Austria Guide
Vienna
Most people visit Vienna with a vivid image of the city in their minds: a monumental vision of Habsburg palaces, trotting white horses, old ladies in fur coats and mountains of fat cream cakes. And they're unlikely to be disappointed, for the city positively feeds off imperial nostalgia – High Baroque churches and aristocratic mansions pepper the central Innere Stadt, monumental projects from the late nineteenth century line the Ringstrasse, and postcards of the emperor Franz-Josef and his beautiful wife Elisabeth still sell by the sackful. Just as compelling as the old Habsburg stand-bys are the wonderful Jugendstil and early Modernist buildings, products of the era of Freud, Klimt, Schiele, Mahler and Schönberg, when the city's famous coffeehouses were filled with intellectuals from every corner of the empire.
Highlights
1 Schatzkammer The Habsburgs left behind an awesome array of crown jewels stretching back more than one thousand years.
2 Kunsthistorisches Museum The country's most impressive museum building with a superlative collection of art and antiquities.
3 Belvedere Two very fine Baroque palaces separated by a formal garden and a superb collection of works by Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka.
4 Schönbrunn The imperial family's summer residence features lashings of Baroque excess, and a beautiful park complete with mazes, glasshouses and the world's oldest zoo.
5 Zentralfriedhof A vast necropolis with a (dead) population of two and a half million, including Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss and Schönberg.
Read more ▼
- Neighbourhoods ▼
- Practical Information ▼
- Sports and Outdoor ▼