Psychology & Sociology School Trip to Vienna

Vienna Accommodation

We have carefully selected our accommodation in Vienna and our choices are highly experienced in working with school groups. 

Our options are close to the centre and enable groups to reach and explore the city by foot or by the underground.

• A&O Hostel Hauptbahnhof
• A&O Hostel Stadhalle

We highly recommend a Half Board stay as eating out in Vienna can be very expensive.

Sigmund Freud Museum & Tour

Vienna's most famous address where Sigmund Freud lived for 47 years before fleeing the Nazi invasion to London in 1938.  The former apartment and practice of Sigmund Freud are now furnished as an excellent museum showing original furniture, including the waiting room and a selection from Freud's private collection of antiques, autographs and first editions of his works.

It provides an insight into Freud's biography, his cultural surroundings and the emergence of psychoanalysis. Students will also see historic films from the private life of Freud and his family, compiled and commented by Anna Freud.

WALKING TOURS

Jewish Vienna: Throughout the centuries, the Jewish population of Vienna has been subject to an ever-changing history. Often granted privileges and protection by the ruling family; or they were made to take the blame for deplorable conditions in the city and were driven out or murdered. And so Jewish settlements were continually established and destroyed.  Students can trace the history of the Jews in Vienna through its buildings, streets and squares, memorials and through the fate of individuals.

Exploring the War Time Jewish Ghetto: People of Jewish origin from all over Austria had been relocated to the Leopoldstadt district in 1938, which was designated a Jewish Ghetto where some of the town's finest synagogues were to be found along with a wide array of Jewish shops, and social hangouts. Jewish life here was brutally destroyed in the holocaust but new Jewish life is returning.  Discover the events that took place, memorials and understand the suffering and the rebuilding process of this 2^nd Disctict.

City Highlights Walking Tour: On this tailor-made walk a host of Vienna’s sites await you, from the Hofburg Imperial Palace, the home of the Vienna Boys’ Choir- Palais Augarten, St Stephen’s Cathedral, The Soviet War Memorial, the Spanish Riding School and through popular shopping areas.

Panoramic City Tour (Coach required) When visiting Vienna for the first time this is an excellent way to be introduced to the history and the most important buildings of the former Imperial City. You will drive along the famous Ringstrasse with its splendid palaces, seeing the world-renowned Vienna State Opera, the Imperial Residence Hofburg, the stately Parliament, the City Hall, and the State Theatre. Passing Vienna’s most impressive Baroque church, St. Charles, you will see the magnificent Belvedere Palace. Pass Prater Park with the Big Ferris Wheel and the Danube area. During the drive you will learn interesting facts about the Viennese, their habits and traditions, past and present. 

Fool’s Tower (Narrenturm)

Mental Health patients from the late 18^th Century were housed here making it Europe’s oldest building for this purpose. Your guide on this 60 minute tour will introduce you to the history of this fascinating spherical building and its use to house the mentally ill, which at the time was a turning point for the way society felt towards now people being categorised in this way.  The building is now home to the Federal Pathologic- Anatomical Museum, which may also be of interest to explore as it displays the history of medicine in a fascinating way.

Jewish Museums and Synagogue Tours

The three sites below can be combined into a half day tour with an official site guide.

 1. Jewish Museum, Dorotheergasse: Enjoy an informative guided tour of the permanent exhibition "Unsere Stadt!" (Our City!) which gives a comprehensive insight into Jewish life, and the history of Jewish Vienna. The journey begins on the ground floor with the years spanning 1945 to today. On the second floor of Palais Eskeles, visitors experience Jewish history from its beginnings to the years 1938/1945.

2. Judenplatz Museum and Holocaust Memorial: The core of the museum is made up of showrooms on medieval Jewry in Vienna, a virtual tour through 14th century Vienna and the excavations of a medieval synagogue.

The Judenplatz Holocaust memorial, also known as the ‘Nameless Library’ is the central memorial for Austrian victims of the holocaust. The mausoleum adorned with concrete cast books each inscribed with the names of the World War II death camps to mark the atrocity that took place.Floor tiles around the memorial contain the names of the places where Austrian Jews were killed during Nazi tyranny.

3. Stadttempel Synagogue: The only synagogue in the city to survive World War II, It was built into a block of houses and hidden from plain view of the street, as only Roman Catholic places of worship were allowed to be built with facades fronting directly on to public streets. Ironically, this edict saved the synagogue from total destruction during the Kristallnacht in November 1938, since the synagogue could not be destroyed without setting on fire the buildings to which it was attached.

Memorial for the Victims of the Gestapo

Since 1951, a memorial stone was laid at the site of the former the Gestapo’s wartime headquarters commemorating those who were imprisoned here. Then in 1985 the City of Vienna built an official monument here, this time dedicated to all victims of National Socialist Tyranny. The memorial can be seen as part of a walking tour or visited independently.

A Full Day Coach Excursion: Mauthausen and Linz 

Mauthausen Concentration Camp (age 14+)

We will provide you with a coach to take you to this fascinating camp where 100,000 prisoners lost their lives. A 2 hour guided tour will bring to light the harrowing tale of this Category III camp meaning it had the most brutal conditions. 

On 8 August 1938, prisoners from Dachau concentration camp were sent to the town of Mauthausen near Linz, Austria, to begin the construction of a new camp. The site was chosen initially for a slave labour camp because of the nearby granite quarry, and due to its proximity to Linz but also carried out exterminations. The growing number of prisoners and number falling ill led to the construction of a gas chamber and from 1940, used a gas chamber on a regular basis.

See the surviving historical buildings and installations, the stone quarry with the ‘Stairs of Death’, more than 20 national monuments and the new permanent exhibitions as well as the new memorial room.

Linz: Where Hitler grew up

Your coach will leave Mauthausen and make the 30 minute journey to Linz, a former European Capital of Culture and where Adolf Hitler spent most of his youth before moving to Vienna.  

Hitler attended school in Linz and considered Linz to be his ‘Hometown’ and where he wished to be buried here and had grand cultural and architectural plans for the town. As well as seeing notable sites such as the balcony where Hitler proclaimed the Greater German Reich, Linz is a beautiful and relaxed city with good shopping & museums and is perfect for groups to explore.

Josephinum Medical Museum Psychology Tour (1 hr)

Part of the Medical University of Vienna, this museum can offer tours delving into Vienna’s Medical and Cultual past and considers the development of medical teaching, ophthalmology, hygiene, brain function, surgery, pathology, blood grouping and more.

Mozart’s House: Exploring the Mind of a Genius

Mozarthaus Vienna presents the life and work of the musical genius Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, in a unique setting in the heart of Vienna close to St Stephan’s Cathedral.

Domgasse 5 is the only one of Mozart’s apartments in Vienna that still exists today. The composer lived in Mozarthaus Vienna in grand style from 1784 to 1787 and nowhere else did he compose more music.  Groups can take an audio tour or a self-guided tour of the house and exhibition floors.

Hofburg Imperial Palace 

Take a tour of the Imperial Palace, which until 1918 was inhabited by the imperial family. Originally a castle built in the thirteenth century; it was extended to a splendid residence. Today, the Imperial Palace houses the office of the President of Austria as well as an important congress centre and numerous art collections. The Spanish Rising School is also part of this complex.

Belvedere Palace

The Belvedere is a historic building complex consisting of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape and also house the Belvedere museum.  Groups can explore the beautiful buildings and stunning gardens.

Prater Park

An excellent location to spend the evening with your students. The Prater Park is free to enter and the rides and attractions have their own individual fee. The most famous attraction is the Reisenrad, built in 1897 and once the largest Ferris wheel in the world and is considered a must do attraction in Vienna.

Bowling

There are several bowling alleys across the city depending on your location. A good way to spend and enjoyable evening with your group.

Museum Quarter - Natural History Museum

An ideal place to spend your last morning. This oasis of culture and recreation includes the highly recommended Natural History Museum however several art galleries are also available.

Ice Skating at Vienna Ice World

From late January to early March, City Hall Square transforms into a giant ice rink. An area of 7,000 m2 provides a fairy-tale ice landscape daily from 9 am to 10 pm to the hits of the 80s and 90s as well as waltzes. Winding through the romantically illuminated City Hall Park is an idyllic ice path that thrills beginners and professionals alike with its countless routes.

Panoramic City Tour (Coach required) 

When visiting Vienna for the first time this is an excellent way to be introduced to the history and the most important buildings of the former Imperial City. You will drive along the famous Ringstrasse with its splendid palaces, seeing the world-renowned Vienna State Opera, the Imperial Residence Hofburg, the stately Parliament, the City Hall, and the State Theatre. Passing Vienna’s most impressive Baroque church, St. Charles, you will see the magnificent Belvedere Palace. Pass Prater Park with the Big Ferris Wheel and the Danube area. During the drive you will learn interesting facts about the Viennese, their habits and traditions, past and present. 

RESTAURANTS

Once you are in Vienna, eating out can be very expensive so we highly recommend that you eat your evening meals at your hotel where the food is of good quality and great value.