Overview to Vienna: Travel Guide and Tourist Information
- Vienna Information
- Eating & drinking in Vienna
- Night life in Vienna
- Getting around in Vienna
- Things to do in Vienna
- Where to stay in Vienna
- Vienna street map
Reclining attractively on either side of the River Danube, Vienna is one of the most elegant cities in Europe. Austria’s capital, it’s also the country’s largest and most populated city, as well as its financial and cultural center.
The city is laid out into twenty-three districts, with the Innere Stadt its spiritual and geographical heart. Here, visitors will find the town hall, university, parliament, impressive Burgtheater and the Hofburg – the former imperial palace.
Elsewhere in the city, the district of Karlsplatz is home to the Karlskirche, a stunning Baroque church, and the lavish palace of Schonbrunn, an astonishing collection of more than 1400 rooms. In addition to the enormous palace itself, it’s surrounded by elegant walkways, stunning gardens, a maze and the world’s oldest zoo.
But Vienna is something of a city of contrasts: the shining glass structure of the Haas House, for example, sits directly alongside one of the most famous and well-loved sights, St Stephen's Cathedral. And while the center is studded with beautiful Gothic, Baroque and classical architecture, other cutting-edge buildings are located in the southern and eastern districts.
Vienna is quite simply one of the most culturally-rich cities to be found anywhere in the world. The Museumsquartier has a range of art galleries that includes the mighty Kunsthistorisches Museum with one of the world’s largest collections of art. Outside of the Museumsquartier, fascinating museums such as the Military Museum, the Technical Museum and the Vienna Clock Museum can also be found.
As well as these numerous museums, Vienna has several elegant parks, with Rathauspark, the Volksgarten and the Burggarten the three most central . Similarly, the enormous Zentralfriedhof Cemetery is a beautiful and atmospheric place to take a stroll through. Amongst the many notable Austrians buried there, lie the graves of Beethoven and Schubert.
Vienna’s grand, slightly stiff appearance is at odds with the pleasant atmosphere that its friendly population creates. Sitting in a kaffeehaus over a steaming cup of coffee, or in one of the city’s welcoming bars, you’d be hard-pressed to think of the city as anything other than an incredibly civilized place.