This place is just wonderful - peaceful and perfect in just about every way you could ask of a bed and breakfast!

Excellent and responsive service from the owners before you arrive.
Clear instructions on how to get to the property. Fantastic room accomodation which is immaculately clean. Exciting and varied breakfasts served with quiet friendly service (the best homemade muesli I ever had.)

Life lived with a Viennese family - at its best.
Five minutes walk, at most, from the metro (come down the stairs at the very far end of the platform, go out the left door, down a path, turn right, second on the left) and then only nine minutes to the city center.

One of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on.

Schlenthergasse 17
1220 Wien
www.therooms.at
00436644316830

Google map: tinyurl.com/yakacyr

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The food was creatively and skillfully prepared without being unnecessarily fussy; the ingredients were intensely flavorful; the kitchen in Mr. Bauer's hands was clearly superbly trained in the classics while not being afraid to exercise its creative flair! The service for our table of six was warm and very polite without being intrusive. The small restaurant (~ 30 seats) with its simple but warm decor provided for a very cozy ambience. I also ate very well at RieGi and Osterreicher im MAK, but Restaurant Bauer stands out and easily joins its rank among other one Michelin-starred restaurants I have dined at elsewhere in Europe. A truly memorable experience!

Walter Bauer Restaurant: Sonnenfelsgasse 17, +43 (1) 5129871

Google map: tinyurl.com/y97zmm5

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The Alte Backstube is another excellent restaurant in the historic Josefstadt area of Vienna offering classic and traditional Viennese cuisine. The restaurant is set well back from the street in a seventeenth century building and its atmosphere is pleasingly intimate and removed from the bustle of the city.

The prices are reasonable, the wines and beers include very good Austrian varieties, the service is friendly, helpful and prompt, and above all the food is outstanding. Highly recommended.

Alte Backstube (Angela Handler), Josefstadt, 1080 Wien. Tel. 01/406 1101.
www.backstube.at

Google map: tinyurl.com/ykv9w43

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

These two great buildings contain wonderful art collections. The Albertina has been thoroughly refurbished in recent years and now offers the Batliner Collection, great paintings from Monet to Picasso, which are on permanent loan to the museum, in addition to its own great collection. The Batliner is a very comprehensive collection and each piece is of the highest quality.

The Palais Liechtenstein shows the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, brought together over five or so centuries and, in many instances paintings bought directly from the artists themselves - that's class! This collection is very rich in Seventeenth century work, especially that of Rubens and Van Dyke.

The Albertina is at Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Wien, a short distance from the Opera House, so any of the trams travelling around the Ring will drop you there.
www.albertina.at

Google map: tinyurl.com/ykoxuur
The Palais Liechtenstein is at Furstengasse 1, Wien. www.liechtensteinmuseum.at
Not closely served by the U-bahn, but a short walk from the Franz Josefs Bahnhof (S-bahn).

Google map: tinyurl.com/yzep4qc

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The Natural History Museum, which was opened in 1889, is one of two enormous and beautiful buildings which face one another across gardens in the city centre - the other is the Art History Museum.

The staircase is very grand and Italy must have been emptied of all its marble to create this building. The view from the cafeteria on the (main) first floor, down through a circular eye some 20 feet across to the entrance hall far below is both spectacular and scary. There is a net drawn tightly across this space presumably to stop people throwing cakes down onto elderly American tourists just entering the building.

On the day I visited the museum there was a delightful half-scale air balloon tethered in the stairwell midway between the floors which added to the sense of enjoyment and well-being one should feel in such a wonderful place.

The collections include geology, natural history, anthropology and archaeology. There are said to be 20 million exhibits here. One of the most famous is the tiny but very sexy Venus of Willendorf, a mysterious and magical female figure from the Upper Palaeolithic period.

As with all museums these days, the place was teeming with children and young people (followed by anxious or exhausted teachers), but that is as it should be. The place is being used as a treasure house, which is precisely what it is.

Naturhistorisches Museum, Burgring 7, Vienna. Take any of the trams travelling around the Ring, the circular street which forms the city centre - you can't miss the museum. It offers good disabled access, there are excellent lifts to all floors, and the audio guide is highly worthwhile. Excellent too are the museums shops.
www.nhm-wien.ac.at

Google map: tinyurl.com/yfzazrv

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

This is an excellent restaurant where the decor is early Twentieth century Bohemian and the cuisine, likewise, hails from Prague, with a hint of Old Hapsburg Vienna.

The restaurant has an intimate atmosphere and you will do well to book a table beforehand. My son and I dropped in on a freezing Monday evening, and Zur Bohmischen Kuchl was nearly full with, I may say, local people from Josefstadt - a very good indicator of the quality of the food and drink.

At the end of our meal we were introduced to a liqueur from Prague called Becherovka. Wags describe it as tasting like cinnamon-flavoured kerosene! No, it was much better (and perhaps more powerful) than that. An excellent finale to a great meal.

Zur Bohmischen Kuchl, 1080 Wien, Schlosselgasse 18. Tel+43-(0)1-402 57 31

Google map: tinyurl.com/yg98dgp

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The Leopold Museum was opened in 2001, in a brand new building (a large white cube), in the Vienna Museums Quarter. The museum is based on the former private art collection of Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold. It has since become the most visited museum in the Museums Quarter. Why? Well, because it houses the largest collection of paintings and drawings by that unique artist and general all-round bad boy, Egon Schiele. However in addition to the works by Schiele, which are all exceptionally fine and fill out a view of the artist along with examples of his work at the Belvedere, also in Vienna, there is a great collection of work by other late Nineteenth and early Twentienth century artists, including Klimt, Kokoschka, Kolo Moser and Richard Gerstl.

The museum has a good cafeteria, and an excellent shop which offers scholarly material, exhibition catalogues and postcards.

The Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier Wien. U-bahn U2 to MuseumsQuartier and U3 to Volkstheater.
www.leopoldmuseum.org

Google map: tinyurl.com/ygeolmm

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

When I first visted Vienna some twenty years ago I found it somewhat staid and dull. Perhaps I had been unduly influenced by what I had heard and read about the place. The well-travelled visitor regarded Berlin as THE place to go, not Vienna.

Whatever the case, on a recent visit I found Vienna to be lively, well supplied with a range of good bars and restaurants, hotels at various price levels, an excellent public transport system, and offering an enviable number of world-class museums and galleries. There appeared to be a good number of young people there, in contrast to the view expressed in some guide books that the city is dominated in numbers by the very old.

For example, the Natural History Museum has a special Darwin exhibition on at the moment, and the day I went it was full of enthusiastic young people of all ages, noisy, busy, keen. They were allowed to use cameras and phones and were photographing themselves among the exhibits, even handling the woolly mammoth (I don't think it was real). Some indeed were sliding down the marble staircase which in this building is as high as Beachy Head - I don't think that was allowed, but no-one appeared to be rushing to stop them! So, not so staid as the former reputation...

Vienna, capital of Austria. www.wien.info

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The Vienna Card offers 72 hours travel on the city's transport network, including buses, trams, S and U-bahns. It also offers reduced rates on some commercial tour buses and trams, and reduced prices on entry to the city's many museums and galleries. A set of coupons comes with the Vienna Card booklet offering discounts on a range of shops, restaurants and bars. At 18.5 euros, (in 2009, up to March 2010) the Card is very good value for three whole days in Vienna. Don't forget to validate it by punching the card when you first get on the bus, tram or whatever. It is not valid until you do.

The Vienna Card (Wien-Karte) is available online before you travel. Or, when you get there, at your hotel or from Tourist Info, Albertinaplatz (Corner Maysedergasse), Vienna. www.wien.info

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

In the film The Third Man, shot on location in Vienna in 1949, we see Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles, hiding in the doorway to Anna Schmidt's apartment. This doorway is located at: Schreyvogelgasse, by the Vienna University and the Liebenberg monument.

Schreyvogelgasse, by the University and the Liebenberg monument below the Molker-Bastei.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

In the film The Third Man, shot in Vienna in 1919, Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles, is run over by a street carriage outside his apartment. This location is 5 Josefsplatz, next to the Hofburg Palace and the Lipizzaner Museum. The square displays a statue of Emperor Josef II on a horse, and this statue is referred to by the porter elsewhere in the film. The front of Harry Lime's apartment is right opposite the statue.

5 Josefplatz, Vienna. Next to the Hofburg Palace, the Austrian National Library and the Lipizzaner Horse Museum.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

In the film Before Sunrise, shot entirely in Vienna, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpi go to a record store where they flick through records and listen to some in a small booth at the end of the store. The store still exists and is called Teuchtler. It sells rare and old records and still has the listening booth at the end of the store. The store is tiny inside and has a very antique feel about it.

Teuchtler Schallplaten handlung Record store is located at: 10 Windmuhlgasse, off Mariahilfer Strasse, the most commercial street in Vienna.
vienna.unlike.net/locations/200378-Teuchtler

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

In the film Before Sunrise, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpi visit the Friedhof der Namenlosen (The Cemetery of the Nameless). This is a very beautiful, tiny cemetery in the outskirts of Vienna where the bodies of people drowned in the Danube and those who were unable to be identified are buried. Every year, the local fishing club on the first Sunday off after All Souls' Day, hold a memorial service and build a raft with wreaths and flowers to give it to the Danube. This is to recall the water floating corpses.

The cemetery is located on the outskirts of Vienna, on the way to the airport. In order to get there follow these directions: 1.Get the Subway (u-bahn): U3 direction Simmering. Depart from Stephansplatz and get off at Enkplatz
2.Catch bus 76 A at Enkplatz (Krausegasse) Direction: Zinnergasse/Kaiserebersdorfer Straße. Get off at Alberner Hafen.
3.Walk from here. Follow the directions to the Friedhof der Namenlosen (it is about 45 min. walk on a straight line). The cemetery is behind an industrial estate with very high grey tower blocks.
www.friedhof-der-namenlosen.at

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The Vienna State Opera is the former Imperial Opera. Performances are very lavish. Swan Lake was fantastic! There were international ballet soloists. The opera orchestra consists of members of the Vienna Philharmonic, which was many times voted the best orchestra in the world. We had good seats and enjoyed a great evening!

Tickets for certain performances are bit of a problem. We found tickets for Swan Lake from www.concertvienna.com

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

A collection of massive round brick gasometer towers converted into a vibrant complex of homes, offices, shopping and entertainment facilities including Vienna archives.
One of the most memorable architectural sites anywhere - threatening, exciting, historic, futuristic. Think Metropolis...

Ubahn station Gasometer, south east Vienna.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Wurttemberg Palace is a jewel in Vienna's architectural crown. Lavish, luxurious room decor plus fine antique furnishings breathing the spirit of the 19C. Exclusive ambience and traditional food in the Imperial. Delicious cakes in the Café Imperial.

Kärntner Ring 16, www.hotelsresidences.com/austria-osterreich-vienna-wien-c-4_1.html

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Yes, it is full of tourists and the waiting staff are just the acceptable side of rude, but what a location and the coffee (that is, if you drink proper coffee) is to die for. Seven euros for a Viennese breakfast - perfectly soft-boiled egg, as many rolls as I needed, ultra-fresh orange juice and that coffee! It was good value in Vienna.

Cafe Central
Ecke Herrengasse/Strauchgasse
1010-Wien
Tel: (+43.1) 533 37 64 - 26
Fax: (+43.1) 533 37 64 - 22
cafe.central@i-like-no-spam.palaisevents.at
www.palaisevents.at/cafecentral.html

Google map: tinyurl.com/lcnor4

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

A great restaurant in central Vienna but just off the tourist trail. It's full of locals, has friendly staff and great, moderately priced food. The wiener schnitzel (a choice of veal or pork) is excellent, the steaks succulent and the Austrian wine delicious and great value. With an emphasis on meat and local delicacies such as deep fried calf's brain, it's maybe not ideal for vegetarians or the faint-hearted. Get there before 9.30ish to beat the opera crowd and in fine weather you can eat outside.

Sebastian Laskowsky
1030 Wien, Am Heumarkt 25
Nearest station: Stadtpark (line U4). Open to midnight. Closed Sundays.
www.gmoakeller.at

Google map: tinyurl.com/qs6jxx

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

If you want to shop apart from the ordinary stores, Neubaugasse is the place to be. You'll find one small, charming boutique after another, at all price levels.

Side street of Mariahilfer Straße
Take U3 to Neubaugasse.

Google map: tinyurl.com/nxlerq

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Best cocktail bar in Vienna. Daily happy hour from 7pm to 10 pm (€ 5.00). It's very small but incredibly charming.

1070 Wien, Zollergasse 6
tel: +43-680-206 71 71
email: st-art@chello.at
www.st-art.at/

Google map: tinyurl.com/ojbf73

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends