The Riding Dinner in Vienna, Austria, is a must-do magical experience that will make you feel like you’ve entered a fairy-tale. With a glass of champagne in hand, you can take a dreamy carriage tour past majestic castles, rose-filled gardens and other famous landmarks.
One of the most popular ways to see all the sights in the city center is by taking a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride. Vienna is famous for their white horses, and I knew without question I wanted to experience a carriage ride. After a bit of research, I discovered Riding Dinner, which set them above the competition by offering a meal and a glass of champagne while you tour Vienna.
There are several different packages to pick from, with the most popular package being Sparkling Sightseeing which is from 74 € per person. The 40 minute tour includes a private carriage tour for up to 4 people starting in Vienna City Centre and takes you by most of the famous sights in the city. Along the ride, I got to see the exterior of the Hofburg Imperial Palace, Burgtheater, Stadtpalais Liechtenstein (a place that belongs to the royal Liechtenstein family), the Austrian National Library and many other gorgeous sights. A map of the route Riding Dinner typically takes can be found here.
You are in for a real treat when it comes to the food, as Zum Schwarzen Kameel is one of Vienna’s old restaurants (it opened in 1618 as a shop selling exotic food and spices) and makes extraordinary dishes. Included in the Sparkling Sightseeing package you can enjoy leisurely dining on 8 mini sandwiches, 6 Viennese Petit Fours, and 1 bottle of sparkling wine from Zum Schwarzen Kameel. Some of my favourite sandwiches included the carrot and ginger, the curried egg, spicy meat salad with beans, and red cabbage with tuna fish. While for dessert, there was also tons of delicious sweets to enjoy including a mini Sacher cake, Styrian nutcake and a fruit tart.
To make dining in a carriage possible Riding Dinner have their own custom carriages which have a table in the middle. The table is their own unique design, that is similar to the table tops you find in yachts or private airplanes. There is a spot to secure your glasses of wine, and another to hold your bottle of bubbly too.
Also included with horse-drawn carriage ride you’ll get a personal butler who will not only help to refill your bubbly but provide you with to an entertaining tour of the city. Along my own tour, I learned tons of the amazing facts about local landmarks and couldn’t help but marvel about how the butler enhanced the experience even more. Even after the tour was over, he was able to provide me with a few other suggestions of sights to see, and I’m so grateful for him making my carriage ride so lovely.
Not only did the butler have an amazing personality, but he also made the companies love for their horses apparent too. Throughout the ride, I inquired about the horses to discover that horses in Vienna get days off just like humans. Yet Riding Dinner goes above and beyond that giving the animals longer vacations than required. The devotion to the care and well being of the horses is a focus of Riding Dinner, and I was happy to hear about how well the horses are treated.
Riding Dinner was an unforgettable experience, and one I will treasure forever. It was by far the best experience I had in Vienna, and after seeing so many other horse carriage tours, none come even remotely close to offering the same quality of service. Without question, if I’m ever in Vienna again, I plan on going on one of their tours again as it truly was one of my best travel moments ever.
Book You Riding Dinner Horse Drawn Carriage Ride
Planning on visiting Vienna, Austria? Book your Riding Dinner carriage ride now.