Pension Vera

We stayed for four days to visit our son who lives in Vienna. Hotels are really expensive so we were really pleased to discover the much cheaper, Pension Vera. Taxis and trams stop right outside the building which is almost in the centre of Vienna, the train station is nearby. It's easy to walk past the door, which sits between 2 shops, so look up and you will see the sign. The building is typical of Vienna, large double doors and long tiled corridors but there is a lift, I think an ordinary sized wheelchair would fit into the lift but there are small flights of stairs up to your room. My room was small and basic and smelt lovely, like flowers, and was very clean. The pillows are the softest, most beautiful pillows I have ever slept on, and the bed was extremely comfortable. There was a hair drier snd a kettle in my room, and a large, communal fridge freezer at the end of my corridor. My room looked out over a small, square garden. There is no gardener so it was wild but I really liked it. The small, bathroom showers are hot! Vienna is so gorgeous, you will want to be out exploring so as somewhere to sleep, Pension Vera is quiet and perfect. The lady on reception was warm and funny. You can buy a continental breakfast for 7 euros, but there are cafés next door and across the other side of the road. A Spar supermarket is a few yards along so you can buy your basics from there. I will definitely stay at Pension Vera again, it is what in the UK we refer to as cheap and cheerful. My room was cleaned every day while I stayed.

First of all- the bathroom reeked of urine. Stale, old urine which makes you question the cleanliness immediately. The room was freezing but has a radiator. The radiator works but knocks and rattles every 5 seconds so you either have to be ok with the noise while sleeping or turn it off like we did and freeze. This was mentioned to the front desk but with no resolution. Not even an offer of extra blankets. Oh and the staff on reception aren’t the most welcoming either. The young women that saw us to the room could do with some lessons in customer service. A smile doesn’t hurt. If you can get past the smell, the cold or the radiator problems you should probably know that this hotel is above a nightclub. Thankfully the loud music, heavy bass and shouting patrons tune out the noise of the radiator if you put it on. The pillows on the bed have obviously been used to death so are now nothing but lumpy, limp, stuffing in cases and the mattress was so thin both of our backs are now aching (but the cold also didn’t help) To add to all of this the walls are paper thin. We heard our neighbours every movement from them rolling around in bed to their bathroom trips. If we heard them, they heard us. No sense of privacy. All in all, a very sleepless, cold and uncomfortable stay. Do not recommend.

Clean basic 2-star Hotel. Good transport links to attractions. U Ban station 10 minutes walk or trams stop outside Hotel. Some rooms a bit small but as a place to leave your stuff and sleep, it's fine. Walls a bit thin but was not a problem. Most people seem to be out all day and just come back to sleep. Ther is a Disco in the basement 2 nights a week, you can hear it very faintly but it was not a problem. Hotel is remarkably quite for a city centre one, most rooms seem to look onto central courtyards. I heard no trafic noise.