Vienna (Wien) is the great imperial city of central Europe — the capital of the Habsburg Empire for 640 years, a metropolis of 1.9 million that reached its cultural peak around 1900 when Freud was inventing psychoanalysis, Klimt was painting The Kiss, Mahler was conducting at the Opera, Schönberg was inventing modern music, and Otto Wagner was redesigning the city with his Secessionist architecture. That convergence of art, music, psychology and architecture in one city at one moment (the Fin de Siècle) is still the most important single cultural explosion of the 20th century — and every room of the Belvedere, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Secession building contains evidence of it. Vienna is also the coffee house capital of the world (the Viennese Kaffeehaus is UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage), the waltz and the concert hall capital of the world (the Vienna Philharmonic, the Musikverein, the State Opera), and the city that produces the finest Wiener Schnitzel and Sachertorte. No city in Europe offers more culture per square kilometre.
Schönbrunn Palace (1746, architect Nikolaus Pacassi — the summer residence of the Habsburg emperors for 300 years, UNESCO, 1,441 rooms, 40 accessible to visitors) is the finest Baroque palace in central Europe: the State Apartments (the formal rooms of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth, including the room where the 6-year-old Mozart gave his first court performance for Maria Theresa in 1762 — and proposed marriage to Princess Marie Antoinette), and the Gloriette (the hilltop triumphal arch with the finest view of Vienna from the palace gardens).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Naschmarkt (a 1.5km outdoor market along the Wienzeile, open since the 16th century — the largest open-air market in Vienna, 120 stalls selling Austrian produce: Liptauer (Hungarian paprika cheese), Viennese pickled cucumbers, Styrian pumpkin seed oil (the dark green oil of Styria — the finest in Austria), fresh fish from Lake Constance, Viennese Würstelstand sausages and the outstanding Saturday flea market (second-hand books, antiques, vinyl records, the finest in Vienna)) is the most authentic food experience in the city.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Vienna Secession building (1898, Joseph Maria Olbrich — the building that launched the Art Nouveau/Jugendstil movement in Austria, with the golden "cabbage" dome that Viennese wits called the "golden cabbage") contains the Beethoven Frieze (Klimt's 34m-long painting-in-plaster on the lower level, created for the 1902 Secession exhibition and left permanently in the basement — the most important single work of Viennese Jugendstil). The motto above the door: "Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit" (To every age its art, to art its freedom).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Vienna Staatsoper (the Vienna State Opera — opened 1869, one of the finest opera houses in the world, performing every night of the season September–June) has 567 standing room tickets available for €5–7 each (sold from 80 minutes before curtain at the Stehplatz boxes on each level). Standing at the Vienna State Opera for a Strauss or Verdi or Mozart production is one of the greatest cultural experiences available at that price point anywhere on earth. Smart casual minimum.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideA Viennese Kaffeehaus (the café tradition that UNESCO recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011) breakfast: a Melange (half coffee, half steamed milk — the Viennese equivalent of a latte, thicker and more complex) with a Kipferl (the Austrian crescent pastry that gave rise to the French croissant) or a Gugelhupf (the ring-shaped yeasted cake), at Café Central (since 1876 — the most architecturally magnificent café in Vienna, where Trotsky, Lenin, Hitler and Freud all sat and drank coffee within years of each other), Café Schwarzenberg or Café Landtmann (the favourite of Freud and Mahler).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Oberes Belvedere (Upper Belvedere — the summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, 1723, housing the finest collection of Austrian art: Gustav Klimt's The Kiss (1908–09 — the most recognized painting in Austrian art, the gold-leaf image of embracing lovers that has become one of the most reproduced images in art history), and Egon Schiele's raw, tormented nudes from the same decade. The Belvedere garden (French Baroque, three levels descending from the palace to the Lower Belvedere) is the most formal garden in Vienna.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Ringstrasse (the 5.3km circular boulevard ordered by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1857, replacing the medieval city walls — 8 major public buildings completed in different historical revival styles in 25 years: the Parliament (Greek Revival), the Rathaus (Gothic), the Burgtheater (Baroque), the natural history and art history museums (Baroque), and the Opera House (Renaissance)) is the most complete expression of 19th-century imperial ambition in European urban planning. A tram circuit (D or 1 line) covers the entire Ring for €2.40.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Sachertorte (the dense chocolate cake with apricot jam layer under a chocolate glaze, created in 1832 by 16-year-old apprentice Franz Sacher for Prince Metternich — the subject of the "Sacher Torte War" (1954–1963) between the Hotel Sacher and the Demel café over the right to call their version "the Original") at the Hotel Sacher Café (Philharmonikerstrasse 4, daily 10am–midnight, €9.90 per slice). With a Schlag (whipped cream) and a Viennese Melange.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideWiener Schnitzel (the definitive Austrian dish — veal escalope pounded thin, breaded in fine breadcrumbs and pan-fried in clarified butter until the breadcrumb crust blisters and separates from the meat in places — Figlmüller Wollzeile has the most famous, the size of the plate, served with lingonberry jam and cucumber salad. By law in Austria, "Wiener Schnitzel" can only be made with veal; "Schnitzel Wiener Art" is permitted with pork).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM, 1891 — the art history museum built by Emperor Franz Joseph to house the Habsburg collections: the finest collection of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the world (12 of his 45 surviving paintings), the largest Rubens collection outside Madrid, 5 Vermeers, Raphael's Madonna in the Meadow, and the Cellini Salt Cellar (1543 — the most expensive object ever stolen, taken in 2003, recovered in 2006, valued at €50 million — the goldsmith's masterpiece)) is one of the five greatest art museums on earth.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Wiener Prater (the large public park and amusement park given to the Viennese public by Emperor Josef II in 1766) has the Riesenrad (the giant Ferris wheel, 1897, 64.75m — one of the oldest operating Ferris wheels in the world, used by Orson Welles for the "cuckoo clock" speech in The Third Man (1949), the defining image of Cold War Vienna) and the Hauptallee (the 4.5km straight chestnut-lined avenue perfect for cycling and running).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideA Heuriger (the traditional Viennese wine tavern — open only when the current year's wine is ready, indicated by a pine branch above the door: "Heuriger" means "this year's" in Viennese dialect, referring to the new wine. The Heuriger in the vineyard villages of Grinzing, Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt (all within Vienna's city boundaries) sell their own Grüner Veltliner and Wiener Gemischter Satz (a blend of multiple white varietals from one vineyard) with cold buffet) is the most genuinely Viennese evening experience.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Musikverein (the home of the Vienna Philharmonic — the Golden Hall's acoustics are the finest of any concert hall in the world; the New Year's Concert is broadcast to 90 countries) has standing room tickets from €5, or book ahead for seats from €12. Alternatively: the Mozart Dinner Concert (in the Baroque Palais Auersperg — Viennese cuisine served while a costumed ensemble performs Viennese Mozart and Strauss — touristy but wonderfully done).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide