Eastern Europe). You can get more information on this website: www.tick-victims.info (available in many languages). FSME is a viral disease transmitted by ticks that attacks the nervous system and can cause both mild and severe illnesses. Ticks live in forest clearings and meadows.

For vaccination in Vienna, Travel Doc (www.traveldoc.at) is located in the 4th district (Favoritenstrasse 32, 1040 Wien) and open on Saturday till 4pm.

Registration in Austria

As mentioned in more details at HELP.gv.at (see previous post), persons establishing their residence in Austria, changing residence within Austria, or changing their primary residence must register by filling out and submitting a Residence Registration Form (Meldezettel) to the responsible authority. In Vienna, you need to go to the Municipal Authority (Magistrat) of your district.

The documents to be presented (based on Help.gv.at) are (1) Travel document (e.g. passport), (2) Birth certificate, (3) Residence Registration Form (Meldezettel), and (4) Documentary Proof of Academic Degrees. It seems that, in reality, only the Meldezettel and the Passport are needed.

Service for Foreign Citizens

Help.gv.at is a website with links to a large number of public authorities, which provides information on all interactions with Austrian authorities required in the most frequent life situations such as relocation, housing, pregnancy, childbirth, marriage..., and permits the electronic processing of some of these procedures. You will find all the information which is necessary for living and working in Austria.

Route Planner and Maps

Following my former post (Maps of Vienna, Feb 06) mentioning three useful websites for finding an address in Vienna, here is another one which is really good too: http://www.at.map24.com.

Another Online Dictionary

Another very useful online translator between German and English, German and French and finally German and Spanish: http://dict.leo.org. Note that LEO offers also a dictionary version specifically designed for handheld devices with small screens (e.g. phones, PDAs...), using this address: http://pda.leo.org. Very convenient!

Public Transportation in Vienna

For all information on the public transportation in Vienna (trams, subways, bus...), visit the Wiener Linien website. It costs, for each travel, 1.50 € in the Vienna Transport Authority´s ticket offices and at the ticket machines in the underground. Tickets bought in advance must be punched in a blue ticket cancelling machine in the tram or bus or at the barrier before you board the underground train.

There are weekly (Wochenkarte), monthly (Monatskarte) and annual (Jahreskarte) passes. The monthly pass is valid from the first day of the month until the second day of the following month. They must be bought at the beginning of the month and are available at Tabaks and at ticket windows in major U-bahn stations. The yearly ticket application form can be obtained at any railway station and at major underground stations, with a photo.

Fitness Clubs in Vienna

Many fitness clubs are available in Vienna. Two clubs that I visited: John Harris and Holmes Place. I would recommend you particularly the first one. Always ask for the reduced corporate prices, and the particular offers.

Austrian Post

The link to the English pages of the Austrian Post: http://www.post.at/en/index.html. To find the locations of the post offices in a particular district: http://app.post.at/postfilialen/.

Electricity in your apartment!

For the electricity in your new apartment, you need to contact Wien Energie for setting up an appointment. The number to call is 0800 500 800. Be ready... everything is in German.

Apartment Rental Contract

There is, in Austria, an amount to pay for the government at each signature of a rental contract. It's called the "Vertragsvergebührung". It is based on the annual gross rent and the lump sum for heating/warmwater...

English-German Dictionary

Following my post of February 26 on the translation tools, I discovered Dict.cc, an English <-> German dictionary. Dict.cc is not only an online dictionary. It is the attempt to create a platform where users from all over the world can share their knowledge in the field of translations. Every visitor can suggest new translations and correct or confirm other users' suggestions. I found terms that I were not able to translate on other online dictionaires :)

Finding a Bank

The Private Banking website is providing a detailed list of 100+ banks in Vienna. For French expats, the MFE is providing at this address a list of the French banks with representations in Vienna.

Note that the "Bank Austria Creditanstalt" (http://www.ba-ca.com/en/index.html) is providing special services and facilities for the Expats and the International Community in Vienna. There are 2 locations with multilingual teams of financial advisors in the 1st district.

Bank Austria Creditanstalt Service Centre for Expatriates
Address: A-1010 Vienna, Am Hof 2
Tel : +43 5 05 05 - 52267
Fax: +43 5 05 05 - 56955
E-mail: expatriates@ba-ca.com

Apartment Rental Contract

In Austria, the commission fees of the real estate agencies are quite high. These fees will be normally equal to 3 times the monthly rental cost (+ 20% VAT). Note that you should be able to reduce these fees to 1 or 2 time(s) the monthly rental cost (+ 20% VAT) if you reduce the duration of the rent, for example from 5 years to 3-2 years.

Regarding the rental costs, the rents for unfurnished or furnished apartments in Vienna may vary, but it seems that in general the rental costs are lower than in Paris for example.

For more info on the rental types, contracts, districts... the list provided on February 25 contains such info.

Links of Expats Websites

Some links of websites dedicated for Expats in Vienna. Enjoy!

Vienna Expats
Virtual Vienna Net
American Women's Association of Vienna

Round-trip to Vienna

After going through dozens of apartment listings, having translated all of these listings from German to English/French, having mapped the addresses on a map... I did a one-day trip to Vienna for visiting 5 apartments and found one :)

From the Airport to the Center

The English version of the website of Vienna Airport is http://www.viennaairport.com. The most convenient way to reach the city center when getting at the airport of Vienna (VIE) is to take the "City Airport Train" (CAT). It's a 16-min journey non-stop. The timetable is available at http://www.cityairporttrain.com.

Subway, Trains, and Trams

Maps of S-Bahn (Trains)/U-Bahn (Subway) and Tramways...



Official website of the Austrian Railway: http://www.oebb.at
Network Maps of Vienna City and Vienna Region (in PDF): http://www.schnellbahn-wien.at/english/maps.htm

Translator Tools

For non-German speaking persons like me, the Google Translator Tool is very useful :) Others such as Voila.fr Translator, Worldlingo Free Online Translator, Langenberg Translation Page, and AltaVista Babel Fish Translation are also recommended... The "MS Word translator feature" is also very useful and easy to use.

Apartment Search

Here is a compilaton of all the websites addresses that I received or found when looking for an apartment in Vienna. Most of them are in German only :(

http://www.derstandard.at/immobilien (journal Der Standard)
http://www.immomedia.at (annonces du journal Kurier)
http://immobilien.diepresse.dermarkt.at/ (journal Die Presse)
http://www.immonet.at
http://www.immobilien.at
http://www.apartment.at (Apartements for vacations)
http://www.studentenwohnungsmarkt.de
http://www.privatimmo.at
http://www.vermiete.at
http://www.citymiete.at
http://www.aib.at
http://www.immonaut.at
http://www.rafenstein.at
http://www.singerstrasse2125.at (Temporary residence)
http://www.viennacityflats.at

Personally, I used the following real estate agency to find my apartment: RT-Immotreuhand (http://www.rtimmo.at). Very good service!

Districts of Vienna

Here are maps of the districts of Vienna. For the apartment search, very useful!

Maps of Vienna...

About the maps of Vienna... How to locate a street, an apartment...?

http://www.mappy.at
http://mapglobe.derstandard.at/
http://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/

For French Citizens

For French citizens, it is recommended to contact the Maison des Français de l'Etranger (MFE) that depends of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I discovered, thanks to the MFE, the "Expaconseil" service that can give advice, on request, to employers wishing to hire foreign workers as well as to potential emigrants (like me!), on the drawing up of contracts and their contents, in particular in relation to social security and remuneration. I recommend you to contact these experts that are reachable by email and phone. I got very good advices!

Maison des Français de l’Etranger
34 rue La Pérouse, 75016 Paris
Tel: +33 1 43 17 60 79
Email: mfe@mfe.org

Expaconseil
Tel. : +33 1 53 02 25 65
Fax : +33 1 53 02 25 95
Email: expaconseil.omi@anpe.fr

Embassy Listings for Austria

For Austrian embassies around the world and foreign embassies in Austria, you can visit the directory of the world's embassies and consulates at the following address:

http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/Austria/Austria.html

French & Austrian Embassies

Contacting both embassies was very useful to have a lot of info:

Austrian Embassy in Paris (http://www.amb-autriche.fr)
- Address: 6, rue Fabert, 75007 Paris
- Tél: +33 (0)1 40-63-30-63
- Fax: +33 (0)1 45-55-63-65
- Email : paris-ob@bmaa.gv.at

French Embassy in Vienna (http://www.ambafrance-at.org)
- Address: Technikerstrasse 2, 1040 Wien
- Tel. +43 (1) 502 750
- Fax. +43 (1) 50 27 51 68
- Email: contact@ambafrance-at.org

The "Employment Service" is reachable by phone at +43-1-502-75204 or by email at ccpefp@org-france.at.

Evaluation of the Taxes

The tool available on the following website enables you to evaluate the taxes you will have to pay as well as the social contributions, taking into account your gross salary:

http://bruttonetto.akwien.at/

You need to:
- Select "Angestellter" in Arbeitsverhältnis,
- Select "Nein" in Alleinverdienerabsetzbetrag if you're not married,
- Enter the number of kids in "Anzahl der Kinder",
- Enter the gross monthly salary in "Brutto".

Note that, in Austria, the annual salary is divided by 14 (including the Christmas bonus and vacations allowance).

Same kind of tool is also available at http://www.cpulohn.at/ in the section "Brutto/Netto".

Austrian Tax System

Short summary on the tax system in Austria: Income taxes on corporations, income taxes on individuals, income taxes on non-residents, other significant taxes, and computation of taxable income.

PDF File

Investing in Austria

A very complete document on the investment in Austria. It includes information on the business opportunities in Austria, the forms of business enterprises, the taxation system, the mergers and acquisitions, the trade and industry law, the real estate law, the foreign exchange control, the customs, and the banking system...

PDF File

Working in Austria

An interesting 70-page document on the employment in Austria. The document covers the following thematics: Arrival in Austria, living conditions, education, recognition of diplomas obtained abroad, job-hunting, terms and conditions of employment, taxes, social security, checklist for relocating in Austria, and useful addresses.

Two other summary documents quite useful: Living and Working in Austria and Looking for Work in Austria.

PDF Files

Photos of Vienna

Photos of Vienna on WikiPedia: Castles, Churches, Modern Vienna, Squares and Memorials, Prater amusement Park, Parks...

Maps of Austria and Vienna

Here are maps of Austria and Vienna.



Austria is located in Central Europe. It is an predominantly mountainous country with an area of 83,855 km2. Eight countries namely Italy, Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia form the Austrian border. Vienna is the capital of Austria that lies on the Danube River and is partly surrounded by the hills of the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald).

First Visit to Vienna

Everything started when I got an opportunity to relocate to Vienna... I decided to spend a week-end there to get a first impression of what is to live in Vienna. I had a very nice stay :)