Vienna Card & day tickets, Vienna

Vienna has a great public transportation system. Metro, Trams, and Buses will take you everywhere.
There are several tickets to choose(2009 prices):
-single ticket:1.80euro
-daily card: 5.70euro
-2 days card: 10euro
-3 days card:13.60euro
-1 week card(Wochenkarte):14euro(valid from Monday to Monday 9 am)
-8 days card:28.80euro (very useful if you cant buy the week card because your arrivar is on Tuesday for exable)
-monthly card:49.50euro
-vienna card(Wien Karte):18.50e, valid for 72 hours + some discounts in atractions

The Metro("U Bahn") has 5 Lines: U1(Red) Reumannplatz–Leopoldau U2(Purple) Karlsplatz-Stadion U3(Orange) Ottakring–Simmering
U4(Green) Hütteldorf–Heiligenstadt U6(Brown) Floridsdorf-Siebenhirten

At the bus stops there are timetables for every line passing through, the name of the bus stop(on the top) and the direction of the line. The tickets from the bus driver cost more (2.20euro)
During the night (midnight to 5 in the morning) there’s a good night bus network.

Tram lines are very nice because you can see outside. Especially line1 & line2 that circle the down town area.

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This tip is for the transport card only not the one that allows access to museums etc.
Two 72 hour cards cost me just over 27 Euros. As soon as you have made journey number 8 the cards have paid for themselves. Valid on the U Bahn, S Bahn, Trams and Buses you simply cannot afford NOT to have one. I lost count of the number of times I used it.
Easy to buy from the self service machines. They take notes, coins and credit cards and have a number of different languages to help you.
Just a word of caution though if you fail to validate your card once purchased or if you ride the U Bahn with no card or an out of date one then you will be in serious trouble if you are caught.

This card costs €16.90 for 3 days. It gives you unlimited public transportation and discounts in many museums and sites. If you are a student, be aware: the student discount is usually greater than the one you get with this card! Because of this, do the math, and see if it will be worth it before you buy, as its only value will be for the transportation.

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I wanted to buy my tickets from a person but none of the subway stations I visited had one, so I bought them with a machine under a sign called "Fahrkarte". This is for those of you who haven't bought tickets with a machine (I haven't until this trip):

(1) Touch the screen
(2) Select your language or a language you understand well
(3) Choose which ticket you want to buy, press twice for 2 tickets (of the same), 3 times for 3 tickets, etc.
(4) Enter the money
(5) Pick up your tickets and change, if applicable.

After you buy the tickets, do NOT forget to validate them. You do NOT wanna get fined for this, considering that the fines are high and the price of the ticket is low.

We found the best way to get around Vienna was by underground train. It is an extensive network and had stations near everything we wanted to see.

We bought 72-hour Vienna Cards at a cost of 18.50 euros each. These gave us unlimited travel on all public transport. You just validate the card in a machine at the station, or on the bus, and you are then entitled to travel for the duration of your card.

The cards are sold with a booklet giving details of attractions, shops, restaurants etc. and in the back are coupons entitling you to discounts for many of them.

If you are planning to use public transportation, vienna card is very convenient. A 72-hr ticket costs 13.5 euro. Vienna card costs 18.5 euro and provides both 72-hr transportation and museum discounts. So if you are thinking of visiting few museums/palaces in vienna & also dependent on public transport this is a recommended buy.
While you are at it, note that there is a "sisi" ticket which is a combined admission ticket for sisi museum and schonbrunn palace. This again saves some money and also lets you skip the long lines. with vienna card, this ticket costs 20euros.

Public transport in Vienna is very good and cheap. The underground is very good to get around the city centre and links with trams and buses make over areas accessible.

A single ride costs: 1.50 euros
24 hour ticket: 5 euros
72 hours: 12 euros

You can get tickets from vending machines in the stations or tabacco shops.

You can also get a Vienna card which offers discounts to most attractions in Vienna and free transport. A 72 hour card costs 18.50 euros and can be brought from the tourist information office. Check out www.wien.info for more info about the discounts.

If you are tourists in Vienna and you plan to visit a lot of museums etc then Vienna Card is useful. Keep in mind that tickets in museum are quite expensive. Vienna Card allows you also to take for free every mean of transport for 3 days and gives also a reduction to CAT (City Airport Train).
However if you don't want the reductions in museums and attractions you could buy a simple transportation card which permits the free entrance to all mean of transport. It's up to you to decide. We bought a Vienna card but I think that it was useful anly for me because I visit a lot of museums and attractions!!!
You can buy Vienna Card from hotels and tourist offices and transportation card from places that sell tickets.