My Lifehacks on How to Get
the Best Room at Any Hotel
My Lifehacks on How to Get the Best Room at Any Hotel
Getting a good, relaxing and not-noisy sleep is one of the most important parts of our travel. For this reason, I am very careful with selecting where to stay during our trips. There are two critical elements about selecting a great place to stay: (i) choosing absolutely the best hotel within your budget; (ii) getting the most wonderful room in the hotel. In this article, we are going to talk about the step No. 2: let’s assume you have already selected a great hotel and now it is time to make sure the hotel gives you the best room they have.
Step 1 – Identify Which Side of the
Building You Prefer.
A good starting point is to find your hotel on Google Maps, drop a yellow person there and virtually walk around the hotel to see which side of the building you like the most.
In my case, I usually try to book hotels near green parks or beaches, trying to avoid road views and love nice and calm balcony hotels.
Step 2 – Review Room Tips and Travelers Photos on TripAdvisor.
One of my favorite features of the TripAdvisor is the Room Tips section. You can find the selected hotel on TripAdvisor, move down to the Reviews section, and choose there “Room Tips” category. Usually I go through all of such reviews and try to identify 1-2 rooms that people mention most often as the best room.
Another (I know it is obvious) thing I always check – are the traveler photos. I go through hundreds of them trying to identify the room I like the most (then I save the photo/-s of that room/s and use them in the email to the hotel).
Step 3 – Focus on High-Floor Corner Rooms (with windows on both sides) or Rooms with Balconies
2. Play in the Schonbrunn Labirynth (so much fun) and walk around the Schonbrunn Palace and Park
The maze (labyrinth) was built around 1720 and it is one of the coolest places I ever been to. Trust me, when you arrive to Vienna – the first thing you should do is to go to Schönbrunn and find this place. The maze is one of the largest in the world and it has taken me probably around 20-30 minutes to find a way to the center. You would be really surprised how difficult is to find a way to center but just don’t give up and you will make it.
Initially the maze was designed as a place of amusement for the imperial family and their guests (pre-internet time). Gossips say it was also commonly used for courtly intrigues ) The maze is open to the public from April to October.
After playing in the Maze, I would highly encourage you to walk around the Schönbrunn park and get a tour inside a palace (it is definitely worth it).
3. To eat in one of the oldest European
restaraunts dating back to 1447 (Griechenbeisl)
The restaraunt was founded in 1447 (more than 500 years ago!). Just imagine what kind of time it was: Europe is undergoing a Rennaisance cultural movement (e.g. Vinchi, Mikelangelo, Kopernik), Jeanne d’Arc is leading the French army against England, the Mongol and Byzantine empires are falling down, Christopher Columbus is yet to discover North America and Vasco da Gama is yet to reach India by sea, the Spain Empire appears on the map, etc. And at that highly turbulent times a guy (reportedly from the current Middle East) decides to open a tavern in Vienna which is now more than 500 years old.
Today this restaraunt is very much associated with one of its customers from the 17th century, the famous musician Mark Augustin as well as with a popular Octoberfest song about him (you must have definitely hear it before) – Oh du lieber Augustin.
In different periods of the history the restaraunt was a common place for eating & meeting of Marc Twen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Otto von Bismark, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Strauss, and others.
4. To visit Mozart Orchestra concert
in Vienna State Opera.
Vienna Opera was established in …
Let’s do a quick experiment – click on the video below, close your eyes, and remove any thoughts from your mind. Listen the music for a minute and then ask yourself three questions. Do you feel like this music is enriching you with incredibly inspiring emotions? Do you feel like it is making you to feel more relaxed and in the meantime more happy? Do you feel like really grandioze and kind ideas are starting coming to your mind?
If the answers are Yes, then you need to visit Vienna Opera (one of the most famous operas in the world) and it is likely to be a really deep and emotional experience.
If the answers are No, then don’t worry. You might just not yet fully fallen in love with the classical music. However, I have some good news for you ) There is really amazing TV series called “Mozart in the Jungle” and trust me, after wathching it your answers to the above questions would be Yes, Yes and Yes. Once finished the first season, you would likely plan a trip to the nearest opera as soon as possible.
Please note the ticket prices to Vienna Opera reach triple digits, but if you want to save money you can visit even the major performances for up to 15-18 euro. For such money you will have to stay (rather than set), but in the meantime you can watch the performance right in front of the stage. Just keep in mind that tickets to the opera at these prices sell out instantly. Don’t miss the moment and book in advance.
5. To visit the Museum Quarter and Specifically Vienna Museum of Natural History
The museum quarter is …. Initially it was Empiror Hourse Stable place. After the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the court stables ceased to function, and most of the property was sold off.
In 1921, an exhibition was held for the first time on the territory of the former court stables, and in subsequent years the building was rebuilt and renamed the Exhibition Pavilion. Reconstruction and completion of the complex continued until the 1960s. In 1985, the Vienna Festival was held here for the first time. In the mid-80s. The first projects of the Museum Quarter appeared, the core of which, modeled on the Pompidou Center in Paris, was to become a museum of modern art.
Highly recommend to visit the Vienna Museum of the Natural History, one of my favourite ones in Vienna.
Where to Stay in Vienna
When we travelled to Vienna we stayed in the Hotel Indigo Vienna – Naschmarkt, an IHG Hotel, and I would be really happy to stay there again. It is less than 2 years old, in a very calm & green area, with super comfortable beds, very close to the metro and around 7 minutes taxi drive to the city center. We were also really impressed that the reception team gave us a free early check in at 6am.
As option No. 2 I would consider renting a house in a village near Vienna to stay closer to the green nature. This is something that can give you a such a lovely sleeping, and getting up there early and having a breakfast in the yard near the house is something that can give you so much inspiration and positive energy. Please see a few example before (I have not stayed there yet).
Other hotels that are on my Vienna shortlist: Melia Vienna (the tallest building in Austria), Hilton Vienna Park, Ruby Hotels (Sofie, Lissi, Marie), Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere.
Thank you for reading the article and hope you’ve enjoyed it!
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