GD 2024

The 32nd International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization will be held in Vienna, Austria from September 18-20, 2024. A pre-conference PhD school will take place on September 16-17, 2024.

Travelling to Vienna and back

Vienna is easy to reach by train, by plane, or by bus. An overview over the different options is also given here.

by Train

There are numerous direct connections between Vienna and other cities in Europe, including many night train connections. Most trains stop at Vienna main station ("Wien Hauptbahnhof"), which is located south of the city center. From there, you can reach the conference venue and hotels nearby easily and quickly via underground line U1.

  • ÖBB is the Austrian federal railway company and sells tickets for most connections to and from Vienna. If you book early, you may find Sparschiene offers, where you can book a certain train for a reduced rate. There are also Sparschiene offers for connections within Europe and for night trains. Note that except for night trains, there are no seat reservations included in a ticket by default, but you can buy them separately.
  • Westbahn is a private railway company that offers connections within Austria and to/from Munich. Westbahn trains stop at Vienna Westbahnhof station ("Wien Westbahnhof") in the western part of the city. From there, you can reach the conference venue and hotels nearby easily and quickly via underground lines U3 and U1, or U6 and U4.
  • National railway companies in neighboring countries may also offer direct tickets to Vienna, and their prices may sometimes vary significantly compared to the ÖBB prices. We recommend to check both options.

by Plane

Vienna International airport, IATA aiport code VIE, is located south-east of the city. There is a large number of direct flights from and to places all over the world, many of them are offered by Austrian airlines, a member of the Lufthansa group and Star Alliance. We partner with the Lufthansa Group for a special discount code, see below for more details.

There are several options to get from the airport to the city center using public transportation. A good tool to plan your trip and research the different options is ÖBB Scotty.

Note that public transport tickets from Wiener Linien are not valid for travelling between the city center and the airport.

  • High-frequency railway line ("S-Bahn") S7 or regional trains REX7 to Wien Mitte (23 minutes), where you can change for the underground lines U3 and U4, e.g., to go to the conference venue. Or you can continue to Wien Praterstern, where you can change for the underground lines U1 and U2. Alternatively, long-distance Railjet (RJ/RJX) trains connect the airport to Vienna main station ("Wien Hauptbahnhof", 15 minutes) twice per hour, from where you can reach the conference venue and hotels nearby easily and quickly via underground line U1. These trains S7, REX7, and Railjet are the cheapest option with single tickets at EUR 4.40. Note that you need to buy the ticket in advance, either online, via the ÖBB (Austrian federal railway) App (Google Play Store | Apple App Store) or via one of the red ÖBB ticket machines located in the Vienna Airport Station.
  • Vienna Airport Lines (VAL) runs several bus connections between the airport and places all over the city. Tickets can be bought online, at the bus driver, or at vending machines at the airport. Single tickets cost EUR 10.50 and return tickets EUR 17.50. You get a small discount if you fly with Austrian.
  • City Airport Train (CAT) provides non-stop connections (16 minutes) between the airport and the station Wien Mitte in the city center, where you can change for underground lines U3 and U4 as well as local railway lines. Tickets can be bought online or at the green vending machines. Single tickets cost EUR 14.90 and return tickets EUR 24.90.

You might also want to check flights to Bratislava airport in Slovakia, IATA airport code LZIB, which is about 70km away from Vienna. It might be that flights to Bratislava are sometimes cheaper. From there you can take the Flixbus to Vienna main station (Wien Hauptbahnhof) or Vienna Erdberg bus terminal, which takes about 1h40 and runs regularly every 1-2 hours. Note that you should buy a Flixbus ticket some time in advance for a guaranteed seat and cheaper price.

Special Lufthansa Group airlines fares

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The Lufthansa Group airlines bring people together - every day, all around the world. The global route network of Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings offers optimal connection and combination options, so you will benefit from quick and direct flights to the event.

You will reach the booking platform via this link and with the event code ATAPYRE. The reduced fares are automatically displayed.

by Bus

There are several bus companies offering connections between Vienna and places all over Europe. Long-distance buses usually stop at either the Vienna International Bus Terminal at Vienna main station, the Vienna Bus Terminal at Stadion Center, or the Vienna International Bus Terminal at Erdberg. You can reach the conference venue and hotels nearby easily and quickly via underground line U1 from Vienna main station, U2 and U1 from Stadion Center, and U3 and U1 from Erdberg.

Tickets:

  • Omio: A platform where you can compare offers and book connections within Europe
  • Flixbus: A bus company that offers long-distance connections with many destinations

by Car

Vienna has a rather bad parking situation in the center. In case you are traveling by car we highly recommend to leave it in one of the “park+ride” P+R garages (an overview can be found here and here). From there you can get into the local transportation system of the “Wiener Linien” (to subway (U-Bahn), tram (Straßenbahn), local bus (Bus)).

Accommodation

Vienna has a large selection of hotels and apartments from budget options to luxury hotels. Room rates vary depending on demand and time of booking and we recommend using your preferred hotel/apartment search websites to find and compare different options.

When choosing your accommodation, we suggest that you look for something that is in walking distance from the venue or located at either the metro line U1 or U4, which take you directly to the station Karlsplatz (5 minutes walking distance to the conference venue) or line U3, which takes you to station Volkstheater (10 minutes walking distance to the conference venue).

The usual booking websites contain comprehensive lists of hotels in Vienna. Further, many options for renting an apartment are available on AirBnb.

Discount codes

Hotels close to the venue

A list of accommodations in walking distance to the venue is given below (also marked in the map below).

Hotels a few subway stops from the venue

The following hotels are conveniently within 15-20 minutes total travel time from the venue:

The links below take you to booking.com:

Here are accommodations sorted by the distance to the venue.

Here are accommodations close to the main train station of Vienna. These options will usually be cheaper than hotels close to the venue. You may reach the conference venue easily via line U1.

Here are accommodations close to the Westbahnhof railway station of Vienna. These options will usually be cheaper than hotels close to the venue. From there, you can reach the conference venue easily and quickly via underground lines U3 and U1, or U6 and U4.

Here are some accommodations in the first district, which hosts many of the old sites and tourist attractions of Vienna. Note that these options might be more expensive.

Budget options

Some cheaper options can be found in the form of hostels. The website hostelworld.com can be used to book rooms or dorm beds in a variety of hostels around Vienna.

As an option close to the conference venue we recommend the Wombats’s city hostel.

Near Wien Westbahnhof (U3) there is the Ho(s)tel JO&JOE with a nice rooftop terrace.

Getting around in Vienna

Public transport ‘‘Wiener Linien’’

Vienna has great public transport. You may ride via

  • Tram, in German called Straßenbahn,
  • Subway, in German called U-Bahn,
  • Train,
  • Bus,
  • Bicycle.

The “Wiener Linien” tickets include the tram (Straßenbahn), subway (U-Bahn), regional trains (S-Bahn) and buses inside the core zone (which you will only leave if you travel beyond the subway system).

Plan with an App

For planning your trips we recommend the iOS and Android app Wien Mobil. Alternatively, Google maps has support for the Viennese transport system.

Tickets

Tickets can be bought in any subway station, inside the trams or with the bus driver. You can also buy tickets using the Wiener Linien app on iOS and Android.

Note: some tickets need to be validated when entering the subway station, bus or tram.

Single tickets can be purchased at a price of EUR 2.40. A single ticket is valid for traveling one way in one zone. You may change to different lines in the course, but you may not interrupt your journey. The city of Vienna accounts for one full zone or core zone (Kernzone or “Zone 100”).

Recommendations

We recommend to get a 7-day ticket for EUR 19.70 (in the app) or EUR 22,60 (paper ticket). It is valid for seven days from the day of purchase.

Another option is the 72 hour ticket which costs EUR 17.10 and is valid from the time of purchase until 72 hours later. There are 48 hours (EUR 14.10) and 24 hours (EUR 8.00) tickets, too. For comparison a single, one-way trip costs EUR 2.40.

Bicycles

After a free registration, you may rent a bike at various bicycle rental stations across the city. More information can be found here.

Taxi

If you need a ride you can either call a taxi or go to one of the many taxi stands all over Vienna. Uber is also operating in Vienna.

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