Viennese Whirl

by Alison Plummer | 17 Oct 2013

Vienna is one of Europe’s most exciting cultural capitals, with music and dance, art and architecture, and food and wine celebrated every day of the year.

There’s music everywhere in Vienna and it is said, if your ear is tuned you can hear the music stop each evening as performances conclude around the city. The Vienna State Opera is one of the best opera venues in the world and the long list of Austrian composers include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Gustav Mahler and a swag of Strauss’s including Blue Danube waltz composer, Johann Strauss ll.

If you love ballroom dancing, don all the finery you can to attend one of more than 300 balls that take place during the three-month carnival season. Beginning in late November, the season is an 18th-century tradition that continues today and an important part of the Viennese social calendar.

Opera lovers must of course attend a performance at the fabulous State Opera Theatre. There are performances 300 days of the year, including Tosca, La Traviata, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Otello. There are also an abudance of galleries and museums for art and history buffs to enjoy.

Architectural offerings

The Secession, designed by Josef Olbrich, sits at the modernist end of Vienna’s architectural spectrum. Vienna is home to many other modernist buildings including the Austrian Post Office Savings Bank by Otto Wagner and the Loos House by Adolf Loos. The Imperial Palace with its Gothic chapel, and the Schonbrunn Palace with golden-ochre Baroque façade and intricate interiors and gardens are others definitely worth exploring.

Visit Architekturzentrum Wien, the Vienna Architecture Museum and take a guided walk for an overview of the city’s architectural history or, for a blast of imposing architecture and art in one place, visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Art History Museum near the Imperial Palace. Inside the palatial facade, it holds the world’s largest Bruegel collection and is also hosting Klimt paintings for this year’s celebrations. 

Winter warmers

Winter in Vienna is a chance to enjoy Viennese specialities at the coffee houses, intimate wine bars and restaurants including traditional favourites such as Zum Schwarzen Cameel, otherwise known as The Black Camel, for traditional bistro food.

If you fancy a spot of shopping to warm you up, from early December the Christmas markets swing into action in a range of venues from the Christkindlmarkt in the Rathausplatz to the Schonbrunn Palace. Here you’ll experience the traditional Christmas market experience, with stalls featuring toasted almonds, gingerbread, candied fruit and the highlight for many people, hot mulled wine. 

Fancy a ball?

Vienna was long known as a city of music but it was Emperor Josef ll who started the tradition of public balls, opening up the Hofburg Palace, now the Imperial Palace, to the public in 1773. The tradition lives on today.

Late November sees the opening of the carnival with over 300 balls listed on the official calendar, along with some of the latest trends in ball gowns.

The Opera Ball in the glorious Vienna State Opera is the high society event, when debutantes dress in white, and tickets are rare.

Of special interest to visitors is Le Grand Bal at the Hofburg Vienna on New Year’s Eve with dancing to waltz and jazz bands and performances by ballet and opera stars.

The Ball of the Viennese Coffee Shop Owners at the Imperial Palace is largely considered one of Vienna’s most beautiful balls and usually kicks on until the early hours of the morning.   

Food and wine

The Viennese love to eat and with good reason. The streets are lined with coffee houses, chocolate and pastry shops. Restaurants have featured in top-50 lists and you can even go on a culinary tour of Vienna.

For the wine conoissour, Vienna has a thriving wine scene. With 230 vineyards on the city limits, growing varietals including Gemischetr Satz, Gruner Vetliner and Zweigelt, you can enjoy a glass or two while you take in the beautiful scenery. To enjoy a warm traditional meal with a friend or two, the markets are a favourite meeting place to savour tafelspitz, boiled beef, Viennese-style. Other delights can be found at the Naschmarkt stalls and cafes or the markets of the Second District’s Karmelitermarkt.