Even in today’s digital world, you might want to send a few postcards home to friends and family. Get your stamps in Vienna from the Trafik (newsagents) and the Post (post offices).
- Newsagents sell basic stamps
- Spot post offices by the bright yellow colouring
- Other outlets may also have stamps
- Stamps for postcards cost (at the time of writing)
- €1.20 for Europe
- €1.90 for the rest of the world
- See also:
Options for buying stamps
(Look for the yellow Post Office sign)
One alternative for sending postcards is the Trafik, equivalent to a tobacconist or newsagent. They typically sell a few stamps and not a lot else as far as postal services go.
You find these stores everywhere: see the Trafik article for information.
Another obvious alternative is the Austrian postal service (German: Die Post, with the Po pronounced as in pot, so the word rhymes with flossed).
You find post offices all over the place, clearly identifiable by the bold yellow colour on signs and displays.
Opening times vary, but are typically from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Larger post offices and those at railway stations may open later and on Saturdays.
If you’re very keen to get your mail away urgently, the postal centre at Vienna airport has a 24/7 automated service where you pay using your credit card (last time I checked, anyway). Find it next to the NH Vienna Airport Conference Center opposite the main terminals.
Needless to say, today’s post office sells a whole lot more than just stamps and envelopes, but the general counters will take your mail, frank it, and send it off. Or they’ll sell you stamps, if you want something pretty on the postcard or envelope.
At the time of writing, you need a €1.20 stamp for Europe and a €1.90 stamp for the rest of the world to send a postcard or standard letter; a letter counts as standard if it weighs up to 20g and has maximum dimensions of 235mm x 162mm x 5mm.
With bigger envelopes, you choose between two tariffs: priority and economy. Always use the priority tariff if you can. The price difference is relatively small, but the difference in delivery times can be quite large.
If you hand your mail over for franking, be sure to ask for the priority tariff if you want it (they usually ask, anyway).
If you’re using your bought stamps, then deposit your mail in the yellow post boxes dotted around the city. These typically get emptied once every weekday afternoon.
When you write the address on your postcard or envelope, you might get away with using English for the country name. But if you’d like to use the local language (German), here are some of the common translations…
- UK / GROSSBRITANNIEN (or Großbritannien if written in small letters)
- USA / USA
- Canada / KANADA
- Japan / JAPAN
- New Zealand / NEUSEELAND
- Australia / AUSTRALIEN
- Ireland / IRLAND
- India / INDIEN
- France / FRANKREICH
- Ukraine / UKRAINE
- China / CHINA