Vienna · which side of the river
Vienna is a German city with four English-medium campuses, a French AEFE lycée, and Theresianum on Favoritenstrasse. The useful question is which district you sleep in, and whether the child will still need German — or French — at eighteen.
Vienna is not “the international school.” It is a German-speaking capital with four fee-paying English-medium campuses that posting families name in the first week, and a much older set of church and state doors that stay families name in the second.
The portraits we have are Vienna International School, American International School Vienna, Danube International School in the 2nd, AMADEUS International School Vienna in the 18th, Lycée Français de Vienne in the 9th, and Theresianum on Favoritenstrasse. Use them for the euros that are actually printed. Danube’s last full PDF we could open was 2025/26 — confirm this year’s sheet. AMADEUS prints 2026/27 ranges, including lunch. The lycée’s 2026–27 extras PDF prints first-registration and canteen; annual tuition sits on Eduka. Theresianum’s Internat page prints 2026/27 euros; the Gymnasium costs page still prints 2025/26 for day care. This note is the city between them. The Austria country page is the wider map — Schottengymnasium, St. Gilgen — official doors we name without ranking.
VIS sits at Straße der Menschenrechte 1, in the 22nd. UN-neighbour weather. IB from the Early Learning Centre through the Diploma, plus a VIS high-school diploma. English in the classroom. German for every child — the school’s own design, not a hope. If your life is a UN posting, an embassy, or a company that keeps sending people here, this is the campus people mean when they say “the international school by the Donau.”
AIS Vienna sits at Salmannsdorfer Strasse 47, in the 19th, above the city, next to the Vienna Woods. American curriculum, a US high-school diploma, optional IB. English is the classroom language. German lives in the early years and as host-country language. High School, the portrait says, will not teach you English from scratch. That sentence is an admissions rule, not a vibe.
Danube International School sits at Josef Gall-Gasse 2, in the 2nd. City IB: PYP, MYP, DP. Priority for international-organisation and diplomatic families. It is not VIS and not AIS. Time the Bim from Leopoldstadt.
AMADEUS sits at Bastiengasse 36-38, in the 18th. IB day and boarding. The 2026/27 page prints ranges, not a grade-by-grade table. Lunch is included. Sunday evening is the honest tour if you are buying a bed. Time Währing. It is not the 22nd.
LFV sits at Liechtensteinstraße 37a, in the 9th. AEFE. Bac. First registration €900. Canteen is compulsory through collège. Ask Eduka for the annual tuition. Time the 9th. It is not the 22nd.
Theresianum sits at Favoritenstraße 15, in the 4th. Stiftung Gymnasium, Matura, day care and Internat. The Internat page prints €1,455 a month for EU citizens in 2026/27, ten times a year. The Gymnasium costs page still prints 2025/26 for day care. It is not VIS and not AMADEUS.
They share a city and almost no Tuesday. Four English-medium doors, a French one, and an Austrian Matura house. Time the gates from the flat you will actually rent.
If you might stay, an English-medium diploma is not automatically the kindest paper. Austrian Matura, a church Gymnasium, a public house in the district — those are official mornings. Families looking at VIS or AIS often also walk Theresianum or Schottengymnasium, then a public Gymnasium on the same tram line, because the paper can be Austrian either way.
We do not invent their contribution figures. Ask each house for this year’s sheet.
The language of the yard is the test that matters more than the flags. A child can thrive in English at 9 a.m. and still be lonely at 11 if the park is speaking German — or the other way around, if you chose a German Gymnasium and the child still translates every joke.
Boarding is a smaller Viennese word than the British novel. St. Gilgen International School on the Wolfgangsee is the mountain corridor families sometimes walk in the same season, then discover that Sunday evening is the real tour. Salzburg and Innsbruck have smaller international weather. They are not suburbs of the first district.
If you will leave, ask how universities outside Austria read the diploma you are buying — VIS, AIS, or a Matura. If you will stay, ask how universities here read the English-medium paper, and whether extra German is required.
Ask how much German a shy eleven-year-old will really have by the second spring. Ask what High School does with a mid-year arrival whose English is still tired. Ask where a child eats when the canteen is loud.
Ask the commute on a January morning, not the sunny tour in May. The Danube is pretty. Ice on the pavement is the school run.
The city hub is the short map. The five portraits are the long ones. American schools in Europe is the climate AIS belongs to, if that is the leaving certificate you mean.
Friendly orientation, not formal admissions advice. Always confirm dates with the school.
An IB day-and-boarding house in Währing, not a first-district Gymnasium and not VIS. The 2026/27 fees page prints ranges, including lunch. Sunday evening is the real tour if you are buying a bed.
ViennaThis is the American day school above the city, next to the Vienna Woods. English is the classroom language. German is part of the early years. High School will not teach you English from scratch. The Board prints the 2026/27 bill in euros.
ViennaA central Vienna IB day school, not the UN woods and not the vineyard campus. Priority goes to international-organisation and diplomatic families. The last full fee PDF we could open is 2025/26. Ask for this year’s sheet before you budget.
ViennaAn AEFE lycée in the 9th, not a UN-adjacent IB and not a first-district Gymnasium. The 2026–27 extras PDF prints first-registration, canteen and exam euros. The annual tuition schedule sits on Eduka during enrolment.
The letters on the leaver’s certificate matter. They are not the whole child. Here is how to tell them apart without a headache, and without pretending every door stays open.
16 minYou do not need a perfect algorithm. You need a few true things about your child, a boring list on the fridge, and the courage to ignore a beautiful campus that does not fit.
15 minTuition is the number on the homepage. The PDF is the number that arrives in March. Here is how to read the second one, without inventing a euro, a krona, or a deadline.
12 minSkip the question about last year’s average. Ask the ones that make a teacher’s face change. Then look at the corridor while they answer.