This pass is amazing if you spend a little time to get familiar with it. My recommendation is do the most expensive things that interest you in Vienna first and do them in clusters that are close together. Also check Google for the least busy times- and try to use that info. I want to give a big shout out to lee-ann who found us lost on Rooseveltplatz and helped us find the Vienna pass office! Most help we have ever been given. You are a wonderful person Lee-ann.
We had the 6 day pass and we used it this way:
Day 1- Schonnbrunn (on a Monday! Go first thing!)- we did the palace, the train, the Zoo and the desert experience. The palm house is not included. We took a taxi there, to get there at 9am, and then took the hop on hop off bus back to town. Stopped at the Military Museum on the way back to town.
Day 2- Natural History museum, Kunst Museum (right across the way) and the Museum Quarter (MUMOK and Leopold)
Day 3- Prater (Maddam Tussauds, ferris wheel, Donartum (sp?) and Hundertwasser House and museum, and Sigmund Freud museum.
Day 4- all things Hoffburg- silver, Sisi appartments, etc. Also did the National Library and the Dom museum- also went to Mozart's house- I'm not a fan but it was good to see it for free.
Day 5- River cruise (first one of the day) then did the MAK and the Albertina. Probably did some other small things on the card- can't remember what.
Day 6- We did the lower and upper Belvedere then we did the Green Line- out to Kahlenberg (they give you 10 minutes here to run and get your picture and get back on the bus- otherwise you're stuck there for about an hour). We stopped at Schlumberger cellars (free tasting and tour included on your Vienna Pass).
As you can see, we got TONS of value from our pass. Could we have done even more? I don't see how- we were pretty tired after each day. We went through some things that we hated (the MUMOK, Freud Museum, Mozart Museum) really fast and we spent a lot more time at the sites we loved- like the Natural history museum and the Kunsthistorisches museum.
You really need to cluster your activities and do your research on opening times and closing times to get the most out of your pass. Some museums aren't open on Mondays (but the palaces are) so plan your pass use accordingly. We always tried to start with a 9am opening venue- so we could start early and get to lots of places (before we went home to crash- because we were so tired!) We used very few taxis- only to get places at 9am that were too far to walk, because the first bus that was near us didn't show up until around 9:40. If you wait that long to get out to Schonnbrunn it will be crowded- go at 9am when they open! And do get the Vienna Pass ap- it will remind you which places are skip the line for tickets- and you just scan your badge (they give you a nice lanyard for it!) read more