Hotrod tour of Vienna

The way things turned out we had a very limited time to see Vienna, catching the train there from Salzburg in the morning and with my plane leaving at 9am the next day. I had planned to spend the evening with Oakleigh and her host family, so only really had one afternoon (this visit also didn't pan out because of a twist incident with my back, but that's another story).

I spent the train ride looking for something less conventional to do that would give me a snapshot of the sites without involving a bus. I found Hotrod Tours Wien - what more could you want? Excellent reviews cemented the deal and I locked in a tour. Lucky I'd brought my driver's licence!

Linda and I got a taxi the short 4.5 km ride from the central train station to our hotel Rathaus Wien & Design, a boutique hotel based around a theme of each room being a tribute to and featuring a particular wine maker of the region. We had been ripped off in a few other locations by taxi drivers but didn't expect it in Vienna so were taken aback by the 30 euro price tag and vowed to catch no more taxis while there. Luckily our experience with uber in Europe was pretty good so I checked in and Linda called me an uber for my tour - 7 euros for roughly the same distance. Taxi drivers around the world just can't help themselves - they are uber's best ad ever!

After completing the relevant paperwork our tour guide, Kirsten, took us down to the garage where the mini hotrods are stored. Hotrod Tours Wien has a whole floor of the garage and you get the chance to hoot around for a bit having a practice to get familiar and comfortable with your little car. There were 5 of us on the tour and we spent a bit of time practicing emergency breaking and checking everything worked. Kirsten gave us some instruction and we were ready to duck under the boomgate and present ourselves to the streets of Vienna.

Kirsten starting up a car for the tour

The tour takes you around the inner city past most of the key sites a bus tour would take you on so you get a good overview but its a whole lot more fun - Heroes Square, Parliament, St Stephens Cathedral, the Opera House, over the Danube and around a range of other locations. You're equipped with a walkie talkie and ear piece and when you stop Kirsten tells you about significant sites so you get as much of an overview of the city as you would on a bus tour (she also patiently used every one of these opportunities to remind me to turn off my indicator). It was incredible fun, and you attract a lot of attention, with people waving at you everywhere and featuring on lots of tourists' photo and video reels.

Hotrod Sam

The hotrods are so small and low to the ground that your head is about mid height on a normal car. Still, they can do 88km p/h, which we never got to because that exceeds the speed limit around the city. Probably lucky, because it's much like driving a g-ocart, and every little bump on the road has the potential to send you veering off if you're not concentrating. And the streets around Vienna are pretty bumpy - some of the smaller streets are paved or cobblestone; there are tram lines; and the usual wear and tear on the roads make for a thrilling ride between cars, vans, trams and all manner of other vehicles.

Kirsten got us all back safely, even with a couple of instances where the hotrods at the back were momentarily separated from us by some other cars. I was pretty glad I was right up the front, although by the end of the ride I was reasonably comfortable letting cars in which needed to change lanes, confident I would be back next to Kirsten in no time. My only regret is that I couldn't get a photo of the scene at one point directly in front of me with a horse and cart, then a porsche, then Kirsten in her little hotrod all in a row. What a great shot that would have been! Highly recommended.