What to do, see and eat on a visit to Vienna
Every year, my oldest friend - who lives in Cornwall - and I try to meet up somewhere for a few days of exploring, chatting, eating and more chatting. Pre-pandemic one of our annual rendezvous was in Vienna.
The Austrian capital sits on the Danube River to the east of the country. Known for its Imperial palaces, its baroque architecture and its cultural heritage, courtesy of famous musical and intellectual residents including Mozart, Beethoven and Sigmund Freud.
Here’s what we did, saw and ate during the course of our fabulously enjoyable three day stay.
What we did
The compact nature of the historic centre makes it ideal to explore on foot, but as usual when I’m in a new city, our first port of call was the hop-on-hop-off bus, which I aways think is the ideal way to get an overview of the main sights and a sense of the layout of any city. And to choose which bits you want to either get off or go back to, to explore on foot.
We were lucky to have glorious sunshine in which to enjoy the often overblown, sometimes breathtaking, always impressive architecture of the many beautifully maintained buildings, including the Parliament which was begun in 1874 and completed a decade later
The colonnaded exterior of the Parliament building
As it’s currently undergoing a major restoration project you can’t see inside , but you can take a virtual tour here
The Rathaus (City Hall) is the administrative centre of Vienna. This stunning neo-Gothic building is the seat of the provincial and city government (Vienna is both a city and a province), housing hundreds of officials and notable institutions like the city library. It has 1500 rooms and over 2000 windows. Imagine keeping all of those clean!
Vienna’s City Hall, known as the Rathaus
There are guided tours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday except during sessions, events or holidays. Check here for details.
Beautiful Maria-Theresien-Platz is dominated by the two huge museums on either side of it - the Natural History and the Kunsthistorisches art history museum. (I’m afraid I can’t report on what either are like inside. We were too keen to enjoy the sunshine and see as much as we could of the city and its other sights. Well those were our excuses anyway!)
The Kunsthistorisches, or Art History Museum, takes up one side of Maria-Theresien-Platz
and dominated by the enormous momument to the Empress who is seated above four sets of statues, each representing a facet of her 63 year reign.
The Empress Marie Therese presiding over the square named in her honour
In the centre of the city is the glorious St Stephens (Stephansdom) cathedral with its extraordinary roof featuring 230,000 glazed tiles in ornate chevron patterns.
St Stephen’s Cathedral with its stunning tiled roof
Opening hours do vary slightly from day to day and there’s a small charge which is definitely worth paying to see the impressive interior. All the details are here
We used the very efficient metro to travel just outside the city to stunning Schloss Schonbrunn, the former imperial summer residence of the ruling Hapsburg family
Schloss Schonbrunn - summer home of the Hapsburgs
The palace is open from 0930 to 1700 every day and the magnificent grounds, which you should definitely take the time to explore, are open from 0630 to 1730.
The grounds are as impressive as the Schloss
Find all the details about tickets and tours here.
We also spent a happy couple of hours strolling through the colourful Naschmarkt - which is open every day except Sunday - with its myriad colourful and tempting food stalls and flea-market stands.
Cultural highlights were a fascinating tour front of house and backstage of the Burgtheatre (a chance to see several original Gustav Klimpt paintings including a rare self portrait.)
The stunning main staircase in the Burgtheater
a spell-binding performance at the magnificent Spanish Riding School (check the schedule and book in advance. It’s not to be missed);
Lipizzaners are put through their immaculate paces in the beautiful Spanish Riding School
and a wonderful ensemble concert of Mozart, Dvorak and Haydn music in the city’s oldest concert venue – a beautifully ornate room in the Mozarthaus, where the great composer once lived.
What we ate
Mouthwatering interpretations of traditional Austrian classics at Glacis Beisl bistro in the trendy MuseumsQuartier (book at table in the pretty courtyard if the weather allows). And an absurdly good tea and cakes in the famous Café Central with it’s magnificent turn-of-the-century interior.
Which is more eye-catching the decor in the Central Cafe, or the cakes?
Where we stayed
Wonderfully quirky and witty, the 25 Hours Hotel is ideally positioned in easy walking distance of all the main sights. The friendly, welcoming personality of the hotel is reflected in the delightful, helpful staff and the comfortable well-equipped rooms (expect the unexpected in the décor!) The terrific rooftop bar gives great views over the city and the extensive breakfast buffet is delicious!
Quirky and colourful like the rest of the interiors, the rooftop bar in the 25 Hours Hotel has great views over the city
