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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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