The twin building facing the Kunsthistorisches Museum still serves the exact purpose for which it was built: to show off the Habsburgs' vast collection of plant, animal, and mineral specimens and artifacts. It's grown to become an exceptionally well-organized and enjoyable catalogue of the natural world, with 20 million objects, including moon rocks, dinosaur stuff, and the fist-sized Venus of Willendorf statuette (at 25,000 years old, it’s the world’s oldest sex symbol). Even though the museum has kept its old-school charm, nearly everything on display is presented and described well enough to engage any visitor, from kids to scientifically inclined grown-ups.
Cost and Hours: €10, Wed 9:00-21:00, Thu-Mon 9:00-18:30, closed Tue, €4 audioguide isn't necessary, on the Ringstrasse at Maria-Theresien-Platz, U: Volkstheater/Museumsplatz, tel. 01/521-770, www.nhm-wien.ac.at.
The vast grounds of the former imperial stables now corral a cutting-edge cultural center for contemporary arts and design. Among several impressive museums, the best are the Leopold Museum, specializing in 20th-century Austrian modernists (Schiele, Klimt, and Kokoschka, among others), and the Museum of Modern Art, Austria’s leading gallery for international modern and contemporary art. For many, the MuseumsQuartier is most enjoyable as a spot to gather in the evening for a light, fun meal, cocktails, and people-watching.
Cost and Hours: Leopold Museum—€13, open daily 10:00-18:00, Thu until 21:00, closed Tue Sept-May, audioguide-€4 but not essential, tel. 01/525-700, www.leopoldmuseum.org; Museum of Modern Art—€11 (half-price Thu after 18:00), open Mon 14:00-19:00, Tue-Sun 10:00-19:00, Thu until 21:00, good audioguide-€3, tel. 01/52500, www.mumok.at. The main entrance/visitors center is at Museumsplatz 1 (ask about combo-tickets here if visiting more than just the Leopold and Modern Art museums; U: Volkstheater/Museumsplatz, tel. 01/525-5881, www.mqw.at).
These sights cluster around Karlsplatz, just southeast of the Ringstrasse (U: Karlsplatz). If you're walking from central Vienna, use the U-Bahn station’s passageway (at the opera house) to avoid crossing busy boulevards. Once at Karlsplatz, allow about 30 minutes' walking time to connect the various sights: Karlskirche, the Secession, and Naschmarkt.
This picnic-friendly square, with its Henry Moore sculpture in the pond, is the front yard of Vienna’s Technical University. The massive, domed Karlskirche and its twin spiral columns dominate the square. The small green, white, and gold pavilions that line the street across the square from the church are from the late 19th-century municipal train system (Stadtbahn). With curvy iron frames, decorative marble slabs, and painted gold trim, these are pioneering works in the Jugendstil style, designed by the Modernist architect Otto Wagner, who influenced Klimt and the Secessionists. One of the pavilions has a sweet little exhibit on Wagner that illustrates the Art Nouveau lifestyle around 1900 (€5, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon and Nov-March, near the Ringstrasse, tel. 01/5058-7478-5177, www.wienmuseum.at).
Charles Borromeo, a 16th-century bishop from Milan, inspired his parishioners during plague times. This “votive church” was dedicated to him in 1713, when an epidemic spared Vienna. The church offers the best Baroque in the city, with a unique combination of columns (showing scenes from Borromeo’s life, à la Trajan’s Column in Rome), a classic pediment, an elliptical dome, and a terrific close-up look at its frescoes, thanks to a construction elevator that's open to the public. The dome’s colorful 13,500-square-foot fresco—painted in the 1730s by Johann Michael Rottmayr—shows Signor Borromeo (in red-and-white bishop’s robes) gazing up into heaven, spreading his arms wide, and pleading with Christ to spare Vienna from the plague.
Cost and Hours: €8, Mon-Sat 9:00-18:00, Sun 13:00-19:00, dome elevator runs until 17:30, audioguide-€2, www.karlskirche.at. The entry fee may seem steep, but remember that it helps to fund the restoration. There are often classical music concerts performed here on period instruments (usually Thu-Sat; ask about Rick Steves discount or €10 student discounts, generally given loosely—we’re all still learning, right?; see www.concert-vienna.info).
This underappreciated city history museum walks you through the story of Vienna with well-presented artifacts and good English descriptions. While the museum gets few visitors, if you like history, it’s excellent. A new building is being planned for the site, and the museum will likely close for several years sometime in 2018.
Cost and Hours: €10, free first Sun of the month, open Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, Karlsplatz 8, tel. 01/505-8747, www.wienmuseum.at.
Few tourists make their way to Vienna’s art academy to see its small but impressive collection of paintings, starring Botticelli, Guardi, Rubens, Van Dyck, and other great masters. The highlight is a triptych by the master of medieval surrealism, Hieronymus Bosch. The collection’s location in a working art academy (it even smells like an art school) gives it a certain authenticity, and indeed, these paintings were left to the academy for teaching purposes.
The Gemäldegalerie is upstairs, on the school's first floor. Past the ticket desk, head to the left for the permanent collection (if you go right, you’ll find free contemporary exhibits by local students).
Cost and Hours: €8, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon; audioguide-€2, 3 blocks from the opera house at Schillerplatz 3, tel. 01/588-162-222, www.akbild.ac.at.
This little building, strategically located behind the Academy of Fine Arts, was created by the Vienna Secession movement, a group of nonconformist artists led by Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner, and friends.
Having turned their backs on the stuffy official art academy, the Secessionists used the building to display their radical art. The stylized trees carved into the exterior walls and the building’s bushy “golden cabbage” rooftop are symbolic of a cycle of renewal. Today, the Secession continues to showcase contemporary cutting-edge art, and it preserves Gustav Klimt’s famous Beethoven Frieze. A masterpiece of Viennese Art Nouveau, this 105-foot-long fresco was the multimedia centerpiece of a 1902 exhibition honoring Ludwig van Beethoven.
Cost and Hours: €9.50 includes special exhibits, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, audioguide-€3, Friedrichstrasse 12, tel. 01/587-5307, www.secession.at.
In 1898, the city decided to cover up its Vienna River. The long, wide square they created was filled with a lively produce market that still bustles most days (closed Sun). It’s long been known as the place to get exotic faraway foods. In fact, locals say, “From here start the Balkans.”
Hours and Location: Mon-Fri 6:00-18:30, Sat until 17:00, closed Sun, closes earlier in winter; between Linke Wienzeile and Rechte Wienzeile, U: Karlsplatz.
Visiting the Naschmarkt: The stalls of the Naschmarkt (roughly, “Nibble Market”) stretch along Wienzeile street, just a short stroll south of the opera house. This “Belly of Vienna” comes with two parallel lanes—one lined with fun and reasonable eateries, and the other featuring the town’s top-end produce and gourmet goodies. This is where top chefs like to get their ingredients. At the gourmet vinegar stall, you can sample the vinegar as you would perfume—with a drop on your wrist (see photo). Farther from the center, the Naschmarkt becomes likably seedy, less expensive, and surrounded by sausage stands, Turkish döner kebab stalls, cafés, and theaters. At the market’s far end is a line of buildings with fine Art Nouveau facades. Each Saturday, the Naschmarkt is infested by a huge flea market (sets up west of the Kettenbrückengasse U-Bahn station).
While there are more stately and elegant streets in the central district, the best opportunity to simply feel the pulse of workaday Viennese life is a little farther out, along Mariahilfer Strasse. The street has recently gone mostly pedestrian-only, and is fast becoming an attraction in itself. An easy plan is to ride the U-3 to the Zieglergasse stop (see map on here), then stroll and browse your way downhill to the MuseumsQuartier U-Bahn station.
If you’re interested in how Austria handles its people’s appetite for marijuana, search out three interesting stops along this corridor: Bushplanet Headshop (at Esterhazygasse 32, near the Neubaugasse U-Bahn stop), Hemp Embassy Museum (next to Bushplanet Headshop—basically a display of big, sparkling marijuana plants), and Bushplanet Growshop (set back in a courtyard off Mariahilfer Strasse at #115, both Bushplanet locations open Mon-Fri 10:00-19:00, Sat until 18:00, closed Sun, www.bushplanet.at).
To add some fine-art culture to your stroll, drop in at the nearby Imperial Furniture Collection, where you’ll see everything from Habsburg thrones to commodes (see here).
For a fine and free city view (along with reasonable eating), escalate to the top floor of the honeycombed Gerngross shopping center and find the Brandauer restaurant (at Mariahilfer Strasse #42; there’s also a decent Akakiko Sushi place on the fifth floor—see listing on here).
Just off Mariahilfer Strasse #24 (near Capistrangasse) is a passageway (sometimes closed) leading to a chilling bit of WWII history: a Nazi flak tower built in 1944. Mighty towers like this, which housed antiaircraft guns and doubled as bomb shelters, survive in Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna (where six still stand). This bomb shelter is connected by tunnel to today’s Austrian government and still serves as a bunker of last resort.
The following museums and sights are located outside the Ringstrasse but inside the Gürtel, or outer ring road. For locations, see the map on here.
This is the elegant palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), the still much-appreciated conqueror of the Ottomans. Today you can tour Eugene’s lavish palace, see sweeping views of the gardens and the Vienna skyline, and enjoy world-class art starring Gustav Klimt, French Impressionism, and a grab bag of other 19th- and early-20th-century artists. While Vienna’s other art collections show off works by masters from around Europe, this has the city’s best collection of homegrown artists.
The palace complex includes the Upper Palace (world-class art collection), smaller Lower Palace (historical rooms and temporary exhibits), the 21er Haus (modern pavilion mostly filled with contemporary art), and pleasantly beautiful Baroque-style gardens (free and fun to explore). For most visitors, only the Upper Palace is worth the entrance fee.
Cost and Hours: €14 for Upper Belvedere Palace only, €20 for Klimt Ticket covering Upper and Lower Palaces (and special exhibits), gardens free; daily 10:00-18:00, Lower Palace until 21:00 on Wed, grounds open until dusk; audioguide-€4 or €7/2 people, no photos allowed inside; entrance at Prinz-Eugen-Strasse 27, tel. 01/7955-7134, www.belvedere.at.
Eating at the Belvedere: There’s a charming little café on the ground floor of the Upper Palace; in summer you can sit outdoors in the garden.
Getting There: The palace is a 15-minute walk south of the Ring. To get there from the center, catch tram #D at the opera house (direction: Hauptbahnhof). Get off at the Schloss Belvedere stop (just below the Upper Palace gate), cross the street, walk uphill one block, go through the gate (on left), and look immediately to the right for the small building with the ticket office.
Visiting the Belvedere: The two grand buildings of the Belvedere Palace are separated by a fine garden that slopes down from the Upper to Lower Palace. For our purposes, the Upper Palace is what matters. There are two grand floors, set around impressive middle halls.
From the entrance, climb the staircase to the first floor and enter the grand red-and-gold, chandeliered Marble Hall. This was Prince Eugene’s party room. Belvedere means “beautiful view,” and the view from the Marble Hall is especially spectacular. Look over the Baroque gardens, the Lower Palace, and the city.
Then head into the east wing. Alongside Renoir’s ladies, Monet’s landscapes, and Van Gogh’s rough brushstrokes are similar works by their lesser-known Austrian counterparts. Around 1900, Austrian artists come to the fore, soaking up Symbolism, Expressionism, and other Modernist trends.
Sumptuous paintings by Gustav Klimt fill the rooms at the far end of the east wing. You can get caught up in his fascination with the beauty and danger he saw in women. To Klimt, all art was erotic art. He painted during the turn of the 20th century, when Vienna was a splendid laboratory of hedonism. Even fully clothed, his women have a bewitching eroticism in a world full of pollen and pistils.
The famous painting Judith (1901) shows no biblical heroine—Klimt paints her as a high-society Viennese woman with an ostentatious dog-collar necklace. With half-closed eyes and slightly parted lips, she’s dismissive...yet mysterious and bewitching.
In what is perhaps Klimt's best-known painting, The Kiss, two lovers are wrapped up in the colorful gold-and-jeweled cloak of bliss. Klimt’s woman is no longer dominating, but submissive, abandoning herself to her man in a fertile field and a vast universe.
Klimt nurtured the next generation of artists, especially Egon Schiele. While Klimt’s works are seductive and otherworldly, Schiele’s, tend to be darker and more introspective.
The rest of the Upper Palace collection goes through the whole range of 19th- and 20th-century art. In the first floor's west wing is the Belvedere’s collection of Austrian Baroque art, including grotesquely grimacing heads by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783), a quirky 18th-century Habsburg court sculptor who went off to follow his own deranged muse.
A big part of Habsburg history is military. And this huge place, built about 1860 as an arsenal by Franz Josef, tells that story with a thoughtful motto (apparently learned from the school of hard knocks): “Wars belong in museums.” This vast museum holds a rich collection of artifacts and historic treasures. The interesting 20th-century section includes exhibits devoted to Sarajevo in 1914, Chancellor Dollfuss and the pre-Hitler Austrian Fascist party, the Anschluss, and World War II.
Cost and Hours: €6, includes good audioguide, free first Sun of the month, open daily 9:00-17:00, small café on site, on Arsenalstrasse, tel. 01/795-610, www.hgm.at. It’s a 10-minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof, or a 5-minute walk from the Quartier Belvedere tram/S-Bahn stop behind the Belvedere Palace (see map on here).
Facing the old town from across the Ring, the MAK, as it’s called, is a design museum best known for its collection of furniture and decorative art from Vienna’s artistic Golden Age, which is showcased in the permanent Vienna 1900 exhibit. The museum’s unique gift shop also makes for a fun diversion.
Cost and Hours: €10, free Tue after 18:00; open Tue 10:00-22:00, Wed-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon; multimedia guide-€2, classy restaurant with pleasant garden seating, Stubenring 5—take U-Bahn or tram #2 to Stubentor, tel. 01/711-360, www.mak.at.
This “make yourself at home” museum and nearby apartment complex are a hit with lovers of modern art, mixing the work and philosophy of local painter/environmentalist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), a.k.a. “100H2O.”
The museum provides by far the best look at Hundertwasser, but for an actual lived-in apartment complex by the green master, walk 5 to 10 minutes to the one-with-nature Hundertwasserhaus (at Löwengasse and Kegelgasse). This complex of 50 apartments, subsidized by the government to provide affordable housing, was built in the 1980s as a breath of architectural fresh air in a city of boring, blocky apartment complexes. While not open to visitors, it’s worth seeing for its fun and colorful patchwork exterior.
Cost and Hours: €11 for museum, €12 combo-ticket includes special exhibitions, open daily 10:00-18:00, extremely fragrant and colorful garden café, tel. 01/712-0491, www.kunsthauswien.com.
Getting There: It’s located at Untere Weissgerberstrasse 13, near the Radetzkyplatz stop on trams #O and #1 (signs point the way). Take the U-Bahn to Landstrasse and either walk 10 minutes downhill (north) along Untere Viaduktgasse (a block east of the station), or transfer to tram #O (direction: Praterstern) and ride three stops to Radetzkyplatz.
Since the 1780s, when the reformist Emperor Josef II gave his hunting grounds to the people of Vienna as a public park, this place has been Vienna’s playground. For the tourist, the “Prater” is the sugary-smelling, tired, and sprawling amusement park (Wurstelprater). For locals, the “Prater” is the vast, adjacent green park with its three-mile-long, tree-lined main boulevard (Hauptallee). The park still tempts visitors with its huge 220-foot-tall, famous, and lazy Ferris wheel (Riesenrad), fun roller coasters, bumper cars, Lilliputian railroad, and endless eateries. Especially if you’re traveling with kids, this is a fun place to share the evening with thousands of Viennese.
Cost and Hours: Park is free and always open; amusement park—rides cost €2-€8 and run May-Oct roughly 10:00-22:00, but often later in good weather in summer, fewer rides open in off-season; U: Praterstern, www.prater.at. For a local-style family dinner, eat at Schweizerhaus (good food, great Czech Budvar—the original “Budweiser”—beer, classic conviviality).
Freud enthusiasts (and detractors) enjoy seeing the apartment and home office of the man who fundamentally changed our understanding of the human psyche. Dr. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), a graduate of Vienna University, established his practice here in 1891. For the next 47 years, he received troubled patients who hoped to find peace by telling him their dreams, life traumas, and secret urges. It was here that he wrote his influential works, including the landmark Interpretation of Dreams (1899). The museum is narrowly focused on Freud’s life. If you’re looking for a critical appraisal of whether he was a cocaine-addicted charlatan or a sincere doctor groping toward an understanding of human nature, you won’t find it here.
Cost and Hours: €10, includes audioguide, daily 10:00-18:00, tiny bookshop, half-block from the Schlickgasse stop on tram #D, Berggasse 19, tel. 01/319-1596, www.freud-museum.at.
Bizarre, sensuous, eccentric, or precious, this collection (on four fascinating floors) is your peek at the Habsburgs’ furniture—from the empress’s wheelchair (“to increase her fertility she was put on a rich diet and became corpulent”) to the emperor’s spittoon—all thoughtfully described in English. Evocative paintings help bring the furniture to life.
The Habsburgs had many palaces, but only the Hofburg was permanently furnished. The rest were done on the fly—set up and taken down by a gang of royal roadies called the “Depot of Court Movables” (Hofmobiliendepot). When the monarchy was dissolved in 1918, the state of Austria took possession of the Hofmobiliendepot’s inventory—165,000 items. Now this royal storehouse is open to the public in a fine and sprawling museum.
Cost and Hours: €9.50, covered by Sisi Ticket, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, Mariahilfer Strasse 88, main entrance around the corner at Andreasgasse 7, U: Zieglergasse, tel. 01/5243-3570, www.hofmobiliendepot.at.
Among Europe’s palaces, only Schönbrunn rivals Versailles. This former summer residence of the Habsburgs is big, with more than 300 rooms in the main building alone. But don’t worry—only 40 rooms are shown to the public. Of the plethora of sights at the vast complex, the highlight is a tour of the palace's Imperial Apartments—the chandeliered rooms where the Habsburg nobles lived. You can also stroll the gardens, tour the Imperial Carriage Museum, and visit a handful of lesser sights nearby.
Planning Your Time: Allow at least three hours (including transit time) for your excursion to Schönbrunn. The palace is sprawling and can be mobbed. To avoid lines, reserve your visit in advance, or use a Sisi Ticket (see “Reservations,” next page). After viewing the Imperial Apartments, wander the gardens (most of which are free). With more time and energy, pick and choose among the other sightseeing options and buy tickets as you go.
Getting There: Schönbrunn is an easy 10-minute subway ride from downtown Vienna. Take U-4 (which conveniently leaves from Karlsplatz) to Schönbrunn (direction: Hütteldorf) and follow signs for Schloss Schönbrunn. Exit bearing right, then cross the busy road and continue to the right, to the far, far end of the long yellow building. There you'll find the visitors center, where tickets are sold.
Cost: Visits to the palace are by timed-entry tours. The Imperial Apartments offer two tour options: The best is the 40-room Grand Tour (€17.50, 50 minutes, includes audioguide, covered by Sisi Ticket), which includes both the rooms of Franz Josef and Sisi, as well as the (more impressive) Rococo rooms of Maria Theresa. The Imperial Tour (€14.20, 35 minutes, includes audioguide) covers only the less-interesting first 22 rooms. For €3 more you can visit with a real guide, but since these live tours are offered only a few times a day, I wouldn't bother.
If venturing beyond the apartments, consider a combo-ticket (available mid-March-Oct only): The €24 Classic Pass includes the Grand Tour, as well as the Gloriette viewing terrace, maze, orangery, and privy garden. The €55.50 Gold Pass adds on the rest of what's here—Imperial Carriage Museum, zoo, palm house, and desert house.
Hours: Imperial Apartments open daily 8:30-17:30, July-Aug until 18:30, Nov-March until 17:00; gardens generally open 6:30-20:00 but varies with season.
Reservations: In summer and on good-weather weekends, definitely make a reservation. Otherwise you’ll likely have to stand in line at the ticket desk, and then you’ll probably have to wait again for your assigned entry time—which could be hours later. To get right in, book your entry time in advance online (www.schoenbrunn.at); tickets can also be reserved by phone at least a half-hour ahead and picked up at the visitors center (tel. 01/8111-3239). Those with a Sisi Ticket can enter without a reserved entry time (see here for details).
Other Crowd-Beating Tips: Even with a reserved entry time, the palace can be a jam-packed sauna of shoulder-to-shoulder mobs shuffling through. It’s busiest from 9:30 to 12:00. Crowds start to subside after 14:00, so if you don’t have a reservation, come late in the day. You can save some time in line by using one of the ticket machines (which sell only Grand Tour and Imperial Tour tickets). If you have time to kill before your entry time, spend it exploring the gardens or Imperial Carriage Museum.
Eating at Schönbrunn: Eating options at the palace range from sit-down restaurants to garden cafés.
In the 1500s, the Habsburgs built a small hunting lodge near a beautiful spring (schön-brunn), and for the next three centuries, they made it their summer getaway from stuffy Vienna. The palace’s exterior (late-1600s) is Baroque, but the interior was finished under Maria Theresa (mid-1700s) in let-them-eat-cake Rococo.
Visiting the Apartments: Your tour of the apartments, accompanied by an audioguide, follows a clearly signed one-way route. Think of the following minitour as a series of bread crumbs, leading you along while the audioguide fills in the details. Note that no photos are allowed in the Imperial Apartments.
Begin in the guards' room, where jauntily dressed mannequins of Franz Josef's bodyguards introduce you to his luxurious world. Continue through the Billiard Room to the Walnut Room. Wow. Rococo-style wood paneling and gilding decorate this room where Franz Josef—a hard-working modern monarch—received official visitors. Nearby is the study—Franz Josef (see his mustachioed portrait) worked at this desk, sometimes joined by his beautiful, brown-haired wife Sisi (see her portrait). In the bedchamber, where he died barely more than a century ago, a praying stool, iron bed, and little toilet all attest to Franz Josef's spartan lifestyle (though the paintings here remind us of the grand scale of his palace).
Empress Sisi's Study and Dressing Room: See her portrait in a black dress, as well as (a reconstruction of) the spiral staircase that once led down to her apartments. The long-haired mannequin and makeup jars in the dressing room indicate how obsessive Sisi was about her looks.
Franz Josef's and Sisi's Bedroom: The huge wood-carved double bed suggests marital bliss, but the bed is not authentic—and as for the bliss, history suggests otherwise. Nearby is Sisi's salon. Though this was Sisi's reception room, the pastel paintings show her husband's distinguished ancestors—the many children of Maria Theresa (including Marie-Antoinette, immediately to the left as you enter).
Follow along to the dining room. The whole family ate here at the huge table; today it's set with dinnerware owned by Maria Theresa and Sisi. Next is the children's room, with portraits of Maria Theresa (on the easel) and some of her 11 (similar-looking) daughters.
Hall of Mirrors: In this room, six-year-old Mozart performed for Maria Theresa and her family (1762). He amazed them by playing without being able to see the keys, he jumped playfully into the empress’ lap, and he even asked six-year-old Marie-Antoinette to marry him.
Great Gallery: Imagine the parties they had here: waltzers spinning across the floor, lit by chandeliers reflecting off the mirrors, beneath stunning ceiling frescoes, while enjoying views of the gardens and the Gloriette monument (described below). When WWII bombs rained on Vienna, the palace was largely spared. It took only one direct hit—crashing through this ballroom—but, thankfully, that bomb was a dud.
More Fancy Rooms: It was in the Blue Chinese Salon, in 1918, that the last Habsburg emperor made the decision to relinquish power. Up next, the black-lacquer Vieux-Laque Room may convince you the Grand Tour ticket was worth the extra euros. Continue to the Napoleon Room. When Napoleon conquered Austria, he took over Schönbrunn and made this his bedroom. He dumped Josephine and took a Habsburg princess as his bride, and they had a son (cutely pictured holding a wreath of flowers).
Rich Bedchamber: This darkened room has what may have been Maria Theresa's wedding bed, where she and her husband Franz produced 16 children. Then comes their study, with a fitting end to this palace tour—a painting showing the happy couple who left their mark all over Schönbrunn.
The large, manicured grounds fill the palace's backyard, dominated by a hill-topping monument called the Gloriette. Unlike the gardens of Versailles, meant to shut out the real world, Schönbrunn’s park was opened to the public in 1779 while the monarchy was in full swing. It was part of Maria Theresa’s reform policy, making the garden a celebration of the evolution of civilization from autocracy into real democracy.
Today it’s a delightful, sprawling place to wander—especially on a sunny day. You can spend hours here, enjoying the views and the people-watching. And most of the park is free, as it has been for more than two centuries (open daily sunrise to dusk, entrance on either side of the palace). Note that a number of specialty features in the gardens charge admission but are included in the Schönbrunn passes described earlier (under “Cost”).
If the weather is good, huff up the zigzag path above the Neptune Fountain to the Gloriette, a purely decorative monument celebrating an obscure Austrian military victory. To gain access to the view terraces, you can pay for a pricey drink in the café or shell out for an admission ticket (€3.80)—but views are about as good from the lawn just in front of the monument.
Getting Around the Gardens: A tourist train makes the rounds all day, connecting Schönbrunn’s many attractions (€7, 2/hour in peak season, none Nov-mid-March, one-hour circuit).
The world’s oldest zoo, next door to the palace grounds, was built in 1752 by Maria Theresa’s husband for the entertainment and education of the court. He later opened it up to the public—provided that they wore proper attire. Today, it’s a modern A (anteater) to Z (zebra) menagerie that’s especially appealing to families.
Cost and Hours: Adults-€18.50, kids-€9, daily 9:00-18:30, closes earlier off-season, www.zoovienna.at.
The Schönbrunn coach museum is a 19th-century traffic jam of 50 impressive royal carriages and sleighs. It's overpriced (but worth the time if you've paid for the Schönbrunn Gold Pass). Highlights include silly sedan chairs, the death-black hearse carriage (used for Franz Josef in 1916, and most recently for Empress Zita in 1989), and an extravagantly gilded imperial carriage pulled by eight Cinderella horses.
Cost and Hours: €8, daily 9:00-17:00, Nov-April until 16:00, audioguide-€2, 200 yards from palace, walk through right arch as you face palace, tel. 01/525-243-470, www.kaiserliche-wagenburg.at.
Vienna—the birthplace of what we call classical music—still thrives as Europe’s music capital. On any given evening, you’ll have your choice of opera, Strauss waltzes, Mozart chamber concerts, and lighthearted musicals. The Vienna Boys’ Choir lives up to its worldwide reputation.
Besides music, you can spend an evening enjoying art, watching a classic film, or sipping Viennese wine in a village wine garden. Save some energy for Vienna after dark.
In Vienna, it’s music con brio from September through June, reaching a symphonic climax during the Vienna Festival each May and June. Sadly, in summer (generally July and August), the Boys’ Choir, opera, and many other serious music companies are—like you—on vacation. But Vienna hums year-round with live classical music; touristy, crowd-pleasing shows are always available.
For music lovers, Vienna is also an opportunity to make pilgrimages to the homes (now mostly small museums) of favorite composers. If you’re a fan of Schubert, Brahms, Haydn, Beethoven, or Mozart, there’s a sight for you. But I find these homes inconveniently located and generally underwhelming. The centrally located Haus der Musik (see here) is my favorite setting for celebrating the great musicians and composers who called Vienna home.
Venues: Vienna remains the music capital of Europe, with 10,000 seats in various venues around town mostly booked with classical performances. The best-known entertainment venues are the Staatsoper (State Opera House), the Volksoper (for musicals and operettas), the Theater an der Wien (opera and other performances), the Wiener Musikverein (home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra), and the Wiener Konzerthaus (various events). Schedules for these venues are listed in the monthly Wien-Programm (available at TI). You can also check event listings at www.viennaconcerts.com.
Buying Tickets: Most tickets run from €45 to €60 (plus a stiff booking fee when purchased in advance by phone or online, or through a box office like the one at the TI). A few venues charge as little as €30; look around if you’re not set on any particular concert. While it’s easy to book tickets online long in advance, spontaneity is also workable, as there are invariably people selling their extra tickets at face value or less outside the door before concert time. If you call a concert hall directly, they can advise you on the availability of (cheaper) tickets at the door. Vienna takes care of its starving artists (and tourists) by offering cheap standing-room tickets to top-notch music and opera (generally an hour before each performance).
The boys sing (from a high balcony, heard but not seen) at the 9:15 Sunday Mass from mid-September through June in the Hofburg’s Imperial Music Chapel (Hofmusikkapelle). The entrance is at Schweizerhof; you can get there from In der Burg square or go through the tunnel from Josefsplatz.
Reserved seats must be booked in advance (€10-36; reserve by fax, email, or mail: fax from the US 011-431-533-992-775, send email to office@hofmusikkapelle.gv.at, or write Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, Hofburg-Schweizerhof, 1010 Wien; call 01/533-9927 for information only—they can’t book tickets at this number; www.hofmusikkapelle.gv.at).
Much easier, standing room inside is free and open to the first 60 who line up. Even better, rather than line up early, you can simply swing by and stand in the narthex just outside, where you can hear the boys and see the Mass on a TV monitor.
The Boys’ Choir also performs at the MuTh concert hall on Fridays at 17:30 in September and October (€39-89, Am Augartenspitz 1 in Augarten park, U: Taborstrasse, tel. 01/347-8080, www.muth.at, tickets@muth.at).
They’re talented kids, but, for my taste, not worth all the commotion. Remember, many churches have great music during Sunday Mass. Just 200 yards from the Hofburg's Boys’ Choir chapel, the Augustinian Church has a glorious 11:00 service each Sunday (see here).
The Vienna State Opera puts on 300 performances a year (in July and August the singers rest their voices or go on tour). Since there are different operas nearly nightly, you’ll see big trucks out back and constant action backstage—all the sets need to be switched each day. The excellent “electronic libretto” translation screens help make the experience worthwhile for opera newbies.
Opera Tickets: Main-floor seats go for €120-200; bargain hunters get limited-view seats for €13-30. You can book tickets in advance by phone (tel. 01/513-1513, phone answered daily 10:00-21:00) or online (www.wiener-staatsoper.at). In person, head to one of the opera’s two box offices: on the west side of the building (across Operngasse and facing the opera house), or the smaller one just under the big screen on the east side of the opera (facing Kärntner Strasse; both offices open Mon-Fri 9:00 until two hours before each performance, Sat 9:00-12:00, closed Sun).
Standing-Room Tickets: Unless Placido Domingo is in town, it’s easy to get one of 567 standing-room tickets (Stehplätze, €3 up top or €4 downstairs, can purchase one ticket/person). While the front doors open one hour before the show starts, a side door (middle of building, on the Operngasse side) opens 80 minutes before curtain time, giving those in the know an early grab at standing-room tickets. Just walk straight in, then head right until you see the ticket booth marked Stehplätze. If fewer than 567 people are in line, there’s no need to line up early. If you’re one of the first 160 in line, try for the €4 “Parterre” section and you’ll end up dead-center at stage level, directly under the Emperor’s Box. Otherwise, you can choose between the third floor (Balkon), or the fourth floor (Galerie), though regulars prefer these sections because each ticket holder gets a section of railing along with a digital screen to read the libretto. Dress is casual (but do your best) at the standing-room bar. Locals save their spot along the rail by tying a scarf to it. Once you’ve saved your spot with your scarf, you can leave to check your belongings.
Rick’s Crude Tip: For me, three hours is a lot of opera. But just to see and hear Vienna’s opera in action for a half-hour is a treat. And if you go, you’ll get the added entertainment of seeing Vienna all dressed up. I’d buy a standing-room ticket and plan to just watch the first part of the show.
“Live Opera on the Square”: Demonstrating its commitment to bringing opera to the masses, each spring and fall the Vienna State Opera projects several performances live on a huge screen on its building, puts out chairs for the public to enjoy...and it’s all free. (These projected performances are noted as Oper Live am Platz in the official opera schedule—posted all around the opera building; they are also listed in the Wien-Programm brochure and at www.wiener-staatsoper.at—select “News,” then “Staatsoper outdoors.”)
For less-serious operettas and musicals, try Vienna’s other opera house, located along the Gürtel, west of the city center (see Wien-Programm brochure or ask at TI for schedule, Währinger Strasse 78, tel. 01/5144-43670, www.volksoper.at).
Considered the oldest theater in Vienna, this venue was designed in 1801 for Mozart operas—intimate, with just a thousand seats. It treats Vienna’s music lovers to a different opera every month—generally Mozart with a contemporary setting and modern interpretation. Although Vienna now supports three opera companies, this is the only company playing through the summer (facing the Naschmarkt at Linke Wienzeile 6, tel. 01/58885, www.theater-wien.at).
Powdered-wig orchestra performances are given almost nightly in grand traditional settings (€30-60). You’ll get second-rate chamber orchestras, clad in historic costumes, performing the greatest hits of Mozart and Strauss. These are casual, easygoing concerts with lots of tour groups attending. While there’s not a Viennese person in the audience, the tourists generally enjoy the evening.
To sort through your options, check with the ticket office in the TI (same price as on the street, but with all venues to choose from). Savvy locals suggest getting the cheapest tickets, as no one seems to care if cheapskates move up to fill unsold pricier seats.
Of the many fine venues in Vienna, the Sala Terrena at Mozarthaus might be my favorite. Intimate chamber-music concerts take place in a small room richly decorated in Venetian Renaissance style (€49-59, Thu-Fri and Sun at 19:30, Sat at 18:00, near St. Stephen’s Cathedral at Singerstrasse 7, tel. 01/911-9077, www.concert-in-vienna.com). Don’t confuse this with the Mozarthaus Vienna Museum on Domgasse, which also holds concerts.
For years, Strauss and Mozart concerts have been held in the Kursalon, the hall where the “Waltz King” himself directed wildly popular concerts 100 years ago (€42-65, concerts generally nightly at 20:15, Johannesgasse 33 at corner of Parkring, tram #2: Weihburggasse or U: Stadtpark, tel. 01/512-5790 to check on availability—generally no problem to reserve—or buy online at www.soundofvienna.at). Shows last two hours and are a mix of ballet, waltzes, and a 15-piece orchestra. It’s touristy—tour guides holding up banners with group numbers wait out front after the show. Even so, the performance is playful, visually fun, fine quality for most, and with a tried-and-tested, crowd-pleasing format.
Vienna is a great place to just be out and about on a balmy evening. While tourists are attracted to the historic central district and its charming, floodlit corners, locals go elsewhere. Depending on your mood and taste, you can join them. Survey and then enjoy lively scenes with bars, cafés, trendy restaurants, and theaters in these areas: Donaukanal (the Danube Canal, especially popular in the summer for its imported beaches); Naschmarkt (after the produce stalls close up, the bars and eateries bring new life to the place through the evening; see here); MuseumsQuartier (surrounded by far-out museums, a young scene of bars with local students filling the courtyard; see here); and City Hall (on the parklike Rathausplatz, where in summer free concerts and a food circus of eateries attract huge local crowds—described next).
A convivial, free-to-everyone people scene erupts each evening in summer (July-Aug) on Rathausplatz, the welcoming park in front of City Hall (right on the Ringstrasse). Thousands of people keep a food circus of simple stalls busy. There’s not a plastic cup anywhere, just real plates and glasses—Vienna wants the quality of eating to be as high as the music that’s about to begin. And most stalls are outposts of local restaurants—including some of Vienna’s most esteemed—making this a fun and easy way to sample some of the city's most interesting options. About 2,000 spots on comfy benches face a 60-foot-wide screen up against the City Hall’s Neo-Gothic facade. When darkness falls, an announcer explains the program, and then the music starts. The program is different every night—mostly films of opera and classical concerts, but with some jazz and R&B too. Ask at the TI or check www.filmfestival-rathausplatz.at for the schedule (programs generally last about 2 hours, starting when it’s dark—between 21:30 in July and 20:30 in Aug).
Renowned for its ball scene, Vienna boasts hundreds of balls each year, where the classic dance is the waltz. The height of ball season falls generally between December and February, when Viennese and visitors of all ages dress up and swirl to music ranging from waltzes to jazz to contemporary beats. Balls are put on by the Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Boys’ Choir, Vienna State Opera, and others (search for events at www.events.wien.info). The glamorous Hofburg Silvesterball takes place on New Year’s Eve at the Hofburg Palace, featuring big-name orchestras, bands, and opera singers, a sumptuous dinner, and champagne toast (www.hofburgsilvesterball.com).
Several great theaters offer three or four screens of English movies nightly (€6-9). Burg Kino, a block from the opera house, facing the Ring (see below), tapes its weekly schedule to the door—box office opens 30 minutes before each showing. English Cinema Haydn is near my recommended hotels on Mariahilfer Strasse (Mariahilfer Strasse 57, tel. 01/587-2262, www.haydnkino.at), and Artis International Cinema is right in the town center a few minutes from the cathedral (Schultergasse 5, tel. 01/535-6570).
This movie is set in 1949 Vienna—when it was divided, like Berlin, between the four victorious Allies. Reliving the cinematic tale of a divided city about to fall under Soviet rule and rife with smuggling is an enjoyable two-hour experience while in Vienna (€7-9, in English; about 3 showings weekly—usually Sun afternoon, Fri evening, and Tue early evening; Opernring 19, tel. 01/587-8406, www.burgkino.at).
Third Man fans will love the quirky Third Man Museum (Dritte Mann Museum,) a lovingly curated collection of artifacts about the film, its popularity around the world, and postwar Vienna (€9, ask about Rick Steves discount, Sat only 14:00-18:00, also some guided tours on summer Wed at 14:00—confirm on website; U: Kettenbrückengasse, a long block south of the Naschmarkt at Pressgasse 25, tel. 01/586-4872, www.3mpc.net).
Accommodations in Vienna are plentiful and relatively cheap—a €100 double here might go for €150 in Munich and €200 in Milan. Within the Ring, you’ll need to shell out over €100 for a double room with bath. But around Mariahilfer Strasse, two people can stay comfortably for €75. Expect rates to spike for conventions (most frequent Sept-Oct) and to drop in November and from January to March.
Viennese elevators and stairwells can be confusing: In most of Europe, 0 is the ground floor, and 1 is the first floor up (our “second floor”). But in Vienna, thanks to a Habsburg-legacy quirk, older buildings have at least one extra "mezzanine" floor (labeled on elevators as P, H, M, and/or A) between the ground floor and the "first" floor, so floor 1 can actually be what we’d call the second, third, or even fourth floor.
For more tips on accommodations, see the “Sleeping” section in the Practicalities chapter.
You’ll pay extra to sleep in the atmospheric old center, but if you can afford it, staying here gives you the classiest Vienna experience and enables you to walk to most sights.
$$$$ Hotel am Stephansplatz is a four-star business hotel with 56 rooms. It’s plush but not over-the-top, and reasonably priced for its sleek comfort and incredible location facing the cathedral. Every detail is modern and quality, and breakfast is superb, with a view of the city waking up around the cathedral (air-con, elevator, gym and sauna, Stephansplatz 9, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/534-050, www.hotelamstephansplatz.at, office@hotelamstephansplatz.at).
$$$ Pension Aviano is a peaceful, family-run place and is the best value among my pricier listings. It has 17 rooms, all comfortable and some beautiful, with flowery carpets and other Baroque frills. It’s high above the old-center action on the third and fourth floors of a typical city-center building (completely nonsmoking, fans, elevator, between Neuer Markt and Kärntner Strasse at Marco d’Avianogasse 1, tel. 01/512-8330, www.secrethomes.at, aviano@secrethomes.at, Frau Kavka).
$$$ Hotel Pertschy, circling an old courtyard, is big and hotelesque. Its 56 huge rooms are elegantly creaky, with chandeliers and Baroque touches. Those on the courtyard are quietest (nonsmoking rooms, elevator, Habsburgergasse 5, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/534-490, www.pertschy.com, info@pertschy.com).
$$$ Hotel zur Wiener Staatsoper is quiet, with a more traditional elegance than many of my other listings. Its 22 tidy rooms come with high ceilings, chandeliers, and fancy carpets on parquet floors (fans on request, elevator, a block from the opera house at Krugerstrasse 11; U: Karlsplatz; tel. 01/513-1274, www.zurwienerstaatsoper.at, office@zurwienerstaatsoper.at, manager Claudia).
$$$ Pension Nossek offers 32 rooms right on the wonderful Graben...but an elevator takes you above any street noise into a calm realm tastefully decorated with lace and flowers, and with a small guest sitting room (air-con, elevator, Graben 17, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/5337-0410, www.pension-nossek.at, reservation@pension-nossek.at, Susanne).
$$$ Motel One Staatsoper, part of a German chain of “budget design hotels,” features sleek, smallish, modern rooms outfitted with quality materials but no frills, a 24-hour reception but minimal service, fantastic lounge spaces, and refreshingly straightforward pricing. This location—right between the opera house and Karlsplatz—has 400 rooms, including some larger options, in a smartly renovated building that's kept its Old World charm (no triples but you can slip in a child under 13 for free, breakfast extra, air-con, elevator, Elisabethstrasse 5, U: Karlsplatz, tel. 01/585-0505, www.motel-one.com, wien-staatsoper@motel-one.com).
$$ Pension A und A, a friendly nine-room B&B run by Andreas and Andrea, offers an elegant, modern break from crusty old Vienna. This place, conveniently located just off the Graben, has a nice entryway and period elevator—but open the door and you’ll find white minimalist hallways and contemporary style in the rooms (air-con, Habsburgergasse 3, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/890-5128, www.aunda.at, office@aunda.at).
$$ Pension Suzanne, as Baroque and doily as you’ll find in this price range, is wonderfully located a few yards from the opera house. It’s small, but run with the class of a bigger hotel. The 26 rooms are packed with properly Viennese antique furnishings and paintings (spacious apartment for up to 6 also available, fans on request, elevator, Walfischgasse 4; U: Karlsplatz and follow signs for Opera exit; tel. 01/513-2507, www.pension-suzanne.at, info@pension-suzanne.at, delightfully run by manager Michael).
$$ Schweizer Pension has been family-owned for four generations (and welcomed me on one of my first visits to Vienna). Anita and her son Gerald offer lots of tourist info and 11 homey rooms with parquet floors and a great price (four of the rooms have shared facilities). It does feel kind of Swiss—tidy and well-run (cash only, completely nonsmoking, elevator, full-service laundry-€18/load, Heinrichsgasse 2, U: Schottenring, tel. 01/533-8156, www.schweizerpension.com, office@schweizerpension.com). They also rent a quad with bath (too small for 4 adults but great for a family of 2 adults/2 kids under age 15).
$$ Pension Neuer Markt is family-run and perfectly central, with 37 comfy but faded rooms, and hallways with a cruise-ship ambience (in hot weather request a quiet courtyard-side room when you reserve, fans, elevator, Seilergasse 9, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/512-2316, www.hotelpension.at, neuermarkt@hotelpension.at, Wolfgang).
$ Pension Dr. Geissler, a respectable budget option, has 23 plain-but-comfortable rooms on the eighth floor of a modern, nondescript apartment building just off Schwedenplatz, about 10 blocks northeast of St. Stephen’s, near the Bratislava ferry terminal (elevator, Wi-Fi in most rooms, Postgasse 14, U: Schwedenplatz—Postgasse is to the left as you face Hotel Capricorno, tel. 01/533-2803, www.hotelpension.at, dr.geissler@hotelpension.at).
Lively, pedestrianized Mariahilfer Strasse connects the Westbahnhof and the city center. The U-3 subway line runs underneath the street on its way between the Westbahnhof and St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and most of these listings are within a five-minute walk of a U-Bahn stop. This vibrant, inexpensive area is filled with stores, cafés, and even a small shopping mall. Its smaller hotels and pensions are generally immigrant-run, often by well-established Hungarian families. As you’d expect, the far end of Mariahilfer Strasse (around and past the Westbahnhof) is rougher around the edges, while the section near downtown is more gentrified.
$$$ NH Atterseehaus Suites, part of a Spanish chain, is a stern, stylish-but-passionless business hotel on Mariahilfer Strasse. It rents 73 rooms, including a few “suites” that are ideal for families (breakfast is a lot extra, nonsmoking rooms, air-con, elevator, pay parking, Mariahilfer Strasse 78, U: Zieglergasse, tel. 01/524-5600, www.nh-hotels.com, nhatterseehaus@nh-hotels.com).
$$ Hotel Pension Corvinus is bright, modern, and proudly and warmly run by a Hungarian family: parents Miklós and Judit and sons Anthony and Zoltán. Its 15 comfortable rooms are spacious, and some are downright sumptuous, with nice extra touches (2 percent discount if you pay cash, ask about family rooms and apartments with kitchens, air-con, elevator, parking-€18/day, on the third floor at Mariahilfer Strasse 57, U: Neubaugasse, tel. 01/587-7239, www.corvinus.at, hotel@corvinus.at).
$$ Hotel Kugel is run with pride and attitude by the gentlemanly, hands-on owner, Johannes Roller. Its 25 fine rooms have Old World charm and are a good value, especially for families (free minibar, completely nonsmoking, some tram noise, Siebensterngasse 43, at corner with Neubaugasse, U: Neubaugasse, tel. 01/523-3355, www.hotelkugel.at, office@hotelkugel.at).
$$ Haydn Hotel is a formal-feeling business hotel one floor below Hotel Corvinus, with 21 bland, spacious, modern rooms (RS%, suites and family apartments, completely nonsmoking, air-con, elevator, pay parking, Mariahilfer Strasse 57, U: Neubaugasse, tel. 01/5874-4140, www.haydn-hotel.at, info@haydn-hotel.at, Nouri).
$ Hotel Pension Mariahilf’s 12 rooms are clean, well-priced, and good-sized (if a bit outmoded), with high ceilings. Just steps from the U-Bahn, it's especially convenient (breakfast served in supermarket across the street Mon-Sat and in lobby Sun, elevator, pay parking, Mariahilfer Strasse 49, U: Neubaugasse, tel. 01/586-1781, www.mariahilf-hotel.at, info@mariahilf-hotel.at, Babak).
$ K&T Boardinghouse rents five modern, spacious rooms on the first floor of a quiet building a block off Mariahilfer Strasse (cash only but reserve with credit card, 2-night minimum, no breakfast, air-con-€8/day, coffee in rooms, Chwallagasse 2, U: Neubaugasse, tel. 01/523-2989, mobile 0676-553-6063, www.ktboardinghouse.at, kt2@chello.at, run by Tina, who also guides day trips to Hungary and Slovakia). From Mariahilfer Strasse, turn left at Café Ritter and walk down Schadekgasse one short block; tiny Chwallagasse is the first right.
$ Pension Kraml is a charming, 17-room place tucked away on a small street between Mariahilfer Strasse and the Naschmarkt. It’s family-run and feels classic, with breakfast served in the perfectly preserved family restaurant (no longer in operation) that the owner’s grandmother ran in the 1950s. The rooms, which surround a pleasantly leafy courtyard, are big and quiet, with a homey, Old World ambience (family apartment available, no elevator, Brauergasse 5, midway between U: Zieglergasse and Pilgramgasse, tel. 01/587-8588, www.pensionkraml.at, pension.kraml@chello.at, Stephan Kraml).
$ Pension Hargita rents 24 bright and attractive rooms (mostly twins) with woody Hungarian-village decor. While the pension is directly on bustling Mariahilfer Strasse, its windows block noise well. Don’t let the dark entryway put you off—this spick-and-span, well-located place is a great value (cash preferred, breakfast extra, completely nonsmoking, lots of stairs and no elevator, air-con in common areas, bike parking, corner of Mariahilfer Strasse at Andreasgasse 1, right at U: Zieglergasse, tel. 01/526-1928, www.hargita.at, pension@hargita.at, Erika and Tibor).
$$ Motel One Westbahnhof, a more affordable outpost of the chain described on here, has 441 rooms (no triples but you can slip in a child under 13 for free, breakfast extra, air-con, pay parking, attached to the Westbahnhof at Europaplatz 3, tel. 01/359-350, www.motel-one.com, wein-westbahnhof@motel-one.com). They also have locations near the Hauptbahnhof (Gerhard-Bronner-Strasse 11, tel. 01/602-0000, wien-hauptbahnhof@motel-one.com) and near the Prater (Ausstellungsstrasse 40, tel. 01/729-7800, wien-prater@motel-one.com); prices at both are generally higher than the Westbahnhof location but lower than the Staatsoper location.
$ Hotel Ibis Wien Mariahilf, a modern high-rise hotel with American charm, is ideal for anyone tired of quaint old Europe. Its 341 cookie-cutter rooms are bright, comfortable, and modern, with all the conveniences (breakfast extra, air-con, elevator, pay parking; exit Westbahnhof to the right and walk 400 yards, Mariahilfer Gürtel 22, U: Westbahnhof; tel. 01/59998, www.ibishotel.com, h0796@accor.com).
$ Pension Fünfhaus is plain, clean, and bare-bones—almost institutional—with tile floors and 47 rooms. The neighborhood is, well...improving (you might see a few ladies loitering late at night), but really not that bad, and this “pension” does the job if you want rock-bottom prices and few services—but try Hargita or Kraml first (cash only, includes very basic breakfast, Wi-Fi in breakfast room, closed mid-Nov-Feb, Sperrgasse 12, U: Westbahnhof, tel. 01/892-3545, www.pension5haus.at, vienna@pension5haus.at, Frau Susi Tersch). Half the rooms are in the main building and half are in the annex at Grandgasse 8, which has good rooms, but its location near the train tracks is a bit sketchy at night. From the station, walk five minutes on Mariahilfer Strasse to #160, then turn right on Sperrgasse.
These budget-minded options cluster near Mariahilfer Strasse and the Westbahnhof.
¢ Hostel Ruthensteiner is your smallest and coziest option, with 100 beds in 4- to 8-bed dorms and lots of little touches (private rooms available with towels included, towel rental in dorms-€1, breakfast extra, nonsmoking, laundry-€6/load, comfy common areas with piano and guitars, bike rental; Robert-Hamerling-Gasse 24; tel. 01/893-4202, www.hostelruthensteiner.com, info@hostelruthensteiner.com). From the Westbahnhof, follow Mariahilfer Strasse away from the center to #149, and turn left on Haidmannsgasse. Go one block, then turn right.
¢ Westend City Hostel, just a block from the Westbahnhof and Mariahilfer Strasse, is well-run and well-located in a residential neighborhood, so it’s quiet after 20:00. It has a small lounge, high-ceilinged rooms, a tiny back courtyard, and 180 beds in 4- to 12-bed dorms, each with its own bath (cash only, private rooms available, towel purchase-€4.50, breakfast included when you book directly with the hostel, elevator, laundry-€7/load, Fügergasse 3, tel. 01/597-6729, www.westendhostel.at, info@westendhostel.at).
¢ Wombat’s City Hostel has two well-run locations—both with about 250 beds and 4 to 6 beds per room (private rooms available, bar, generous public spaces; close to the Westbahnhof at Mariahilfer Strasse 137 and near the Naschmarkt at Rechte Wienzeile 35; tel. 01/897-2336, www.wombats-hostels.com, bookvienna@wombats.eu).
¢ Hostel Wien is your classic, huge, and well-run official youth hostel, with 260 beds (private rooms available, nonsmoking, towel purchase-€3, nonmembers pay €3.50 extra, Wi-Fi in lobby, always open, no curfew, coin-op laundry, Myrthengasse 7, take bus #48A from Westbahnhof, tel. 01/523-6316, www.1070vienna.at, hostel@chello.at).
The Viennese appreciate the fine points of life, and right up there with waltzing is eating. The city has many atmospheric restaurants. As you ponder the Hungarian and Bohemian influence on many menus, remember that Vienna’s diverse empire may be no more, but its flavors linger. In addition to restaurants, this section covers two uniquely Viennese institutions: the city’s café culture and its Heuriger wine pubs. For a fun foodie guide to Vienna, see www.viennawuerstelstand.com.
Austrian Specialties: Traditional Austrian dishes tend to be meat-heavy (although fish is very popular and generally good in this landlocked country). The classic Austrian dish—and a stand-by on menus—is Wiener schnitzel (a veal cutlet that’s been pounded flat, breaded, and fried). Pork schnitzel, which is cheaper, is also common. Austrian Gulasch, a meat stew, is a favorite comfort food.
Best of the Wurst: Sausage (Wurst) is a staple here. Most restaurants offer it (often as the cheapest thing on the menu), but it’s more commonly eaten at a takeout stand (Würstelstand).
Sausages can be boiled or grilled. The generic term Bratwurst simply means “grilled sausage.” Brühwurst is boiled. Generally, the darker the weenie, the spicier it is.
At sausage stands, wurst usually comes in or with a roll (Semmel—not your typical hot-dog bun). You might be given the choice of a slice of bread (Brot), a pretzel (Breze), or in restaurants, potato salad. Sauces and sides include Senf (mustard; ask for süss—sweet, or scharf—spicy), ketchup or curry-ketchup (Currysauce—curry-infused ketchup), Kraut (sauerkraut), and sometimes horseradish (called Kren in Austria and southern Germany).
Smoking in Restaurants: Austria instituted a ban on smoking in public places in 2009, but restaurants and cafés are largely exempt. Recent legislation has again mandated a complete smoking ban in restaurants and bars by 2018. In the meantime, some restaurants have nonsmoking sections, but expect secondhand smoke wherever you sit.
Cafés, Coffee, and Pastries: Vienna is known for its classic cafés—perfect places to sip some coffee and read a newspaper. A café is also a great place to try one of its famous desserts, as Vienna is the birthplace of the Sacher torte and a bevy of other cakes and pastry treats. See “Vienna’s Café Culture,” later in this section.
Heurigen: Make sure to check out a wine-garden restaurant (or Heuriger; the plural is Heurigen), nestled in the foothills of the Vienna Woods. At most Heurigen, you’ll try the latest vintage wine, pick from an assortment of prepared foods, and listen to live music. For more on these, and a list of recommended places, see “Wein in Wien: Vienna’s Wine Gardens,” later in this section.
(See “Restaurants in Central Vienna” map, here.)
The heart of the city offers plenty of options for a relaxing and expensive dining experience; here are some of my favorites. Reservations are always wise in the evening.
$$$ Lugeck serves the classics with a modern flair to a local “business casual” crowd with professional service but no pretense. Their slogan: “Genuine classics are always in fashion.” Choose between a big, fresh, Art Deco interior and tables on a fine little square under a towering statue of Gutenberg. It’s just a block from the recommended Zanoni & Zanoni gelato place—handy if you want a different scene for your dessert course (daily 11:30-23:00, Lugeck 4, tel. 01/512-5060, www.lugeck.com).
$$$ Artner Restaurant am Franziskanerplatz is a classy place with a smartly turned-out crowd (it’s a favorite of Austrian politicians). Diners enjoy the cozy interior as well as the outside seating on a quaint square. They offer a meaty and inviting menu with nicely presented dishes, including gourmet hamburgers and great steaks (lunch specials, Mon-Sat 12:00-24:00, closed Sun, Franziskanerplatz 5, tel. 01/503-5034, www.artner.co.at).
Zum Schwarzen Kameel (“The Black Camel”) is both a posh, pricey $$$$ restaurant and a more casual (and affordable) $$ wine bar. The elegant restaurant is a dark-wood, 12-table, Art Nouveau option serving fine gourmet Viennese cuisine (expensive wine, daily 12:00-24:00, Bognergasse 5, tel. 01/533-8125).
The wine bar, filled with a professional local crowd enjoying small plates from the fancy restaurant kitchen, is the place for horseradish and thin-sliced ham (Beinschinken mit Kren; Achtung—the horseradish is hot). Stand, grab a stool, find a table on the street, or sit anywhere you can—it’s customary to share tables in the wine-bar section (no reservations). Fine Austrian wines are sold by the Achtel (eighth-liter glass) and listed on the board. They also have a buffet of tiny open-face finger sandwiches. Prices are the same inside or at their streetside outdoor tables.
$$$ Café Restaurant Palmenhaus overlooks the Palace Garden (Burggarten—see here). Tucked away in a green and peaceful corner two blocks behind the opera house in the Hofburg’s backyard, this is a world apart. If you want to eat modern Austrian cuisine surrounded by palm trees rather than tourists, this is the place. And, since it’s at the edge of a huge park, it’s great for families. They specialize in fresh fish with generous vegetables—options are listed on the chalkboard (daily 10:00-24:00, Jan-Feb closed Mon-Tue; extensive fine-wine list, indoors in greenhouse or outdoors, Burggarten 1, tel. 01/533-1033).
(See “Restaurants in Central Vienna” map, here.)
Each of these eateries is within about a five-minute walk of the cathedral (U: Stephansplatz).
$ Gigerl Stadtheuriger offers a fun, near-Heuriger wine cellar experience without leaving the city center. It’s self-service for food—just point to what looks good. As in other Heurigen, food is sold by the piece or weight; 100 grams (10 dag) is about a quarter-pound (cheese and cold meats cost about €5 per 100 grams, salads are about €2 per 100 grams; price sheet posted on wall to right of buffet line). The Karree pork with herbs is particularly tasty and tender. They also have entrées, spinach strudel, quiche, Apfelstrudel, and, of course, casks of new and local wines sold by the Achtel—about 4 oz (daily 15:00-24:00, indoor/outdoor seating; behind cathedral, a block off Kärntner Strasse, a few cobbles off Rauhensteingasse on Blumenstock, tel. 01/513-4431).
$$ Zu den Drei Hacken, a fun and typical Weinstube (wine pub), is famous for its local specialties (Mon-Sat 11:00-23:00, closed Sun, indoor/outdoor seating, Singerstrasse 28, tel. 01/512-5895).
$$ Trześniewski is an institution—justly famous for its elegant open-face finger sandwiches and small beers. Three different sandwiches and a kleines Bier (Pfiff) make a fun, light lunch. Point to whichever delights look tasty (or grab the English translation sheet and take time to study your 22 sandwich options). The classic favorites are Geflügelleber (chicken liver), Matjes mit Zwiebel (herring with onions), and Speck mit Ei (bacon and eggs). Pay for your sandwiches and a drink. Take your drink tokens to the lady on the right. Sit on the bench and scoot over to a tiny table when a spot opens up. You can grab an early, quick dinner here, but the selection can get paltry by the end of the day (Mon-Fri 8:30-19:30, Sat 9:00-17:00, closed Sun; 50 yards off the Graben, nearly across from Café Hawelka; Dorotheergasse 2, tel. 01/512-3291).
They have another branch at Mariahilfer Strasse 95 (near many recommended hotels—see map on here, Mon-Fri 8:30-19:00, Sat 9:00-18:00, closed Sun, U: Zieglergasse).
$$ Reinthaler’s Beisl is a time warp that serves simple, traditional fare all day. It’s handy for its location (a block off the Graben, across the street from Trześniewski) and because it’s a rare restaurant in the center that’s open on Sunday. Its fun, classic interior winds way back, and it also has a few tables on the quiet street outside (use the handwritten daily menu rather than the printed English one, daily 11:00-22:30, Dorotheergasse 4, tel. 01/513-1249).
$$$ Cantinetta La Norma, a short walk from the cathedral, serves tasty Italian dishes amid a cozy yet energetic ambience. Even on weeknights the small dining area is abuzz with friendly chatter among its multinational, loyal regulars (weekday lunch specials, daily 11:00-24:00, outdoor seating, Franziskaner Platz 3, tel. 01/512-8665, run by friendly Paco and Hany).
$$ Akakiko Sushi is a local chain of pan-Asian restaurants with a Japanese emphasis. Along with sushi, they serve noodle soups, rice dishes, and more, including decent-value bento box meals. With several convenient (and well-signed) locations, they're easy to find: Singerstrasse 4 (a block off Kärntner Strasse near the cathedral), Rotenturmstrasse 6 (also near the cathedral), Heidenschuss 3 (near other recommended eateries just off Am Hof, U: Herrengasse), and Mariahilfer Strasse 42 (fifth floor of Kaufhaus Gerngross, near many recommended hotels, U: Neubaugasse). Though they lack charm, they’re all fast, modern, air-conditioned, and reasonable (daily 10:30-23:30).
Motto am Fluss Café and Restaurant, on the upper floors of the Bratislava riverboat terminal, is good for a bite or drink overlooking the Danube Canal. The classy $$ café, on the top floor, has indoor and outdoor tables (daily 8:00-24:00, tel. 01/252-5511); the pricier and elegant $$$ restaurant is one floor down and serves modern cuisine (indoor seating only but with great canal-perch tables, extensive wine-by-the-glass list, three-course lunch specials, daily 11:30-14:30 & 18:00-24:00, tel. 01/252-5510).
$$ Aïda Café Konditorei, while not at all like the famed classic Vienna cafés, is a local fixture. You’ll see branches all over town; the flagship is next to the cathedral with a view of the Graben. Locals appreciate the retro pink aprons and reliably good coffee, ice cream, and cakes (flagship café daily 8:00-22:00, 1010 Singerstrasse, tel. 01/890-8988).
Ice Cream: Gelateria Zanoni & Zanoni, run by an Italian family, is mobbed by happy Viennese hungry for their €2 two-scoop cones. Just two blocks from the cathedral, with a big terrace of tables, it’s a classic scene for licking and people-watching (daily until 24:00, Lugeck 7, tel. 01/512-7979).
(See “Restaurants in Central Vienna” map, here.)
The streets around the square called Am Hof (U: Herrengasse) hide atmospheric medieval lanes with both indoor and outdoor eating action. The following eateries are all within a block or two of the square.
$$$ Restaurant Ofenloch serves good, traditional Viennese cuisine with formal service, both indoors and out. This delightfully intimate 300-year-old eatery has a refined yet relaxed ambience (Mon-Sat 11:00-23:00, closed Sun, Kurrentgasse 8, tel. 01/533-8844).
$$ Brezel-Gwölb, a Tolkienesque nook with tight indoor tables and outdoor dining on a quiet little square, serves Viennese classics in an unforgettable atmosphere. With its dark and candlelit interior and secretive-feeling outdoor seating, it’s ideal for a romantic late-night glass of wine (three-course weekday lunch specials, daily 11:30-24:00; leave Am Hof on Drahtgasse, then take first left to Ledererhof 9; tel. 01/533-8811).
$$ Biobar von Antun is an earthy little place with a calm hippie interior and nice tables on a quiet square. They serve three-course vegan meals (soup, salad, and main course), hearty salads, and fancy juices (Tue-Sun 11:30-14:30 & 17:30-22:30, closed Mon, on Judenplatz at Drahtgasse 3, tel. 01/968-9351, Antun Petrovic).
$$ Esterhazykeller, both ancient and popular, has traditional fare in two serving areas. For a cheap and sloppy buffet, descend to the subbasement, a wine cellar that dates back to 1683. While the food is self-serve from the deli counter (a meal-sized plate costs around €10), you’ll order drinks at your table (daily 16:00-23:00, closed July-mid-Sept). For table service from an only slightly pricier menu on a pleasant square, sit upstairs or outside (daily 11:00-23:00, just below Am Hof at Haarhof 1, tel. 01/533-3482).
$$$ Hopferl Bierhof, with lots of tables on the same square, might be a better option if it’s hot and you’re in the mood for a beer. It has a large, meaty menu and nice ambience, with Ottakringer beer on tap (daily 11:30-24:00, Naglergasse 13, tel. 01/533-4428).
Gourmet Supermarket: Located right on the Graben, Julius Meinl am Graben, with two floors of temptations, has been famous since 1862 as a top-end delicatessen with all the gourmet fancies. Assemble a meal from the picnic fixings on the shelves. There’s also a café, with light meals and great outdoor seating; a stuffy and pricey restaurant upstairs; and a takeout counter with good benches for people-watching while you munch (shop open Mon-Fri 8:00-19:30, Sat 9:00-18:00, closed Sun; restaurant open Mon-Sat until 24:00, closed Sun; Am Graben 19, tel. 01/532-3334).
(See “Restaurants in Central Vienna” map, here.)
These eateries are within easy walking distance of the opera house (U: Karlsplatz).
$$$ Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Oper, a proudly Austrian place a block from the opera, has a contemporary, classy interior and inviting seating on the street. It specializes in the local classics like Tafelspitz (boiled beef, Franz Josef’s favorite dish) and Wiener schnitzel—they actually hand out a little souvenir recipe titled “the art of the perfect Wiener Schnitzel” (daily 11:00-24:00, Walfischgasse 5, tel. 01/512-2251).
$ Soho Kantine is a cave-like, government-subsidized cantina, serving the National Library staff but open to all, and offering unexciting, institutional sit-down lunches in the Hofburg. Pay for your meal—your choice of bland meat or bland vegetarian—and a drink at the bar, take your token to the kitchen, and then sit down and eat with the locals. Wednesday is schnitzel day and Friday is fish day (Mon-Fri 11:30-15:00, closed Sat-Sun and mid-July-Aug, hard to find—just past the butterfly house in a forlorn little square, look for Soho sign in entry corridor, Burggarten, mobile 0676-309-5161, Reni).
$$ Kurkonditorei Oberlaa may not have the royal and plush fame of Demel (see here), but this is where Viennese connoisseurs serious about the quality of their pastries go to get fat. With outdoor seating on Neuer Markt, it’s particularly nice on a hot summer day. Upstairs has more temptations and good seating (three-course weekday lunch specials, great selection of cakes, daily 8:00-20:00, Neuer Markt 16, tel. 01/5132-9360).
$$ Le Bol Patisserie Bistro (next to Oberlaa) satisfies your need for something French. The staff speaks to you in French, serving fine salads, baguette sandwiches, and fresh croissants (Mon-Sat 8:00-22:00, Sun 10:00-20:00, Neuer Markt 14, mobile 0699-1030-1899).
$$$ Danieli Ristorante is your best classy Italian bet in the old town. White-tablecloth dressy, but not stuffy, it has reasonable prices. Dine in their elegant back room or on the street (daily 11:30-24:00, 30 yards off Kärntner Strasse opposite Neuer Markt at Himmelpfortgasse 3, tel. 01/513-7913).
Supermarkets: A top-end version of the Billa supermarket chain, Billa Corso has three floors of food and sells hot, gourmet, ready-made meals (by weight). You’re welcome to sit and enjoy whatever you’ve purchased in either eating area: inside (air-conditioned) or out on the square. They also have a great deli selection of salads, soups, and picnic items (warm food-€2/100 grams, WC on ground floor, Mon-Fri 8:00-20:00, Sat until 19:00, closed Sun, Neuer Markt 17, on the corner where Seilergasse hits Neuer Markt, tel. 01/961-2133). A nongourmet Billa is on a side street around the corner from St. Stephen’s Church (Mon-Sat 7:15-19:30, closed Sun, Singerstrasse 6).
(See “Hotels & Restaurants near Mariahilfer Strasse” map, here.)
This charming cobbled grid of traffic-free lanes is a favorite dining neighborhood for the Viennese. It’s handy, set between the MuseumsQuartier and Mariahilfer Strasse (U: Volkstheater/Museumsplatz). Tables tumble down sidewalks and into breezy courtyards; the charming buildings here date mostly from the early 1800s, before the Mariahilfer Strasse neighborhood was built. It’s only worth a special trip on a balmy summer evening, as it’s dead in bad weather. Stroll Spittelberggasse, Schrankgasse, and Gutenberggasse, then pick your favorite. Don’t miss the vine-strewn wine garden at Schrankgasse 1. To locate these restaurants, see the map on here.
$ Amerlingbeisl, with a charming, casual atmosphere both on the cobbled street and in its vine-covered courtyard, is a great value, serving a mix of traditional Austrian and international dishes (check the board with daily specials—some vegetarian, daily 9:00-24:00, Stiftgasse 8, tel. 01/526-1660).
$$$ Zu Ebener Erde und Erster Stock (loosely translated as “Downstairs, Upstairs”) is a charming little restaurant with a mostly traditional Austrian menu. Filling a cute 1750 building, it’s true to its name, with two dining rooms: casual and woody downstairs (traditionally for the poor); and a fancy Biedermeier-style dining room with red-velvet chairs and violet tablecloths upstairs (where the wealthy convened). There are also a few al fresco tables along the quiet side street. Reservations are smart (seasonal specials, Mon-Fri 12:00-22:00, last seating at 20:00, closed Sat-Sun, Burggasse 13, tel. 01/523-6254, www.zu-ebener-erde-und-erster-stock.at).
$$$ Witwe Bolte is classy. The interior is tight, but its tiny square has a wonderful leafy ambience (daily 11:45-23:00, in July-Aug opens at 17:30 Mon-Fri, Gutenberggasse 13, tel. 01/523-1450).
$$ Plutzer Bräu, next door to Amerlingbeisl, feels a bit more commercial. It’s a big, sprawling, impersonal brewpub serving stick-to-your-ribs pub grub: ribs, burgers, traditional dishes, Tirolean beer from the keg—and they also brew their own (daily 11:00-24:00, Schrankgasse 4, tel. 01/526-1215).
$$ Glacis Beisl, at the top edge of the MuseumsQuartier just before Spittelberg, is popular with locals. A gravelly wine garden tucked next to a city fortification, its outdoor tables and breezy ambience are particularly appealing on a balmy evening (weekday lunch specials, daily 11:00-24:00, Breitegasse 4, tel. 01/526-5660).
Mariahilfer Strasse (see map on here) is filled with reasonable cafés serving all types of cuisine. For a quick yet traditional bite, consider the venerable $$ Trześniewski sandwich bar’s branch at Mariahilfer Strasse 95 (see here), or its imitators (one is at #91).
$ Schnitzelwirt is an old classic with a 1950s patina and a mixed local and tourist clientele. In this smoky, working-class place, no one finishes their schnitzel (notice the self-serve butcher paper and plastic bags for leftovers). Walk to the nonsmoking section in the back, passing the kitchen piled high with breaded cutlets waiting for the deep fryer. The schnitzels are served with a starch or salad; if you order the smallest portion, you may want to add a side dish. They also serve Austrian standards including Szegediner Gulasch. You’ll find no tourists, just cheap schnitzel meals (Mon-Sat 11:00-21:30, closed Sun, Neubaugasse 52, U: Neubaugasse, tel. 01/523-3771).
Supermarket: Merkur, in the basement of the Gerngross shopping mall at Mariahilfer Strasse 42, is big and open fairly late during the week (until 20:00, Sat until 18:00, closed Sun, U: Neubaugasse).
Naschmarkt: For a picnic or a trendy dinner, try the Naschmarkt, Vienna’s sprawling produce market. This thriving Old World scene comes with plenty of fresh produce, cheap local-style eateries, cafés, kebab and sausage stands, and the best-value sushi in town (Mon-Fri 6:00-18:30, Sat until 17:00, closed Sun, closes earlier in winter; U: Karlsplatz, follow Karlsplatz signs out of the station). Picnickers can buy supplies at the market and eat on nearby Karlsplatz (plenty of chairs facing the Karlskirche) or pop into the Burggarten behind the famous Mozart statue.
In recent years, the Naschmarkt has become fashionable for dinner (or cocktails), with an amazing variety of local and ethnic eateries to choose from. Prices are great, the produce is certainly fresh, and the dinners are as local as can be. The best plan: Stroll through the entire market to survey the options, and then pick the place that appeals. For more on the Naschmarkt, see here.
In Vienna, the living room is down the street at the neighborhood coffeehouse. This tradition is just another example of the Viennese expertise in good living. Each of Vienna’s many long-established (and sometimes even legendary) coffeehouses has its individual character (and characters). These classic cafés can be a bit tired, with a shabby patina and famously grumpy waiters who treat you like an uninvited guest invading their living room. Yet these spaces somehow also feel welcoming, offering newspapers, pastries, sofas, quick and light workers’ lunches, elegant ambience, and “take all the time you want” charm for the price of a cup of coffee. Rather than buy the International New York Times ahead of time, spend the money on a cup of coffee and read the paper for free, Vienna-style, in a café.
Café Tips: Once you claim a table or sofa in a café, make a trip to the glass display case to see the pastries of the day. The menu has all the standard offerings, but won’t list the specials.
It’s standard practice for your coffee to be served on a little silver tray, with a glass of tap water and perhaps a piece of chocolate on the side.
Coffee-Ordering Lingo: As in Italy and France, coffee drinks in Austria are espresso-based. Kaffee means coffee and Milch is milk; Obers is cream, while Schlagobers is whipped cream. Here are some Austrian coffee terms: Use them elsewhere, and you’ll probably get a funny look (some are unique just to Vienna).
Schwarzer or Mokka: Straight, black espresso; order it kleiner (small) or grosser (big)
Verlängeter (“lengthened”): Espresso with water, like an Americano
Brauner: With a little milk
Schale Gold (“golden cup”): With a little cream (Vienna)
Melange: Like a cappuccino
Franziskaner: A Melange with whipped cream rather than foamed milk, often topped with chocolate flakes
Kapuziner: Strong coffee with a dollop of sweetened cream
Verkehrt (“incorrect”) or Milchkaffee: Two-thirds milk and one-third coffee (Vienna)
Einspänner (“buggy”): With lots and lots of whipped cream, served in a glass with a handle. (It was the drink of horse-and-buggy drivers, who only had one hand free.)
Fiaker (“horse-and-buggy driver”): Black, with kirsch liqueur or rum, served with a sliwowitz (plum schnapps) or rum (Vienna)
(Wiener) Eiskaffee: Coffee with ice cream
Maria Theresia: Coffee with orange liqueur
These are some of my favorite Viennese cafés located inside the Ring (see map on here).
$$ Café Central, while a bit touristy, remains a classic place, lavish under Neo-Gothic columns and celebrated by 19th-century Austrian writers. They serve fancy coffees, breakfasts, two-course weekday lunch specials, and traditional main dishes, and they entertain guests with live piano—schmaltzy tunes on a fine, Vienna-made Bösendorfer each evening from 17:00 to 22:00 (daily 7:30-22:00, Sun from 10:00, corner of Herrengasse and Strauchgasse, U: Herrengasse, tel. 01/533-3764).
$ Café Bräunerhof, between the Hofburg and the Graben, offers classic ambience with few tourists and live music on weekends (light classics, Sat-Sun 15:00-18:00), along with cheap lunches on weekdays (Mon-Fri 8:00-19:30, Sat 8:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-18:00, no hot food after 15:00, Stallburggasse 2, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/512-3893).
$ Café Hawelka has a dark, “brooding Trotsky” atmosphere, paintings by struggling artists who couldn’t pay for coffee, a saloon-wood flavor, chalkboard menu, smoked velvet couches, an international selection of newspapers, and a phone that rings for regulars. Frau Hawelka died just a couple weeks after Pope John Paul II did. Locals suspect the pontiff wanted her much-loved Buchteln (marmalade-filled doughnuts) in heaven. The café, which doesn’t serve hot food, remains family-run (daily 8:00-24:00, just off the Graben at Dorotheergasse 6, U: Stephansplatz, tel. 01/512-8230).
Other Classics in the Old Center: All of these places are open long hours daily: $ Café Pruckel (at Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Platz, across from Stadtpark at Stubenring 24); $ Café Tirolerhof (2 blocks from the opera house, behind the TI on Tegetthoffstrasse, at Führichgasse 8); and $ Café Landtmann (directly across from the City Hall on the Ringstrasse at Universitätsring 4). The Landtmann is unique, as it’s the only grand café built along the Ring with all the other grand buildings. Café Sacher (see here) and Demel (see here) are famous for their cakes, but they also serve good coffee drinks.
$$ Café Sperl dates from 1880 and is still furnished identically to the day it opened—from the coat tree to the chairs (Mon-Sat 7:00-23:00, Sun 11:00-20:00 except closed in July-Aug, just off the Naschmarkt at Gumpendorfer Strasse 11, U: MuseumsQuartier, tel. 01/586-4158; see map on here).
The Heuriger (HOY-rih-gur) is unique to Vienna, dating back to the 1780s, when Emperor Josef II decreed that vintners needed no special license to serve their own wines and juices to the public in their own homes. Many families grabbed this opportunity and opened Heurigen (HOY-rih-gehn)—wine-garden restaurants.
A tradition was born. Today, Heurigen are licensed, but do their best to maintain the old-village atmosphere, serving each fall’s vintage until November 11 of the following year, when a new vintage year begins. To go with your wine, a Heuriger serves a variety of prepared foods that you choose from a deli counter. This is the most intimidating part of the Heuriger experience for tourists, but it’s easily conquered—see the sidebar for tips. Some Heurigen compromise by offering a regular menu that you can order from. At many establishments, strolling musicians entertain—and ask for tips.
Hours: Most Heurigen open up in the afternoon (generally between 14:00 and 16:00) and close late (about 24:00), though some may stop serving food earlier (around 21:00). On Sundays, many places open up a few hours earlier. Some Heurigen may close in winter, during the grape-picking season, or just for vacation, so call or check websites if you have a specific place in mind.
Getting There: I’ve listed two good Heuriger neighborhoods, both on the northern outskirts of town. To get here from downtown Vienna, it’s best to use public transit (cheap, 30 minutes, runs late in the evening, find specific directions under each section). You can also take a 15-minute taxi ride to any of these neighborhoods (about €20 from the Ring).
Choosing a Place: With more than 1,700 acres of vineyards within Vienna’s city limits, there are countless Heuriger taverns. Each neighborhood I’ve described is a square or hub with two or three recommended spots and many other wine gardens worth considering. Wander around, then choose the Heuriger with the best atmosphere. Or ask a local—every Viennese will be only too glad to tell you about their favorite. (And for a near-Heuriger experience without leaving downtown Vienna, drop by Gigerl Stadtheuriger—see here—which has the same deli-counter system as a Heuriger, but not the semirural atmosphere.)
To understand how a traditional Heuriger works, think of a full-service deli counter at an American supermarket, with a seating section nearby. Choose from the array of prepared items and hot dishes, pay at the buffet counter, and find a table—the staff will bring your food, nicely arranged on a plate. Then order (and pay for) your wine or other drinks from the waiter who will appear at your table. (That said, many of the Heurigen I've listed have regular menus and table service as well.)
A quarter-liter (Viertel, FEER-tehl, 8 oz) glass of new wine costs about €2-3. Most (mohst) is lightly alcoholic grape juice—wine in its earliest stages, and usually available only in autumn. Once it gets a little more oomph, it’s called Sturm (shtoorm), also strictly a fall drink—sometimes only during the narrow "Sturmzeit" window (late Sept-mid-Oct). Teetotalers can order Traubenmost (TROW-behn-mohst), grape juice.
Food is generally sold by weight, often in “10 dag” units (that’s 100 grams, or about a quarter-pound). The buffet has several sections: The core of your meal is a warm dish, generally meat (such as ham, roast beef, roast chicken, roulade, or meatloaf) carved off a big hunk. There are also warm sides (Beilagen), such as casseroles and sauerkraut, and a wide variety of cold salads and spreads. Rounding out the menu are bread and cheese (they’ll slice it off for you).
Many Heuriger staff speak English, and pointing also works. Here’s a menu decoder of items to look for...or to avoid:
Backhühner: Roasted chicken
Blutwurst or Blunzn: Blood sausage
Bohnen: Big white beans
Bratlfett: Gelatinous jelly made from fat drippings
Erdapfel: Potato
Fleckerl: Noodles
Fleischlaberln: Fried ground-meat patties
Kernöl: Vegetable oil
Knoblauch: Garlic
Knödl: Dumpling
Kornspitz: Whole-meal bread roll
Krapfen: Doughnut
Kren: Horseradish
Kummelbrate: Crispy roast pork with caraway
Lauch: Leek
Leberkäse: Finely ground corned beef, pork, bacon, and onions that’s baked as a loaf
Liptauer: Spicy cheese spread
Presskopf: Jellied brains and innards
Roastbeef: Roast beef
Schinken: Ham
Schinkenfleckerln: Ham and noodle casserole
Schmalz: Spread made from rendered pig or goose fat
Spanferkel: Suckling pig
Speck: Fatty bacon
Specklinsen: Lentils with bacon
Stelze: Grilled knuckle of pork
Sulz: Gelatinous brick of meaty goo
Waldbauernflade: Rustic bread
Zwiebel: Onion
This district is farthest from the city but is still easy to reach by public transit. It feels a little less touristy than other places, and is the only area I list where you’ll actually see the vineyards.
Getting There: Either take tram #D to Liechtenwerder Platz, or the U-6 subway to Nussdorfer Strasse, then ride bus #35A to the Neustift am Walde stop (leaves from stop across the street from north side of the U-Bahn station). To find the #35A bus stop from the Liechtenwerder Platz tram stop, walk a few steps up Augasse in the direction of the tram (away from the city), and around the corner to the right onto Liechtenwerder Platz.
$$ Fuhrgassl Huber, which brags it’s the biggest Heuriger in Vienna, can accommodate 1,000 people inside and just as many outside. You can lose yourself in its sprawling backyard, with vineyards streaking up the hill from terraced tables. Musicians stroll most nights after 19:00 (opens at 14:00, a few steps past Das Schreiberhaus at Neustift am Walde 68, tel. 01/440-1405, family Huber).
$$ Das Schreiberhaus Heurigen-Restaurant is a popular, family-owned place right at the bus stop. Its creaky, old-time dining rooms are papered with celebrity photos. There are 600 spaces inside and another 600 outside, music nightly after 19:00 unless it’s slow, and a cobbled backyard that climbs in steps up to the vineyards. Alone among my listings, this place offers a cheap all-you-can-eat lunch buffet on weekdays until 15:00 (opens at 11:00, Rathstrasse 54, tel. 01/440-3844).
$$ Weinhof Zimmermann, a 10-minute uphill walk from the bus stop, is my favorite. It’s a sprawling farmhouse where the green tables on patios echo the terraced fields all around. While dining, you’ll feel like you’re actually right in the vineyard. The idyllic setting comes with rabbits in petting cages, great food, no city views but fine hillside vistas, and wonderful peace (opens at 15:00, closed Mon, tel. 01/440-1207). Get off bus #35A at the Agnesgasse stop (at the corner of Rathstrasse and Agnesgasse—one stop before the Neustift am Walde stop), then hike a block uphill on Agnesgasse and turn left on Mitterwurzergasse to #20.
An untouristy district, characteristic and popular with the Viennese, Nussdorf has plenty of Heuriger ambience. This area feels very real, with a working-class vibe, streets lined with local shops, and characteristic Heurigen that feel a little bit rougher around the edges.
Getting There: Take tram #D from the Ringstrasse (stops include the Opera, Hofburg/Kunsthistorisches Museum, and City Hall); just after the Liechtenwerder Platz stop, keep your eyes peeled on the right for the colorful, fantastical Hundertwasser structure (actually a waste-incineration plant) hiding behind a complex of boring buildings. Ride tram #D to its endpoint, the Beethovengang stop (despite what it says on the front of the tram, the Nussdorf stop isn’t the end—stay on for one more stop). Exit the tram, cross the tracks, go uphill 40 yards, and look for Schübel-Auer and Kierlinger on your left.
$ Schübel-Auer Heuriger is my favorite here—the back entrance is right at the tram stop, and it offers a big and user-friendly buffet (most dishes are labeled and the patient staff speaks English). Its rustic ambience can be enjoyed indoors or out (opens at 16:00, closed Sun-Mon and mid-Dec-mid-Feb, Kahlenberger Strasse 22, tel. 01/370-2222).
$ Heuriger Kierlinger, next door, is also good, with a particularly rollicking, woody room around its buffet (opens at 15:30, closed most of August and periodically in off-season, Kahlenberger Strasse 20, tel. 01/370-2264).
$$ Bamkraxler (“Tree-Climber”) is not a Heuriger, but rather a Biergarten with a regular menu and table service—which some prefer to the Heuriger cafeteria line. It’s a fun-loving, family-oriented place with fine keg beer (tapped daily at 17:00) and a big kids’ playground (opens at 16:00, closed Mon, open all year, Kahlenberger Strasse 17, tel. 01/318-8800). To get here from the tram, walk all the way through either of the other listings, pop out on Kahlenberger Strasse, and walk 20 yards uphill.
Vienna recently finished building an impressive new Hauptbahnhof (main train station), and is consolidating most—but not all—train departures there. Be sure to confirm which station your train uses. From Vienna’s two biggest stations, the handiest connection to the center is the U-Bahn (subway). For some stations, there’s also a handy tram connection (see “Vienna's Public Transportation” map on here).
For schedules, check Germany's excellent all-Europe timetable at www.bahn.com. The Austrian federal railway’s timetable at www.oebb.at includes prices, but it's not as user-friendly as the German site—and it doesn’t always remind you about discounts or special passes. For general train information in Austria, call 051-717 (to get an operator, dial 2, then 2).
Vienna’s huge central station (just a few U-Bahn stops south of downtown) has 12 pass-through tracks, shopping, and all the services you may need—including baggage lockers, a TI desk (daily 9:00-19:00), food court (some outlets open very late), restaurants (including outposts of the recommended Oberlaa pastry shop and Akakiko Sushi), ATMs, grocery stores (some open daily until late), drugstores, bookstores, mobile-phone shops, a car-rental desk (Europcar), and a post office. Most shops are open Mon-Fri until 21:00, Sat until 18:00, and (unlike in the city center) many are open on Sunday.
Getting Between the Station and Vienna: To reach the city center, including all my recommended hotels in the center, ride the U-1 for two to four stops (direction: Leopoldau) to Karlsplatz, Stephansplatz, or Schwedenplatz—from the main hall follow the red U1 signs; ticket machines are near the escalators. You can also take tram #D (which runs along the Ring) from outside the main entrance. To reach Mariahilfer Strasse, ride U-1 three stops to Stephansplatz, then change to U-3 (direction: Ottaring), or hop on bus #13A. Tram #O runs from the station to Landstrasse and the Wien-Mitte station (for airport trains).
When timing any train trip out of Vienna, keep in mind that the U-Bahn stop is a bit of a walk from the main train platforms—allow at least 10 minutes to get from the U-Bahn stop to your train.
This station (at the west end of Mariahilfer Strasse, on the U-3 and U-6 lines) has a modern, user-friendly mall of services, shops, and eateries (including the recommended Trześniewski—near track 9—with cheap-and-elegant finger sandwiches). You’ll find travel agencies, grocery stores, ATMs, change offices, a post office, and baggage lockers (on the ground floor by the WC).
Getting Between the Station and Vienna: For the city center, follow orange signs to the U-3 (direction: Simmering). If your hotel is along Mariahilfer Strasse, your stop is on this line, but it may be simpler to walk.
This small station in the northern part of the city serves Krems and other points on the north bank of the Danube. Connections from Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic sometimes arrive here, too.
Getting Between the Station and Vienna: Although the station doesn’t have an U-Bahn stop, convenient tram #D connects it to the city center. Also note that trains coming into town from this direction stop at the Spittelau station (on the U-4 and U-6 lines), one stop before they end at the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof; consider hopping off your train at Spittelau for a handy connection to other points in Vienna. (Similarly, if you’re headed out of town and you’re not near the tram #D route, take the U-Bahn to Spittelau and catch your train there.)
This smaller station, just west of the Ring, is the terminus for S-Bahn and CAT trains to the airport. Be aware that its U-Bahn station is called "Landstrasse." From here, take the U-3 to hotels near Stephansplatz or Mariahilfer Strasse, and the U-4 to hotels that are closer to the airport. It’s also connected directly to the Hauptbahnhof by tram #O.
Before leaving your hotel, confirm which station your train leaves from.
From Vienna by Train to: Bratislava (2/hour, 1 hour, alternating between Bratislava’s main station and Petržalka station, or try going by bus or boat; described on here), Salzburg (3/hour, 3 hours), Hallstatt (at least hourly, 4 hours, last connection leaves around 15:00, change in Attnang-Puchheim), Budapest (every 2 hours direct on express Railjet, 2.5 hours; more with changes; may be cheaper by Orange Ways bus: 4/day, 3 hours, www.orangeways.com), Prague (6/day direct, 4 hours; more with 1 change, 4.5 hours; 1 night train leaves Hauptbahnhof around 22:50, 7 hours), Český Krumlov (5/day with 2 changes, 5 hours), Munich (6/day direct, 4 hours; otherwise about hourly, 4.5 hours, change in Salzburg or Plattling), Zürich (4/day direct, 8.5 hours; nearly hourly with 1-2 changes, 9 hours; night train), Ljubljana (1 convenient early-morning train, 6 hours; otherwise 3/day with change in Villach or Maribor, 6.5 hours), Zagreb (4/day, 7-9 hours, 1 direct, others with 1-3 changes), Kraków (2/day, 7 hours, change in Katowice; plus 1 night train, 9 hours), Warsaw (2/day direct, 7 hours; plus 1 night train, 10 hours), Rome (4/day, 12.5 hours, 2-3 changes; plus 1 night train, 14 hours), Venice (1 direct early-morning train, 8 hours; otherwise 5/day, 8-10 hours with changes—some involve bus connection; plus 1 direct night train, 12 hours), Frankfurt (5/day direct, 7 hours; plus 1 direct night train, 8 hours), Paris (10/day, 11-13 hours, 1-4 changes).
The airport, 12 miles from the center, is easy to reach from downtown (airport code: VIE, airport tel. 01/700-722-233, www.viennaairport.com). The arrivals hall has an array of services: TI, shops, ATMs, eateries, and a handy supermarket. Ramps lead down to the lower-level train station.
By Train: Trains connect the airport with the Wien-Mitte Bahnhof, on the east side of the Ring (described earlier). Choose between two ways of getting to Wien-Mitte: the regular S-7 S-Bahn train (€4.40, 24 minutes), and the express CAT train (€12, 16 minutes). Both run twice an hour on the same tracks. The airport tries to steer tourists into taking the CAT train, but it’s hard to justify spending almost €8 to save eight minutes of time. I’d take the S-7, unless the CAT is departing first and you’re in a big hurry. Trains from downtown start running about 5:00, while the last train from the airport leaves about 23:30.
The S-Bahn works just fine and is plenty fast. From the arrivals hall, go down either of the big ramps, follow the red ÖBB signs, then buy a regular two-zone public transport ticket from the multilingual red “Fahrkarten” machines. The €4.40 price includes any transfers to other trams, city buses, S- and U-Bahn lines (see www.wienerlinien.at). Trains to downtown are marked “Floridsdorf.” If you’ll be using public transportation in Vienna a lot, consider buying a transit pass from the machines instead of a single ticket (see “Getting Around Vienna,” here). As these passes are only valid in Vienna’s central zone, you’ll need to also buy a €2.10 single ticket to cover the stretch between the airport and the limits of the inner zone.
To take the fast CAT (which stands for City Airport Train), follow the green signage down the ramp to your right as you come out into the arrivals hall and buy a ticket from the green machines (one-way-€12, or €14 to also cover the connecting link from Wien-Mitte to your final destination by public transit; round-trip ticket valid 30 days-€19, 4 tickets-€38; usually departs both airport and downtown at :06 and :36 past the hour, www.cityairporttrain.com).
By Bus: Convenient express airport buses go to various points in Vienna: Morzinplatz/Schwedenplatz U-Bahn station (for city-center hotels, 20 minutes), Westbahnhof (for Mariahilfer Strasse hotels, 45 minutes), and Wien-Meidling Bahnhof (30 minutes). Double check your destination as you board (€8, round-trip-€13, 2/hour, buy ticket from driver, tel. 0810-222-333 for timetable info, www.viennaairportlines.at or www.postbus.at).
By Taxi: The 30-minute ride into town costs a fixed €36 from the several companies with desks in the arrivals hall. You can also take a taxi from the taxi rank outside; you’ll pay the metered rate (plus a trivial baggage surcharge), which should come out about the same. Save by riding the cheap train/bus downtown, then taking a taxi to your destination.
Direct buses serve Bratislava and its airport (roughly 1/hour, 1 hour, buses leave from platforms 7, 8, and 9; two companies: Blaguss, www.blaguss.sk, and Slovak Lines/Postbus, www.slovaklines.sk); Budapest (4/day, 3 hours, www.orangeways.com); Prague (4/day, 7 hours, www.studentagency.eu, also stops in Brno).
The airport in nearby Bratislava, Slovakia—a hub for some low-cost flights—is an hour away from Vienna (see here in the Bratislava chapter).
High-speed boats connect Vienna to the nearby capitals of Bratislava (Slovakia) and Budapest (Hungary). While it’s generally cheaper and faster to take the train—and the boat is less scenic and romantic than you might imagine—some travelers enjoy the Danube riverboat experience.
To Bratislava: The Twin City Liner runs 3-5 times daily from the terminal at Vienna’s Schwedenplatz, where Vienna’s town center hits the canal (€30-35 one-way, 75-minute trip downstream; U: Schwedenplatz, mid-April-Oct only, can fill up—reservations smart, Austrian tel. 01/58880, www.twincityliner.com). Their main competitor, LOD, is a bit cheaper, but runs only twice a day at most and is less convenient—since it uses Vienna’s Reichsbrücke dock on the main river, farther from the city center (€25 one-way, €38 round-trip, 1.5-hour trip downstream; Handelskai 265, U: Vorgartenstrasse, tel. from Austria 00-421-2-5293-2226, www.lod.sk).
To Budapest: In the summer, the Budapest-based Mahart line runs daily high-speed hydrofoils down the Danube to Budapest (€109 one-way, €125 round-trip, runs Wed, Fri, and Sun, mid-May-Sept only). The boat leaves Vienna at 9:00 and arrives in Budapest at 14:30 (Budapest to Vienna: 9:00-15:30). In Vienna, you board at the DDSG Blue Danube dock at the Reichsbrücke (Handelskai 265, U: Vorgartenstrasse). To confirm times and prices, and to buy tickets, contact DDSG Blue Danube in Vienna (Austrian tel. 01/58880, www.ddsg-blue-danube.at) or Mahart in Budapest (Hungarian tel. 1/484-4013 or 1/484-4010, www.mahartpassnave.hu).
When using the phonetics, pronounce ī sounds like the long i in “light.” Bolded syllables are stressed.
| English | German | Pronunciation |
| Good day. | Grűss Gott. | grews gote |
| Do you speak English? | Sprechen Sie Englisch? | shprehkh-ehn zee ehgn-lish |
| Yes. / No. | Ja. / Nein. | yah / nīn |
| I (don’t) understand. | Ich verstehe (nicht). | ikh fehr-shtay-heh (nikht) |
| Please. | Bitte. | bit-teh |
| Thank you. | Danke. | dahng-keh |
| I’m sorry. | Es tut mir leid. | ehs toot meer līt |
| Excuse me. | Entschuldigung. | ehnt-shool-dig-oong |
| (No) problem. | (Kein) Problem. | (kīn) proh-blaym |
| (Very) good. | (Sehr) gut. | (zehr) goot |
| Goodbye. | Auf Wiedersehen. | owf vee-der-zayn |
| one / two | eins / zwei | īns / tsvī |
| three / four | drei / vier | drī / feer |
| five / six | fünf / sechs | fewnf / zehkhs |
| seven / eight | sieben / acht | zee-behn / ahkht |
| nine / ten | neun / zehn | noyn / tsayn |
| How much is it? | Wieviel kostet das? | vee-feel kohs-teht dahs |
| Write it? | Schreiben? | shrī-behn |
| Is it free? | Ist es umsonst? | ist ehs oom-zohnst |
| Included? | Inklusive? | in-kloo-zee-veh |
| Where can I buy / find...? | Wo kann ich kaufen / finden...? | voh kahn ikh kow-fehn / fin-dehn |
| I’d like / We’d like... | Ich hätte gern / Wir hätten gern... | ikh heh-teh gehrn / veer heh-tehn gehrn |
| ...a room. | ...ein Zimmer. | īn tsim-mer |
| ...a ticket to ___. | ...eine Fahrkarte nach ___. | ī-neh far-kar-teh nahkh |
| Is it possible? | Ist es möglich? | ist ehs mur-glikh |
| Where is...? | Wo ist...? | voh ist |
| ...the train station | ...der Bahnhof | dehr bahn-hohf |
| ...the bus station | ...der Busbahnhof | dehr boos-bahn-hohf |
| ...the tourist information office | ...das Touristeninformationsbüro | dahs too-ris-tehnin-for-maht-see-ohns-bew-roh |
| ...the toilet | ...die Toilette | dee toh-leh-teh |
| men | Herren | hehr-rehn |
| women | Damen | dah-mehn |
| left / right | links / rechts | links / rehkhts |
| straight | geradeaus | geh-rah-deh-ows |
| What time does this open / close? | Um wieviel Uhr wird hier geöffnet / geschlossen? | oom vee-feel oor veerd heer geh-urf-neht / geh-shloh-sehn |
| At what time? | Um wieviel Uhr? | oom vee-feel oor |
| Just a moment. | Moment. | moh-mehnt |
| now / soon / later | jetzt / bald / später | yehtst / bahld / shpay-ter |
| today / tomorrow | heute / morgen | hoy-teh / mor-gehn |
| English | German | Pronunciation |
| I’d like / We’d like... | Ich hätte gern / Wir hätten gern... | ikh heh-teh gehrn / veer heh-tehn gehrn |
| ...a reservation for... | ...eine Reservierung für... | ī-neh reh-zer-feer-oong fewr |
| ...a table for one / two. | ...einen Tisch für eine Person / zwei Personen. | ī-nehn tish fewr ī-neh pehr- zohn / tsvī pehr-zohnehn |
| Non-smoking. | Nichtraucher. | nikht-rowkh-er |
| Is this seat free? | Ist hier frei? | ist heer frī |
| Menu (in English), please. | Speisekarte (auf Englisch), bitte. | shpī-zeh-kar-teh (owf ehng-lish) bit-teh |
| service (not) included | Trinkgeld (nicht) inklusive | trink-gehlt (nikht) in-kloo-zee-veh |
| cover charge | Eintritt | īn-trit |
| to go | zum Mitnehmen | tsoom mit-nay-mehn |
| with / without | mit / ohne | mit / oh-neh |
| and / or | und / oder | oont / oh-der |
| menu (of the day) | (Tages-) Karte | (tah-gehs-) kar-teh |
| set meal for tourists | Touristenmenü | too-ris-tehn-meh-new |
| specialty of the house | Spezialität des Hauses | shpayt-see-ah-lee-tayt dehs how-zehs |
| appetizers | Vorspeise | for-shpī-zeh |
| bread / cheese | Brot / Käse | broht / kay-zeh |
| sandwich | Sandwich | zahnd-vich |
| soup | Suppe | zup-peh |
| salad | Salat | zah-laht |
| meat | Fleisch | flīsh |
| poultry | Geflügel | geh-flew-gehl |
| fish | Fisch | fish |
| seafood | Meeresfrüchte | meh-rehs-frewkh-teh |
| fruit | Obst | ohpst |
| vegetables | Gemüse | geh-mew-zeh |
| dessert | Nachspeise | nahkh-shpī-zeh |
| mineral water | Mineralwasser | min-eh-rahl-vah-ser |
| tap water | Leitungswasser | lī-toongs-vah-ser |
| milk | Milch | milkh |
| (orange) juice | (Orangen-) Saft | (oh-rahn-zhehn-) zahft |
| coffee / tea | Kaffee / Tee | kah-fay / tay |
| wine | Wein | vīn |
| red / white | rot / weiß | roht / vīs |
| glass / bottle | Glas / Flasche | glahs / flah-sheh |
| beer | Bier | beer |
| Cheers! | Prost! | prohst |
| More. / Another. | Mehr. / Noch eins. | mehr / nohkh īns |
| The same. | Das gleiche. | dahs glīkh-eh |
| Bill, please. | Rechnung, bitte. | rehkh-noong bit-teh |
| tip | Trinkgeld | trink-gehlt |
| Delicious! | Lecker! | lehk-er |
For more user-friendly German phrases, check out Rick Steves’ German Phrase Book and Dictionary or Rick Steves’ French, Italian & German Phrase Book.