Vienna

About Vienna

Vienna is one of Europe's great imperial capitals, a city where Habsburg splendour meets a quietly modern sensibility. The Ringstrasse boulevard frames the Opera, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Parliament in a sweep of monumental architecture, yet the city's real character lives in the Kaffeehäuser — the legendary coffee houses where locals nurse a Melange for hours over a newspaper, treating the cafe as a second living room.

The hotel scene reflects this dual nature: grand 19th-century palaces on the Ring, intimate Jugendstil boutiques in the 7th district, and a growing crop of design hotels across the canal in the 2nd. Prices are higher than Prague or Budapest, but still below comparable rooms in Paris or Zurich — and the transit system is among Europe's finest.