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

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 is a travel pass and discount voucher rolled into one. It lasts for 72 hours and gives free travel on all modes of transport within the central area. It also gives discounts on wider travel and reduced entry for a host of museums etc.

It costs only €16 but remember to get it stamped the first time you use it. Inspectors are few and far between but get caught without a ticket and you'll be fined around €65 and still have to pay for your journey. Buy it at the airport on arrival, it will save you money on the train in.

www.info.wien.at/article.asp?IDArticle=9400

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

If you cannot afford full price for an opera or ballet, queue for one of the 600 standing places – which will set you back two or four euros.

Opernring; www.staatsoper.at/Content.Node2/en/index.php

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

The State Opera House. If you're too late to buy tickets for a performance, don't miss the opportunity to take a guided tour of this fascinating building. Bombed in world war two, it was rebuilt almost exactly as it was in the 19th-century.

Opernring 2. Nearest metro station: Karlsplatz. Nearest tram: Oper

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

If you go to a Heuriger don't be surprised if you have to share a long table and bench with total strangers. This is the done thing and - Americans take note - if you try waiting for your own table you'll have a long wait and go thirsty.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Though the guideboooks will steer you towards the Heuriger ('wine taverns') at Grinzing at the end of the 38 tram line don't go there as they are all full of tourists, busloads of 'em, and are not at all authentic. Head for the real thing in Stammersdorf or Jedlersdorf which are just on the edge of the Vienna public transport network on the S3 or out to Klosterneuburg from Heiligenstadt on the bus or by train from the Franz-Josefsbahnhof. Real Heuriger are tiny, only serve their own wine and food prepared by themselves. Usually much cheaper too.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Heldenplatz is where Hitler stood and proclaimed the Anschluss (Annexation). Stand in the middle and look around you. You have the Hofburg (Imperial Palace) behind you and you can see the two matching museums, the beautiful Rathaus (city hall) and the Burgtheater. Breathtaking.

Hofburg, 1010 Wien

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

First pressing of the grapes, looks like cloudy ginger beer, smells a bit yeasty but tastes great. Easy to down and absolutely lethal. Also plays havoc with your insides. Only available for a few weeks in September. Comes in massive bottles with a loose tin foil cap therefore can't be exported.

everywhere but only for a while

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

A complex of cultural museums/institutions and more, very close to the sprawling shopping street Mariahilferstr. Some nice bars and bookshops and interesting little knick-knack places in this popular place. Check out the old computer-games store there, nostalgia ahoy!

Museumsquartier, Underground same name

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Sauna is a ritual in Austria.

Saunas are mixed and nobody bothers with swimsuits.

Saunas have often got a small bar or rest room where one can recover before plunging back into the heat to sweat out the toxins and stress of the day.

The ritual of adding aromatic oils to the water before dropping it on the coals is highly refreshing. However the leader of whatever group is in the sauna makes sure that the steam is evenly distributed by waving a towel over the coals. There is no escape.

The civilised conversation and chat among ten or fifteen people naked in a darkened overheated room is one of the best ways to get to know the Viennese and Vienna.

Most hotels and swimming baths

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

What a contrast to the stuffy reputation of this city's music life.

Only a small exhibition about the history of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perpetuates the traditional image. The rest is hi-tech, interactive fun around all aspects of music, guaranteed to inform and amuse all ages. Adults may like to exploit the late opening times, when the place is often free of kids and you can indulge your wish to play with all the sound sources.

Haus der Musik, Seilerstätte 30, A-1010, Wien; tel: 43 1 516 48; www.hdm.at

OPENING HOURS
Daily, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends