Vienna does grand very well: the palaces, the opera, the avenues built to impress. But the city's real character lives somewhere quieter, in the coffee houses, where the tradition is so embedded that it has been recognised as cultural heritage. The rule is simple and civilised: buy one coffee and you may sit for hours, read the papers and watch the city go by. Nobody will move you on.
The art of doing nothing
A proper Viennese coffee house has marble-topped tables, bentwood chairs, a rack of newspapers on wooden spines and waiters in waistcoats who treat hurrying as bad manners. Order a melange, the local cappuccino, and a slice of cake, and settle in. The point is not the coffee alone but the unhurried hour around it.
Beyond the obvious sights
- Walk the Naschmarkt for food stalls and lunch, then wander the streets of the sixth and seventh districts, full of small shops and quieter cafes.
- Skip the queue at the biggest palaces and visit a smaller museum or church instead; the city is thick with them.
- Take a tram around the Ring just for the ride, passing the grand public buildings for the price of a ticket.
When to go
Vienna is good all year, but winter suits the coffee house habit, when the warm interiors are a refuge from the cold and the cake feels earned. The famous balls fill the winter calendar, and the Christmas markets are pretty if busy.
Trains link Vienna to the rest of central Europe, including overnight services, so it slots neatly into a wider trip. Give it three or four days and resist the urge to tick off every palace. The city rewards the slower traveller, the one willing to spend a morning over coffee and a paper, which is, after all, the most Viennese thing you can do.