Vienna
Discover Vienna
Vienna (German: Wien; Austro-Bavarian: Wean) is the capital of Austria and by far its most populous city, with an urban population of 2 million and a metropolitan population of 2.9 million (2023). It is the country's artistic, cultural, economic and political centre. It is known for its high living standards, relaxed yet elegant lifestyle and rich musical life. Vienna, renowned as the former seat of the Habsburg court and its diverse empires, stands not only as a grand metropolis but also as a historical center that has perpetually thrived with a substantial population. This city's distinction lies in its privileged stature, fostering an environment that has nurtured numerous eminent artists, notably Beethoven, Haydn, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert, and Johann Strauss II, among others. It was long the largest German-speaking city in the world before being surpassed by Berlin. The large historic city centre of Vienna filled with monuments to its imperial past is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
What to Experience in Vienna
Taste of Vienna...
Viennese restaurant menus offer a bewildering variety of terms for dishes, most of which the visitor will never have heard of and many of which aren't in the brief lists of menu terms included in phrase books. However restaurants that have any foreign patrons at all usually have an English menu, though you may have to ask for it: the phrase "English menu" usually will be understood even by wait staff who don't speak English. A small bilingual dictionary will be useful for trying to decipher menu listings: at least it will enable you usually to determine what sort of food (chicken, beef, potato, etc.) is concerned, even if you can't tell how it's prepared. Not only savoury but also sweet main dishes are common in Austria. Classic Viennese dishes to try are the famous Wiener schnitzel, a thin veal cutlet lightly breaded and fried, and the perhaps less well known Tafelspitz, where a beef roast is simmered in a broth with root vegetables and herbs. Schnitzel made from pork ("vom schwein", also called "schnitzel Wiener art") is also popular. By law, restaurant menus are supposed to clarify if anything sold as "Wiener schnitzel" is made from something other than veal. As is common in much of eastern and central Europe, mushrooms are very popular, and when they're in season, you'll find a plethora of varieties on restaurant menus and for sale in markets, often for surprisingly low prices, at least if you're from North America.
Culture & Religion
Culture
Traditional Vienna is but one of the many façades of this city; the historic center, a UNESCO world heritage site, is sometimes begrudgingly compared to an open-air museum. But Vienna is also a dynamic young city, famous for its (electronic) music scene with independent labels, cult-status underground record stores, a vibrant Monday through Sunday club scene, multitudes of street performers, and a government that seems overly obsessed with complicated paperwork. However, people are willing to go out of their way or bend the rules a little if they feel they can do someone a favor. The Viennese have a singular fascination with death, hence the popularity of the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery), where there are more graves than living residents in Vienna, as a strolling location and of Schrammelmusik - highly sentimental music with lyrics pertaining to death.
A Rich Past
Explore the historical roots that shaped Vienna into what it is today.
The low-lying Danube plain in and around what is now Vienna has had a human population since at least the late Paleolithic (see Prehistoric Europe); one of the city's most famous artifacts, the 24,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf, now in Vienna's Natural History Museum, was found nearby. Vienna's own recorded history began with the Romans, who founded it in the 1st century CE as Vindobona, one of a line of Roman defensive outposts against Germanic tribes. Vindobona's central garrison was on the site of what is now the Hoher Markt (the "High Market" so-called because of its relative height over the Danube), and you can still see astounding excavations of its foundations there today. Given its prestige, Vienna hosted the Habsburg court for several centuries, first as the Imperial seat of the Holy Roman Empire, then the capital of the Austrian Empire, and later of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which finally fell in 1918 with the abdication of the last Emperor Karl I. The court tremendously influenced the culture that exists here even today: Vienna's residents are often overly formal, with small doses of courtliness, polite forms of address, and formal dress attire. One distinguishable paradox of the quirky city is that its residents can be equally modern and progressive as they are extremely old-fashioned....
Climate
Spring starts sometime in late March, normally it is very brief and summer-like weather sets in before the trees have had time to grow back their leaves. Summer in Vienna is usually warm. Weather in June is moderate and sunny with a light summer windy breeze. In July and August, there are some hot and humid days where it reaches 35°C (95°F), but overall, summer in Vienna is pleasant. Autumn starts around September, although an "Indian Summer" with warm and sunny days often occurs that month and it gets colder as it approaches November. A main disadvantage of the Viennese climate is that it is rather windy and usually overcast during these months. Winter in Vienna can be just above 0°C (32°F) and drizzling for days on end, or just below with dustings of snow that manage to melt again quickly. There is the occasional cold snap where it will stay below freezing for a week or two at a time.
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsAnother option if you're flying to Vienna is Bratislava Airport (BTS) which is ~ 54 km (34 mi) from Vienna International Airport across the Slovak border and is the largest in the Slovak Republic. The budget airline Ryanair has the most flights. Additional carriers are Norwegian Air Shuttle to Oslo and Copenhagen; UTair to Moscow and Sun d'Or to Ben Gurion Airport (seasonal flights). Transfer options: Budapest and Munich Airports are at least 3 and 5 hours out, respectively. There is a direct albeit not so speedy shuttle van from Budapest Ferihegy Airport to Vienna Schwechat Airport, departing three times daily, for €36. It is cheaper and quicker to transfer via bus or train from Budapest city which can be reached easily from Ferihegy Airport. From Munich International Airport you should take the commuter train into the city and transfer to a high-speed RailJet train to Vienna at Munich's main station. ÖBB sells tickets for the entire journey from that airport to Vienna from €29....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Vienna has a good public transportation system, which includes rail, commuter rail, underground, trams (trolleys), and buses. The underground is very efficient and will take you to within a few minutes walk of anywhere you are likely to want to visit. The subway alone has the second highest per-capita ridership in the world, and that is not accounting for the 27 tram lines, dozens of train lines or numerous buses. Enquiries for routes and timetables are possible with the mobile application WienMobil, that is supplied by the public transport operator. The app is available for Android, iOS and can be accessed without installation on the internet. Ticket inspections are frequent. Ensure your ticket is validated (time-stamped) before your journey begins to avoid a penalty fare. The entire U-Bahn system has step-free access, but entering the platform is only allowed with a valid ticket. Buses are all low-floor, with lifts for full wheelchair accessibility.
Where to Stay
Vienna is a major tourist hotspot and offers a complete range of accommodation options. Prices are relatively higher than in neighboring countries, or even in the rest of Austria. Many of the Viennese hotels, hostels and pensions, especially its centre, are housed in historic buildings dating from before the Second World War, most from the 19th-century Gründerzeit. This means that many of them offer relatively small rooms with sometimes compromised views, and rooms within the same property can vary widely, even at the same price. You will probably find that Viennese hotels usually offer very traditional decor, bathrooms with bathtubs and, again, relatively space-limited quarters. There are very few "modern design" hotels, and those looking for American-style over 30m² rooms should do good research before booking and make sure their booked room matches the expectations.
Money & Budget
Store hours are generally M-F 08:00 or 09:00 to 18:00 or 19:00, and Sa 09:00 to 18:00, closed Sunday. There are slightly longer hours at some malls. Credit cards are normally accepted at large and at high-end stores. All chains that you can find in the malls also have stores on the city's shopping streets, which tend to be more accessible and tourist friendly. Flea markets are usually can be found on Sundays, where one can buy items at very reasonable prices. There are 21 markets with stands and small characteristically Viennese hut-like shops that are open daily (except Sunday). Additionally many of these have true farmers' markets, often on Saturday mornings. There is a large variety of sellers and markets, from the upscale to the dirt cheap.
Language & Talk
Most Viennese speak a range and mix of Viennese German and Standard German ("Hochdeutsch") as their mother tongue, unlike in most other parts of Austria where the local dialect is still more prevalent. The Viennese German is counted amongst the Austria-Bavarian dialects. It used to be specifically split by districts. It also had many Yiddish influences ("Hawara", "Beisl"). However, nowadays, basically everyone speaks Standard German as well, though the Austrian variety of German does differ in accent and somewhat in vocabulary (e.g. plastic bag is "Plastiksackerl", not "Plastiktüte") from Standard German as used in Germany. These differences are small enough that knowing Standard German is enough to get by.
Safety Information
Safety Overview
Vienna is potentially one of the safest cities in the world for its size. There are no slums or districts you should avoid. In general, you can visit any part of the city at any time of the day without taking many risks — just use your common sense. The Prater (fair grounds/amusement park area) is said by some locals to be less safe at night, though more in reference to pickpockets than anything else. The Praterstern railway station is a magnet for drunks, homeless people and drug addicts, but they generally do not bother passers-by. As a general rule of thumb, it's best to avoid train stations, parks (especially Reumannplatz) and some larger subway stations at night, but even then, nothing bad should happen to you. As in any major city, watch out for pickpockets who grab and run when boarding the U-Bahn. Petty crimes (like jackets 'going missing') are more common and normally go unreported and won't get much sympathy.
Glimpses of Vienna
Evening View on Vienna
Vienna
Castle in Vienna
Riding horse in Vienna
belvedere is probably the best name for that palace
low-angle photo of white cathedral during daytime
people walking on pedestrian lane during daytime
a large white building with a green dome
Belvedere Palace
Palmenhaus, Schönbrunn
Evening View on Vienna
Vienna
Castle in Vienna