Tourist Scams in Austria

Are you heading to Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck or any other Austrian city and were wondering about safety advice on visiting Austria? Well we go through a few tourist scams, tourist traps, and tourist safety advice in Austria here. Be a prepared tourist for your Austrian vacation.
Filmed in Innsbruck, Austria

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Copyright Mark Wolters 2024

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[christapulmon]

About souvenirs:
Don't buy Austrian sweets like Morzartkugeln or Mannerschnitten at some random overpriced museum or souvenir store, just go to a local supermarket like "Billa" or "Spar" instead. All that stuff is so much cheaper there.

[Zugfaehrtdurch]

Especially for the Americans watching: Regarding "Sound of Music" be prepared for the fact that 99% of us have never seen that movie 🙂

[to_loww]

Be aware that the 3 day ticket (72 Stunden Wien) for Vienna's public transportation is exactly the same price as a ticket valid for 7 days (7 Tage Wien). Both are 17.10 EUR.

[SokeDokuTeam]

Video title: "Tourist Scams in Austria"
Video content: There are none, some things are just expensive or unusual.

[acanorum]

you forgot the mozart guys trying to sell you overpriced concert tickets. no Austrian would go to those

[stephanweinberger]

A "kinda" tourist trap in Vienna are those guys in Mozart-like livery selling classic concert tickets. Those tickets either can often be found cheaper elsewhere (also, many places like the State Opera or the Musikverein offer last-minute tickets for dirt cheap), or they are for "no name" orchestras (not necessarily bad, but maybe not what you'd expect).

[SpeedbirdAT]

As an austrian: we may look a little bit grumpy, but we're mostly friendly and always helpful 😉

[aaronhurst]

I'd recommend just walking around Vienna if you're there for the day - super walkable city, and you can see all the great sites in just a few hours

[sandiandgregh]

Austria is absolutely lovely. We’ve visited a few times and would go back again in an instant.

[agenttank]

i dont trust you anymore since you said austrian beer is bad

[FlorianLiehr]

As an Austrian, I have never tried the CAT. However, there is one feature - in addition to your video - that makes the CAT practical and justifies the extra charge: you can drop off your luggage at the station and check in for your flight.

[meisterballe]

One tourist trap common in a lot of tourist destinations, not just in Austria are the Euronet ATMs that charge fees and have high exchange rates which can really cost a lot of money if you’re not careful. This is especially important to know since Austria still uses cash very often. I would recommend avoiding these, they are mostly either labeled with „ATM“ or „Cash“. Instead use one from a bank like Erste Bank, Sparkasse, Bank Austria, Bawag, Raiffeisen or at the post offices, they don’t charge any fees except your bank‘s conversion fees.

[felixsh]

One thing worth mentioning is, that if you have the ticket for public transport in Vienna, it is not enough to get to the airport in Schwechat. Schwechat, the city, is included. The airport of Schwechat is not. I sometimes work at the kiosk in the train stations, and tourists don't seem to realize that they have to pay for the one additional station.

Also, if you have the ticket for the public transport in Vienna, a ticket with a train that goes outside of Vienna might cost a bit less (depends on the train). At the kiosk, you can just click on a box that says "Ab Stadtgrenze" ("from city border", or something similar), top-right on the screen after you chose a destination, and you will only pay for the part outside of Vienna. It's only 2, 40€ saved, but still. Especially useful when you go to the airport, because the one station then costs only 2 €, I think.

Also, fun video. Kinda funny, that it's not even scams, just some stuff that is somewhat overpriced. And the essence being: Yeah, there are no scams.

[manolisk]

I am from Greece and live in Vienna. Your videos about the places I already know, are the ones that convinced me to seek your advice for my other travels! Because I couldn't agree more! :) We are also visiting Sevilla and Barcelona soon, so your latest videos had incredible timing! Thank you!

[Elle-trpu]

I got one tourist trap: the, ,Wiener Christkindlmarkt“ at the Rathausplatz in Vienna. It‘s crowded with lots of tourists, very expensive and there are some pickpockets. Visit smaller christmasmarkets in Vienna (Spittelberg, Am Hof, Maria Theresienplatz, Karlsplatz), Salzburg (Hellbrunn) or visit the Salzkammergut Christmasmarkets instead. They are wonderful! ✨

[DRZGP]

Me and a friend had an unfortunate incident in Vienna outside the Opera house. A chap came along with a leaflet selling tickets to the opera show while showing us a little dance in which he said twirled around my friend and next minute he was gone and so was my friend’s wallet. We tried to chase him to no avail and then went to the police who were Fairly friendly. a couple of months down the line did actually even catch hold of that person and sent my friend mugshots to recognise him

[cornettomsc]

Regarding the City Card: Buy the NÖ-Card (NÖ = Niederösterreich = Lower Austria). Lower Austria is one of the nine states in Austria and surrounds Vienna as a whole. With the card you get to see nice attractions outside but also IN Vienna. And it's much, much cheaper than the Vienna Card.

[keithparker]

In both Salzburg and Innsbruck, my wife and I have invested in 3-day city cards and found that after visiting a couple of museums (and the Nordkettenbahn in Innsbruck), the cards had virtually paid for themselves on the first day! I am not so sure about the 'value for money' of the Graz card but we will be certainly be investing in the Bodensee Voralpen Freizeit card when we visit Lindau and Bregenz in June - the card not only gives you free-entry to 50 museums and a trip on the Pfanderbahn, but also is valid on rail and buses in the Voralpen district as far as the border stations at Lindau (Germany) and Buchs (Switzerland) (I am told it is also valid in Liechtenstein). Although not relevant to this video, if you are visiting the eastern end of Bodensee, bear in mind that guests at Hotels in Lindau get the benefit of being given the Echte Bodensee Card (it's paid for out of the Kurtax, the local guest tax that all guests have to pay) for the duration of your stay which gives you free public transport along the northern (German) shore of the lake and free or discounted admission to a lot of attractions.

[flowvo]

I completely agree with you about the airport train (CAT - green color), you should rather take the normal train (ÖBB - red color). Depending on the type of ÖBB train, it will take you between 30 - 60 minutes to get to the city for much less money than with the CAT. That's how we locals do it too ;)

As a native Austrian, I can say that almost all pickpockets come from Eastern Europe and are organized groups. Unfortunately, every year at Christmas time we are flooded by these people in the cities and Christmas markets. The same applies to the beggars at the markets. Please do not confuse this with real Austrians, we appreciate tourists and want to make your stay as pleasant as possible.

[moribund]

As an Austrian I have to say, spot on as always! 😀
And I completely agree about the Sacher Torte!
Most overrated cake ever!
There are at least a dozen Austrian cakes that are much better.