How to Do a Vienna-to-Venice Easter Trip from Spain Without Overspending
Updated: Oct 2
One of the quiet perks of living in Spain is how close the rest of Europe suddenly feels. A short flight north and you are in a completely different world of alpine lakes, cave castles, and storybook Easter markets, and you can do the whole thing as a family without spending a fortune. This is a loop we mapped out for a big birthday: Vienna down through Slovenia to Venice, timed to catch the Austrian Easter markets, built to be affordable and genuinely doable with kids. Here is how it comes together, and how to keep the cost sane.
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The route, and why this loop works
Vienna to Venice sounds ambitious, but it is one of the most logical arcs in Europe. You start in imperial Vienna, drop south through the Austrian countryside into Slovenia's lakes and caves, then cross into northern Italy for Prosecco hills, real tiramisu, and the canals. Three countries, one gentle line south, and the weather warms the whole way as you go. You fly into one end and out of the other, so you never double back.
The anchor is the Easter markets. Vienna does them beautifully, and catching them is the whole reason to time this for spring rather than summer.
First, the honest part: it will be cold
Late March in Vienna is not warm. Expect highs around 10 to 12°C and lows near freezing, with a sharp wind. But that cold is the point. The painted eggs, the mugs of hot punch, the cozy coffeehouses, all of it is better when it is crisp. Pack real coats, hats, and layers for the kids and it becomes part of the magic rather than a problem. By the time you reach Venice a week later, you are down to a light jacket and sunglasses.
Getting there from Spain
Book an open-jaw flight: into Vienna, out of Venice. It usually costs about the same as a round trip and saves you from backtracking across three countries to fly home. From the Valencia area the connections are easy, and it is worth setting fare alerts early, because spring flights around Easter climb fast the longer you wait. If a grandparent is flying in from the US to join, book that leg early too, since Easter is peak from the States. Pack carry-on only, which is easy when you are already traveling in layers.
Train, car, or both? Do the hybrid
This is where a lot of families overspend. Vienna and the Austrian leg do not need a car. The cities are walkable and the trains are excellent, so take the train from Vienna straight down to Ljubljana. On Austria's ÖBB trains, children under 15 travel free on an adult ticket, which quietly saves a small fortune for a family. Then pick up a rental car in Ljubljana, where you actually need one, for Lake Bled, the caves, and the drive on into Italy. Drop it before Venice, because cars are useless there (the city is entirely car-free), and finish on the water.
The hybrid gives you relaxed, hands-free train days for the long stretches and a car only for the rural stops that need one. It is both cheaper and far less stressful than renting for the whole trip and paying for parking you will not use.
Where to stay, and how to keep lodging cheap
Two moves do the heavy lifting. First, book apartments with kitchens instead of hotel rooms. With a family of five, a two-bedroom apartment keeps everyone together and lets you eat breakfast in and pack picnics, which matters more than you would think over a week. Second, in Venice, use hotel points if you have them. The Hyatt Centric Murano Venice sits in a former glass factory on Murano island, which happens to be exactly where you want to be for the glassblowing anyway, and it books as a lower-category award, so a couple of nights there can cost points instead of cash. If points are not an option, stay in Treviso on the mainland and take the short train in.
The trip, roughly day by day
Vienna first. The Easter markets (the one at Freyung has a mountain of thousands of hand-painted eggs), Schönbrunn Palace, and coffee and Sachertorte in a historic cafe to thaw out. For the kids, the Haus des Meeres, an aquarium built inside a giant WWII flak tower, with a shark tunnel.
Then the train south to Ljubljana, your base for Slovenia. From there it is a short drive to Lake Bled for the hand-rowed boat out to the island church, and another to Postojna Cave with its little underground train, right next to Predjama Castle, which is built into the mouth of a cliff.
Cross into Italy through the Prosecco hills. Stop at Osteria Senz'Oste, a staff-free hilltop cottage where you pick your own local cheese, cured meat, and cold Prosecco from machines and eat looking over the vineyards. Then Treviso, the birthplace of tiramisu, for dinner.
Finish in Venice. Murano for the glassblowing, Piazza San Marco and the basilica, and a ferry out to Burano with its rows of candy-colored fishermen's houses.
The money moves, in one place
Fly open-jaw, carry-on only, and book early.
Take the train for the long legs. Kids under 15 ride free on ÖBB.
Rent a car only for Slovenia and the drive into Italy, and drop it before Venice.
Book apartments with kitchens. Breakfasts and picnics in, one real meal out a day.
Put your Venice nights on hotel points if you can.
Time it for the shoulder season, when lodging runs cheaper than summer.
Done this way, a family of five can do the full eight-day loop for roughly €4,000 to €4,500 in cash, plus points for the Venice nights. That is a long way under what the same trip costs when you book it the obvious way.
When to go
Time it to the week or two before Easter, when the Vienna markets are in full swing. They tend to wind down around Easter Monday, so aim for the run-up to Easter rather than the week after. If you are raising kids in Spain, the school Easter break usually lines up with exactly this window, which makes the timing easy.
Spain is the launchpad
This is the part people miss. Living in Spain puts trips like this within reach in a way they never were before, close, cheap to fly, and easy to build around a school break. If you are thinking about the bigger picture of basing yourself here, start with our guides to slow travel in Europe and what living abroad is really like, and if you are still weighing the move, moving to Spain, but where? When your own Spanish road trips come around, here is what to know before you drive in Spain.
Book Tours Along the Route
Tours: Vienna city highlights walking tour · Salzburg old town guided tour · Browse all Vienna tours on GetYourGuide → · Search Viator →
Using Spain as a Base
We're based near Gandía on the Valencia coast and use Spain as our launchpad for European travel. More from that approach:
Where to Stay on This Route
Each city on this route has a wide range. Vienna and Venice book out fast for Easter — plan at least 3 months ahead. Browse hotels near Vienna →
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