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Visiting Vienna

Future bus VR tour

Front of a tour bus

Vienna has a fair few sightseeing bus tours to tempt visitors. One, however, takes you places no bus should really go, thanks to the magic of virtual reality. Here’s my review of the Future Bus tour…

A trip through time and Vienna

The Future Tour bus

(The bus and its stop on Albertinaplatz square between the opera house and Albertina art museum)

You won’t normally find me on any of the sightseeing buses, since I’ve done the routes and locations myself numerous times.

But the new Future Bus tour seemed a little different, so I packed pen and notebook and paid for a one-hour tour over a Saturday lunchtime.

Consider the experience as two parts.

The first is a sightseeing tour of the conventional kind. A pristine modern bus took us around some of the more central sights, with commentary from a live guide or through an audioguide.

So we passed the opera house, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Heldenplatz, the Burggarten park (and Mozart statue), for example, but also the Votivkirche and Karlskirche churches, and the Musikverein concert hall.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum

(The Kunsthistorisches Museum: one of the places you pass on the tour)

The live guide used German, but the audioguide comes in various languages, including English of course. The audio commentary offered much more colour and storytelling than your usual lists of names, dates, and historical facts.

I would have liked a few missing locations filled in (we passed Parliament and the Secession building without commentary, for example). I’m told the audioguide is going through refinements. A special children’s edition, for example, was due out after my trip.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary. But…

The second part is the virtual reality element, where you put on a headset at several stops and enjoy, well, quite an experience. I got goosebumps on occasion.

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I really don’t want to spoil the surprise, should you take the tour. But the headset transports you into a variety of 360° environments.

Sometimes…

  • …modern-day Vienna slips back in time and you watch people in period costume walk past.
  • …statues come to life or your seat seems to take off into the air (it’s a struggle not to grip your arm rest). The VR quality has you looking over your shoulder to catch the aerial view of Vienna behind you.
  • …you end up immersed at the centre of some historical event.

Although animations and CGI play a role, the Future Bus VR includes historical reenactments with real people.

Statue of Archduke Carl

(Archduke Karl before we had VR: an equestrian statue on Heldenplatz square)

For example, you find yourself seated around a map in a field tent with Archduke Karl, back in 1809. He’s discussing tactics with his staff shortly before the Battle of Aspern and urges the officers (and you) to give Napoleon a proper slap. Spoiler: his pep talk worked.

All-in-all, the sightseeing is nice, but nothing unusual. The VR elements, however, really stand out and left me wide-eyed, smiling, and enthused.

The Future Bus tour makes a worthy addition to the sightseeing landscape. Next time, I’m taking my partner.

Tickets & tips

Buy your tickets direct from the website or online portal.

(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)

A couple of thoughts:

  • The kids on my tour seemed to enjoy themselves, so this might make a good tip for families
  • The headset was easy to handle, wear and use (and I speak as someone with an uncanny ability to destroy technical gadgets merely by looking at them)

If you enjoy the prospect of virtual reality, then you might like a few other related attractions in Vienna. Top examples include…

  • Time Travel Vienna combines 5D cinematic experiences, virtual reality, animatronics, and more to let you experience historical moments and themes
  • Sisi’s Amazing Journey has Empress Elisabeth take you on a fun (and often startingly unusual) virtual reality boat ride through, above, and below Vienna

How to get to the bus

At the time of writing, the tour starts and ends at the very central Albertinaplatz, specifically the area reserved for buses outside the Albertina Museum (or on the right as you walk from there down Operngasse past the State Opera House).

Karlsplatz station is closest (U1, U2 and U4 subway lines) or take a tram to Oper/Karlsplatz (1, 2, 71, and D tram lines)

Address: Albertinaplatz, 1010 Vienna (tour start) | Website (for the tour)

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