Lainzer Tiergarten

Vienna

　　At 25 sq km, the Lainzer ‘Zoo’ is the largest (and wildest) of Vienna’s city parks. The former hunting ground of Ferdinand I, over 80% of it is covered in woodland. Take in the view from Hubertus-Warte, a six-storey-high viewing platform on top of Kaltbründlberg (508m above sea level) or...

Staatsoper

Vienna

　　The glorious Staatsoper is Vienna's premier opera and classical-music venue. Productions are lavish, formal affairs, where people dress up accordingly. In the interval, wander the foyer and refreshment rooms to fully appreciate the gold-and-crystal interior. Opera is not performed here in July and August (though tours still take place). Tickets...

Stephansdom Katakomben

Vienna

　　The area on Stephansplatz around the cathedral was originally a graveyard – making it the dead centre of Vienna in a very literal sense. But with plague and influenza epidemics striking Europe in the 1730s, Karl VI ordered the graveyard be closed and henceforth Vienna buried its dead beneath Stephansdom...

Belvedere 21

Vienna

　　The modernist, glass-and-steel Austria Pavilion, designed by Karl Schwanzer for Expo 58 in Brussels, has been reborn as Belvedere 21, with exhibitions devoted to 20th- and 21st-century art, predominantly with an Austrian focus. Adolf Krischanitz left his clean aesthetic imprint on the light-filled, open-plan gallery, which sits just south of...

Summer Stage

Vienna

　　This Viennese summer favourite has sprawling, riverside terrace spaces for drinking, with food trucks and a glassed-in area for when the weather turns. ...

Graben

Vienna

　　Today Vienna's most elegant shopping street, Graben began life as a ditch dug by the Romans to protect Vinodoba. In 1192 Leopold V filled in the ditch and built a defensive city wall that ended at Freyung, financed by the ransom paid by arch-rival Richard the Lionheart – at that...

Naturhistorisches Museum

Vienna

　　Four billion years of natural history are covered at Vienna's Naturhistorisches Museum. Among its minerals, fossils and dinosaur bones are exceptional finds like the teeny 25,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf and a meteorite collection of 1100 pieces. Audio guides cost €5. 　　The late-19th-century building, with its elaborately stuccoed, frescoed halls and...

Musikverein

Vienna

　　The opulent Musikverein holds the proud title of the best acoustics of any concert hall in Austria, which the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra embraces. The lavish interior can be visited by 45-minute guided tour (in English; adult/child €8.50/5) at 1pm Tuesday to Saturday. Smaller-scale performances are held in the Brahms Saal....

Naschmarkt

Vienna

　　Vienna’s famous market and eating strip began life as a farmers market in the 18th century, when the fruit market on Freyung was moved here. Interestingly, a law passed in 1793 said that fruit and vegetables arriving in town by cart had to be sold on Naschmarkt, while anything brought...

Stadtpark

Vienna

　　Opened in 1862, the Stadtpark is a tranquil pocket of greenery, with winding paths and willow-tree-rimmed duck ponds. It's great for strolling or relaxing in the sun and a favourite lunchtime escape for Innere Stadt workers. The park spans the Wien River, which empties into the Danube Canal. 　　The most...

KunstHausWien

Vienna

　　The KunstHausWien, with its bulging ceramics, wonky surfaces, checkerboard facade, technicolor mosaic tilework and rooftop sprouting plants and trees, bears the inimitable hallmark of eccentric Viennese artist and ecowarrior Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000), who famously called the straight line 'godless'. It is an ode to his playful, boldly creative work, as...

Spanish Riding School

Vienna

　　Vienna's world-famous Spanish Riding School is truly reminiscent of the imperial Habsburg era. This equestrian show is performed by Lipizzaner stallions formerly kept at an imperial stud established at Lipizza (hence the name). The graceful stallions perform an equine ballet to a classical-music program while the audience watches from pillared...

Stadtbahn Pavillons

Vienna

　　Peeking above the Resselpark at Karlsplatz are two of Otto Wagner’s finest designs, the Stadtbahn Pavillons. Built in 1898 at a time when Wagner was assembling Vienna’s first public transport system (1893–1902), the pavilions are gorgeous examples of Jugendstil, with floral motifs and gold trim on a steel and marble...

Unteres Belvedere

Vienna

　　Built between 1714 and 1716, Lower Belvedere, at Schloss Belvedere, is a treat of baroque delights. Highlights include Prince Eugene’s former residential apartment and ceremonial rooms, the Groteskensaal (Hall of the Grotesque; now the museum shop), the Marmorsaal (Marble Hall), the Marmorgalerie (Marble Gallery) and the Goldenes Zimmer (Golden Room)....

Riesenrad

Vienna

　　Top of every Prater wish list is the Riesenrad – at least for anyone of an age to recall Orson Welles' cuckoo clock speech in British film noir The Third Man (1949), set in a shadowy postwar Vienna. Built in 1897 by Englishman Walter B Basset, the Ferris wheel rises...

Rathaus

Vienna

　　Vienna's neo-Gothic City Hall, completed in 1883 by Friedrich von Schmidt (who designed Cologne Cathedral) and modelled on Flemish city halls, with lacy stonework, pointed-arch windows and spindly turrets, is the highlight of the Ringstrasse boulevard's 19th-century architectural ensemble. Bronze statues of Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss I stand in...

Die Weinorgel Wien

Vienna

　　This small wine bar is inconspicuously located in the Gothic vault of a former monastery. You're welcome to crush peanut shells on the wooden floor as you perch beside an oak barrel and enjoy a tipple. A wide variety of local wines are available. Keep an eye out for the...

Oberes Belvedere

Vienna

　　Rising splendidly above the gardens and commanding sweeping views of Vienna’s skyline, the Oberes Belvedere, at Schloss Belvedere, is one of Vienna’s unmissable sights. Built between 1717 and 1723, its peerless art collection, showcased in rooms replete with marble, frescoes and stucco, attests to the unfathomable wealth and cultured tastes...

University Main Building

Vienna

　　Founded in 1365, Vienna’s venerable university was the first in the German-speaking countries. Today it enrols up to 95,000 students. Grand Duke Rudolph IV (1339–65) used Paris’ Sorbonne as his inspiration, and it was just as well he wasn’t around in 1520 during the Reformation, because in that year his...

Prater

Vienna

　　Spread across 60 sq km, central Vienna's biggest park comprises woodlands of poplar and chestnut, meadows and tree-lined boulevards, as well as children's playgrounds, a swimming pool, a golf course and a race track. Fringed by statuesque chestnut trees that are ablaze with russet and gold in autumn and frilly...

Sigmund Freud Museum

Vienna

　　Sigmund Freud is a bit like the telephone – once he happened, there was no going back. This is where Freud spent his most prolific years and developed the most significant of his groundbreaking theories; he moved here with his family in 1891 and stayed until forced into exile by...

Burgkapelle

Vienna

　　The Burgkapelle originally dates from the 13th century and received a Gothic makeover from 1447 to 1449, but much of this disappeared during the baroque fad. Its vaulted wooden statuary survived and is testament to those Gothic days. The Vienna Boys’ Choir Mass takes place here every Sunday at 9.15am...

Karlskirche

Vienna

　　Built between 1716 and 1739, after a vow by Karl VI at the end of the 1713 plague, Vienna's finest baroque church rises at the southeast corner of Resselpark. It was designed and commenced by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and completed by his son Joseph. The huge elliptical copper...

Café Sacher

Vienna

　　With a battalion of waiters and an air of nobility, this grand cafe is celebrated for its Sacher Torte, a wonderfully rich iced-chocolate cake with apricot jam once favoured by Emperor Franz Josef. For the full-blown experience, head to the opulent chandelier-lit interior. There's also a covered pavement terrace, and...

Karmelitermarkt

Vienna

　　A market with a long tradition, the Karmelitermarkt reflects the ethnic diversity of its neighbourhood. Set in an architecturally picturesque square, the market springs to life when the midday lunching locals descend on its terrific array of places to eat. Fruit and vegetable stalls share the marketplace with butchers selling...

Kaiserappartements

Vienna

　　The Kaiserappartements, once the official living quarters of Franz Josef I and Empress Elisabeth, are dazzling in their chandelier-lit opulence. The Sisi Museum is devoted to Austria’s most beloved empress, with a strong focus on the clothing and jewellery of Austria’s monarch. Multilingual audio guides are included in the admission...

Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna

Vienna

　　A highlight of any trip to Vienna is a visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, brimming with works by Europe’s finest painters, sculptors and artisans. Set within a neoclassical building that rivals the art it contains, the museum's collections span Classical Rome to Egypt and the Renaissance. With limited time,...

Schloss Schönbrunn

Vienna

　　The Habsburgs' opulent summer palace is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Of its 1441 rooms, 40 are open to the public; the Imperial Tour takes you into 22 of these, including the private apartments of Franz Joseph and Sisi. The Grand Tour continues to the other 18 rooms and...

Hofburg

Vienna

　　Nothing symbolises Austria's resplendent cultural heritage more than its Hofburg, home base of the Habsburgs from 1273 to 1918. The oldest section is the 13th-century Schweizerhof (Swiss Courtyard), named after the Swiss guards who protected its precincts. The Renaissance Swiss Gate dates from 1553. The courtyard adjoins a larger courtyard,...

Schloss Belvedere

Vienna

　　A masterpiece of total art, Schloss Belvedere is one of the world’s finest baroque palaces. Designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt (1668–1745), it was built for the brilliant military strategist Prince Eugene of Savoy, conqueror of the Turks in 1718. What giddy romance is evoked in its sumptuously frescoed halls,...

Kaiserliche Schatzkammer

Vienna

　　The Hofburg's Kaiserliche Schatzkammer contains secular and ecclesiastical treasures (including devotional images and altars, particularly from the baroque era) of priceless value and splendour – the sheer wealth of this collection of crown jewels is staggering. As you walk through the rooms you'll see magnificent treasures such as a golden...

MuseumsQuartier

Vienna

　　The MuseumsQuartier is a remarkable ensemble of museums, cafes, restaurants and bars inside former imperial stables designed by Fischer von Erlach. This breeding ground of Viennese cultural life is the perfect place to hang out and watch or meet people on warm evenings. With over 90,000 sq metres of exhibition...

Stephansdom

Vienna

　　Vienna’s Gothic masterpiece Stephansdom – or Steffl (Little Stephan), as it’s ironically nicknamed – is Vienna's pride and joy. A church has stood here since the 12th century, and reminders of this are the Romanesque Riesentor (Giant Gate) and Heidentürme (Towers of the Heathens). From outside, the first thing that...

Staatsoper

Vienna

　　Vienna's foremost opera and ballet venue, the neo-Renaissance Staatsoper, is one of the finest concert halls in the world. Even if you can't get tickets to see a tenor hitting the high notes, you can discover its architectural brilliance and musical genius on a 40-minute guided tour. Tours (in English...