Ideas for Swifties to Shake it Off in Vienna

By Cameron Hewitt

While thousands of traveling Swifties have found themselves in a cruel summer, Vienna can still be an enchanting place to have some extra time to explore. We pulled together some of our favorite resources to help.

As a former imperial capital, Vienna has an enduring grandeur and an inviting livability. And yet, for a big city, Vienna is pleasant and laid-back. There's plenty to do: Anyone with an interest in painting, music, architecture, Habsburg history, beautiful objects, or Sacher torte with whipped cream will feel right at home. Whether you're lingering in a genteel café or enjoying Strauss in a park, Vienna is a class act. Here are some suggestions, excerpted from our Rick Steves' Vienna and Rick Steves' Pocket Vienna guidebooks (both available to download instantly, via your preferred ebook platform).

Get your bearings to the city's opulent architecture on a cheap, circular tram ride around the perimeter of the historic center, following our Ringstrasse Tram Tour (available through our free Rick Steves Audio Europe app in the App Store or Google Play). In the 1860s, Emperor Franz Josef had Vienna’s ingrown medieval wall torn down and replaced with a ring-shaped boulevard, 190 feet wide and arcing nearly three miles around the city’s core it. The buildings that line the Ring are very "Neo" Neoclassical, Neo-Gothic, and Neo-Renaissance — an approach called "Revival" or "Historicism." Today, this tram zips past all of those eye-popping facades, in one big loop.

Then follow our Vienna City Walk — also available as a free audio tour — which weaves through the heart of the city, connecting its major landmarks. You'll begin at the Vienna State Opera, which is one of Europe's finest opera houses, and also worth touring. Then you'll make your way to St. Stephen's Cathedral, one of the greatest churches in Europe, and the Gothic spire around which Vienna spins. The cathedral's interior is covered on yet another free audio tour.

Now that you have your bearings, it's time for some sightseeing. Vienna specializes in amazing museums and palaces. The only question: Which one(s) to visit? Here are some popular choices:

Hofburg Imperial Apartments
These lavish, Versailles-type, "wish-I-were-God" royal rooms are a mix of Old World luxury and modern 19th-century conveniences. Here, Emperor Franz Josef I lived and worked along with his wife Elisabeth, known as Sisi (a sort of 19th-century Princess Di). Palace visits are a one-way romp through three sections: a porcelain and silver collection, a museum dedicated to the enigmatic and troubled Empress Sisi, and the luxurious apartments themselves.

Hofburg Treasury
One of the world's most stunning collections of royal regalia, the Hofburg Treasury shows off sparkling crowns, jewels, gowns, and assorted Habsburg bling in 21 darkened rooms. The treasures, well explained by an audioguide, include the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne's saber, a unicorn horn, and more precious gems than you can shake a scepter at.

Kunsthistorisches Museum
This exciting museum, across the Ring from the Hofburg Palace, showcases the grandeur and opulence of the Habsburgs' collected artwork in a grand building (purpose-built in 1888 to display these works). While there's little Viennese art here, you will find world-class European masterpieces galore (including canvases by Raphael, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Rubens, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and a particularly exquisite roomful of Bruegels), all well displayed on one glorious floor, plus a fine display of Egyptian, classical, and applied arts. Another highlight, filling a wing of the ground floor, is the Habsburg "Chamber of Wonders" (Kunstkammer), showing off the imperial collection of exquisite fine-art objects and exotic curios (the highlight being Cellini's golden salt cellar).

Schönbrunn Palace
Vienna's most tempting day trip (an easy 10-minute subway ride from the center on the U-4 line) is the Habsburgs' former summer residence — second only to Versailles among Europe's grand palaces. Originally built in the 16th century as a small hunting lodge near a beautiful spring (schön-brunn), the residence grew over the next 300 years into the palace you see today. The highlight of the vast complex's many sights is a tour of the Imperial Apartments where the Habsburg nobles lived (including Maria Theresa and her 16 children, and Franz Josef and Sisi). You can also stroll the palace gardens, visit the world's oldest zoo, and view royal transport from the 19th century at the Imperial Carriage Museum.

There are so many more choices, depending on your interests. The Haus der Musik is a modern, fun, high-tech, and interactive experience that celebrates this hometown forte. Horse lovers thrill to the Spanish Riding School, the stately, 300-year-old Baroque hall at the Hofburg Palace that's home to the renowned Lipizzaner stallions, who strut and "dance" to the classical beat; you can either attend a performance or watch the horses' morning exercises. The Secession, an iconic "golden cabbage"-domed building designed by nonconformist artists around the turn of the 20th century to display their art, still features Gustav Klimt's famous Beethoven Frieze. And at the Kaisergruft, you can tour the imperial crypt of the Habsburg clan who put Vienna on the map, and ruled a vast swathe of Central and Eastern Europe; while this sounds macabre, it fascinates history buffs. There are also museums about local Jewish heritage, Mozart, Sigmund Freud, natural history, imperial furniture, and much more — along with more decadent churches and palace interiors than you could shake a conductor's baton at.

Or just relax at a grand café — which are a Viennese specialty. For many locals, the living room is down the street at the neighborhood Kaffeehaus. Each of Vienna's many long-established coffeehouses has its own unique character (and characters). Some are grand and opulent, others are tired and shabby, and most come with famously grumpy servers. Yet they all somehow feel welcoming, with a "take all the time you want" charm for the price of a cup of coffee (you can typically order light lunches and fresh pastries as well). Vienna's café culture is, in a word, dignified. Even in our age of smartphone news alerts, it just feels right to borrow an actual newspaper — attached to a long wooden stick — and page through it over a cup of coffee.

Another Viennese specialty? Music, of course. Vienna — the birthplace of what we call classical music — still thrives as Europe's music capital. Sadly, in summer (generally July and August), the Vienna Boys' Choir, opera, and many other serious music companies are &mdash like you — on vacation. But it's OK: Vienna hums year-round with live classical music, and tickets to touristy, crowd-pleasing shows are always available. On any given evening, you'll have your choice of opera, Strauss waltzes, Mozart chamber concerts, and lighthearted musicals.

For a memorable meal, browse the lively Naschmarkt (roughly meaning "Nibble Market"). Originally built in 1898 to cover up the Vienna River, the market's stalls stretch along Wienzeile street, just a short stroll south of the opera house. This is where top chefs like to get their ingredients. And it's long been known as the place to get "exotic" foods from far away. In fact, locals say, "From here start the Balkans." Just be aware that it's closed on Sundays.

For plenty more ideas, be sure to take full advantage of all our free travel content on Vienna:

You can watch our public television show about the city, plus a second episode with more on Vienna and the surrounding area.

Or listen to a variety of interviews from our public radio shows about Vienna — easy to browse, download, and listen to through our free Rick Steves Audio Europe app.

And remember: That app is also where you can download and use three entirely free, full-length audio tours covering some of Vienna's best experiences: the Ringstrasse Tram Tour, the Vienna City Walk, and the St. Stephen's Cathedral Tour.

For even more, browse our free content on Vienna. And for complete coverage of the Austrian capital, you can buy the ebook version of our Rick Steves' Vienna and Rick Steves' Pocket Vienna guidebooks.