Vienna sounds grown-up but plays young: the Prater's giant Ferris wheel and vintage funfair, the world's oldest zoo in the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace, and a Children's Museum where kids dress as little archdukes. Trams thrill the under-sixes all by themselves. Cake is taken seriously — apfelstrudel diplomacy resolves most disputes — and the parks are immaculate.
Featured in Ten easy city breaks that work with kids in tow · Family
Imperial Vienna treats winter as high season: balls, concerts, and coffee houses where a hot chocolate and a slice of Sachertorte constitute a legitimate afternoon plan. Skate the sprawling ice ribbon in front of the neo-Gothic Rathaus, catch the Vienna Boys' Choir at Sunday mass, and go in January — the Christmas market crowds vanish but the ball season and the café culture roll gloriously on.
Featured in Ten cosy winter city breaks for two · Romantic
Nowhere sells cheap seats to greatness like Vienna: the State Opera releases standing-room tickets shortly before each performance for the price of a coffee, putting Puccini within impulse-buy range most nights of the season. Beyond the gilded halls, Porgy & Bess runs world-class jazz in a converted cinema, and the heurigen wine taverns on the city's edge add schrammelmusik to the grüner veltliner. Queue for standing room about eighty minutes before curtain; Viennese pensioners out-elbow the unprepared.
Featured in Ten cities with world-class live music every night · Nightlife