Why Go to Vienna? by Jamie Dunford Wood

A pale shadow of its former Imperial glory, Vienna still has something to offer, but you need to be clear about what that is. If you’re an opera or classical music or Lippizaner fan, you’ll want to come, and if you’re into the history of the Habsburgs, there are some wonderful museums. It also has one of the finest art museums in the world. Otherwise you’ll prefer the prettiness of Salzburg and Innsbruck - with which it makes a good combination.

Variation on…

A day trip from Salzburg or Budapest.

Come for...

Opera and one of the famous balls in winter.
History - and the imperial appartments in the Schonbrunn Palace.
Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven and co.
The Breugals and Rubens’s in the art museum.
A performance of the opera or orchestra.
Coffee in one of the coffee houses, ‘mit schlag’. Coffee came to Europe through Vienna, the water’s off the mountains, and you can sit for hours for the price of one, reading the paper, in opulent surroundings.
Breugal’s ‘Harvest’ in the art museum. Study the figures and imagine their life.
The crown jewels of the Habsburg’s, including a nail from the cross, in the Imperial Treasury, and their bodies in the The Augustiner Chapel, with or without the Vienna Boys Choir.
Strauss in the park – touristy, but romantic Sacher Torte – the famous rich chocolate cake, ‘mit schlag’, preferably in its home territory, the Hotel Sacher.
Duck inside the Hotel Sacher and make purposefully to the back, looking at all the signed opera photos.
Take a trip out to Grinzing or out into the Vienna woods, for wine and song in a heuriger, and a decent Wiener Schnitzel.