While road tripping through Austria, I stopped to visit a friend in Vienna and finally went to the Spanish Riding School! I’ve been wanting to go see the spectacular Lippizaner stallions ever since I was a kid and I’ve now finally been able to witness an hour of training at the Spanish Riding School. In this post I’ll tell you all about my experience and also about what else to do in Vienna as it’s such an absolutely stunning city and there is so much more to see and do.
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There are several options as to what to see at the Spanish Riding School in Austria. They offer different tours, you can watch the riders and horses while training and you can witness one of their world famous performances. For the guided tours they have the following options: Guided Tour Vienna and Architectural Guided Tour. The first one gives you a look behind the scenes of the Spanish Riding school and the second goes into depth about the architecture and ends with a rooftop view of Vienna! Of course you can also go see one of their world famous performances; the Ballet of the White Stallions, in which they perform both with riders and on the ground. I went to see the training of the stallions, half of the training is the young and grey stallions that are still learning and the other half is the fully white, older stallions. It’s incredibly interesting to watch these horses, riders and long reiners at work, and the difference between the old and young stallions and their training progress. During the training you will also get an explanation of the training and some background information of the Spanish Riding School, very interesting!
Outside of Vienna, you can visit the Heldenberg, where you can see the Lipizzaner horses relaxing in their stables and paddocks while they are off from training.
Also read: Horse riding in Switzerland
When you arrive at the amazing building of the Spanish Riding School Austria, you’ll get a stunning view of horses and carriages in front of it, quite an impressive sight. You can also walk around the building and see the horse stables through the glass wall. It’s interesting to see stables like that in such a beautiful building completely in the middle of the very busy city centre of Vienna.
There are so many other things to do in Vienna and 3 days wasn’t nearly enough for me to explore everything I would’ve liked to. I did however get to stroll through the city centre and see some stunning buildings. Some go to sites in Vienna are St. Stephen’s cathedral, Schönbrunn palace and zoo, the giant ferris wheel (or Wiener Riesenrad), There are also lots of museums, markets and so much more! Also, just outside of the city, there are some absolutely stunning walks you can do. It was very special to be surrounded by nature with the clear view of the city of Vienna just below us. I also got the chance to visit a traditional Heuriger while visiting Vienna. These are restaurants that are only open for a short period of time and where they serve traditional Austrian food and ‘young’ Austrian wine. Choices in drinks and food are limited, but the atmosphere is great and relaxed, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. And last but not least, you can of course not leave Vienna without paying a visit to the Spanish Riding School.
Some of the best places to stay in Vienna are the Ruby Lissi Hotel, and the Hilton Vienna Plaza, both of these hotel are focussed on sustainably tourism. If you are traveling on a lower budget, I recommend having a look at the 7brunnen Hostel.
Also read: Best places to go horse riding in the Netherlands
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