What is the Distance between Wien and Vienna?

Are there people who think that Wien and Vienna are two different cities?

Most people, coming to www.wienvienna.com for information about the Austrian capital, arrive after searching terms in Google and other search engines. Among the keywords bringing people to Wien Vienna have been some really interesting and surprising ones. The one that caught my eye recently was: “wien to vienna distance”. It was searched by a person living outside Europe.

Wien and Vienna are one city

Let’s make it clear first. The distance between Wien and Vienna is zero. Wien and Vienna are different names for the same city, the capital of Austria. Wien is in German (language spoken in Austria), while Vienna is in English. Or is it not that simple?

At least two more Viennas in the US

There are at least two more cities named Vienna in this world: Vienna in Virginia in the US (population about 15,000) and Vienna in the state of New York in the US (population about 6,000). Maybe that person coming to this website was searching for the distance between the Austrian capital and one of the American towns.

The distance from Wien (Vienna), Austria to Vienna, Virginia is 7,150 km.

The distance from Wien (Vienna), Austria to Vienna, New York is 6,730 km.

Is it really so strange to not know?

But let’s say the person was not searching for any of the American Viennas and thought there are two different cities, Wien and Vienna, in Austria or Europe.

For those of us who live in or close to Austria, not knowing the (non-)difference between Wien and Vienna is something we consider impossible, but the truth is that Austria is a small country and though I personally find Austria and Vienna amazing, some people on other continents have no idea that they even exist. And I’d bet there are millions of people in the world who think that Austria is Australia. By the way, do you know what is the capital city of Burkina Faso?

Ouagadougou… the world is still big

The capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou. I admit I didn’t know it before writing this article. Note that Burkina Faso has a population of 15 million (almost two times bigger than Austria) and I’m sure it is equally amazing and beautiful, though those of us living in another part of the world don’t know it. In fact it is not that far: the distance between Ouagadougou and Vienna is a mere 4,300 km, only slightly more than the 3,900 km between Moscow and Lisbon. Despite getting smaller in the information age, the world is still huge.