Waking up to the sound of rain trickling on your window is so romanticised in cinema, but in reality it’s just wanting to skip class to stay in bed, wearing 3 layers, a raincoat, and a hat, and lugging around an umbrella only for it to be raining to lightly to even open it and still getting wet. And honestly, Vienna on a rainy day is a difficult task as so many activities require the outdoors, so basically the whole month of May is a struggle.
Catch a movie
Whether you like new European/German releases or want to be up-to-date with western cinema, Viennese movie theatres show a wide a range of movies. For European movies you can go to any cinema at all, but that usually includes German subtitles. If you want to watch an English movie in its true form (as in no subtitles) you should head to an English cinema. My personal favorite is Haydn, located on Mariahilferstrasse, as it’s super convinient to book/buy tickets online, and they also frequently have reruns of older classics so if you’re lucky you can catch one of those.
Tip: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are saver days so the tickets are at a discounted price (7-9 Euros). Students discounts are also always available, if you show a card.
Go to a library
The library is one of my favourite places to go to study in peace or read a good book, the rain outside is only an additional plus. The options for this are endless, but if you prefer a more scenic experience you should head to the National Library (which is also a museum), or the UniWien library (usually crowded). The one I like to go to is the Hauptbücherei am Gürtel as it’s very big and you’re sure to find a free desk, and at the back there’s couches with giant windows overlooking the street and you can spend hours curled up reading.
Go to a cafe
©A-List
This ones an obvious one as Viennese coffee-house culture is in a league of its own, but go to any small cafe, there is one on every street, and you can expect kind and fast service and you can stay for a long time. Sit in the back and people-watch the wide variety of customers, read a book (a big hobby of mine clearly) or study, it doesn’t get very loud. Take this opportunity to go to a lesser-known cafe and order something new!!
Visit a museum
A rainy day is the perfect opportunity to go see some art, imperial riches, or animal corpses ,and by the time you leave the rain might have stopped. Walk around and engulf yourself in the content, it really helps to clear your mind. Vienna is full of amazing museums and it depends on what you want to see, there is one for any type of person. My favorites would have to be the Naturhistorisches Museum which has many interesting showings, including a moving model of a T-Rex(a biased choice because of my major), and the Albertina which is constantly bringing in new exhibitions so there is always something fresh to see.
Buy a poncho
The last option is to suck it up and buy the wearable version of a plastic bag, throw it on over your clothes and enjoy Vienna in the rain. You can find a wide selection of ponchos in any store in the city center. The city is very serene when it rains, and the centre is relatively free so just walk around without a map, get lost, eat a Wurst, drink a Wiener Melange, and then find you way back home.
My final advice is to not let the rain stop you from enjoying the day, it might not end up being the trip you imagined but there’s still many things to do, even when its pouring :).
Ever yours,
Rozi
Rozi's Life Abroad 