Vienna

The City of Music, with Schönbrunn Palace, the Golden Hall and coffeehouse culture, year after year ranked among the world's most liveable cities and a Christmas-market destination, with the Wachau Valley and Melk Abbey nearby.

Vienna is the capital of Austria, set on the Danube at the eastern foot of the Alps. It was the imperial seat of the Habsburgs for six hundred years, where Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and the Strauss family composed, and it is also the city of Freud and Klimt. It regularly ranks among the world's most liveable cities, and both its historic center and Schönbrunn Palace are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is organized around the Innere Stadt (1st district): St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Hofburg, the Graben and the Imperial Crypt all lie inside the Ringstrasse, which is lined with the State Opera, the Museums of Art History and Natural History, Parliament and City Hall. Beyond the Ring, Schönbrunn and its zoo lie to the southwest, the Belvedere and Karlskirche to the south, with the Naschmarkt and the Secession building right by Karlsplatz, and the 2nd district to the northeast has the Prater Ferris wheel. Grinzing's wine taverns and the Kahlenberg vineyards to the north, and the Wachau Valley and Melk Abbey 80 km to the west, are classic excursions. April–June and September–October are the most comfortable; Christmas markets start in mid-November, the New Year's Concert is on 31 December–1 January, and January–February is ball season; the State Opera and Golden Hall are dark in July–August. From Vienna Airport, the CAT express takes 16 minutes or the S7 about 25 minutes to the city; the metro, trams and buses share one ticket, and the inner city is walkable. Plan on 3–4 days. Tips: book popular concerts and the Spanish Riding School in advance; shops are closed on Sundays but museums are open; the costumed “Mozart” touts selling concert tickets on the street mostly promote tourist-oriented shows.

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