Vienna
Imperial palaces, coffee-house afternoons and music in the evening.
Vienna was the capital of an empire and still carries itself like one: a ring boulevard of palaces, museums and the opera house around a medieval core, with Schönbrunn and the Belvedere in the districts beyond. Its coffee houses, wine taverns and concert halls are the daily life the grandeur was built for.
Why go
The art is exceptional — Klimt at the Belvedere, Bruegel at the Kunsthistorisches, the Leopold's Schiele collection — and the music is everywhere, from the State Opera to a string quartet in a church. The city is clean, orderly and easy to move around.
It is also a place to slow down: a Melange and a newspaper in a café that has not changed in a century, a walk through the Naschmarkt, an evening in a heuriger among the vineyards on the city's edge.
Highlights
What people go for, in no particular order.
01St Stephen's and the inner city
The cathedral with its patterned roof at the centre of the old town, with the Graben, the Kohlmarkt and the Hofburg's courtyards a few minutes' walk in any direction.
02Schönbrunn
The Habsburgs' summer palace, with its state rooms, the gardens rising to the Gloriette and the view back over the city. A metro ride west of the centre.
03The Belvedere
Two baroque palaces facing each other across a formal garden, the upper one holding Klimt's The Kiss and the Austrian collection.
04The Ringstrasse museums
The Kunsthistorisches and the Natural History Museum face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz; the MuseumsQuartier behind them holds the Leopold and the modern collections.
05Music and the opera
The State Opera, the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus, with standing tickets a tradition at the opera. The Vienna Boys' Choir sings at the Hofburg chapel on Sunday mornings in season.
06Coffee houses and the Naschmarkt
Café Central, Sperl, Hawelka and their kind, where a coffee buys the table for the afternoon. The Naschmarkt's stalls and restaurants run along the Wien river; the flea market joins it on Saturdays.
07The Vienna Woods and the heurigen
Tram lines end among vineyards at Grinzing and Nussdorf, where the wine taverns serve the year's wine with cold platters in their gardens. The Danube and its island are the city's summer beach.
Areas
Where to base yourself, and what each area is like.
Innere Stadt
The old town inside the Ring: the cathedral, the Hofburg, the grand hotels and the shops. Everything on foot.
Neubau and the MuseumsQuartier
Galleries, independent shops and cafés in the 7th district, just outside the Ring. Younger and lively.
Wieden and the Naschmarkt
The 4th district, between the Karlskirche and the market, with the Belvedere a walk away. Calm and central.
Leopoldstadt and the Prater
Across the canal, with the park, the Ferris wheel and the Danube. Well connected and more relaxed.
When to go: Vienna
- SpringApril and May
- Blossom in the parks and the first heuriger evenings. Mild, bright and comfortable for walking the Ring.
- SummerJune – August
- Warm days, open-air film on the Rathausplatz and swimming in the Danube. The opera and the concert halls take their break.
- AutumnSeptember – November
- The new wine in the taverns, the music season restarting and the parks in colour.
- WinterDecember – March
- Cold and crisp, with Christmas markets from late November and the ball season after New Year. Coffee houses at their most inviting.
Getting there
Airports
One airport in our search serves Vienna. Distances are measured in a straight line.
- VIEVienna International
Distance from
- CDGParis1,020 km
- LHRLondon1,260 km
- DXBDubai4,240 km
- BOMMumbai5,980 km
- JFKNew York6,790 km
- JNBJohannesburg8,350 km
- SINSingapore9,720 km
- SYDSydney15,980 km
Getting around: Vienna
The metro, trams and buses are frequent and clean, and a day or multi-day pass covers all of them. The airport train reaches the centre in a quarter of an hour.
The inner city is a pleasure on foot and the Ring can be circled by tram. Bikes on the city's scheme suit the flat districts and the Danube island.
Practical facts
The country, its currency and languages, the time zone and the time there now.
- Country
- Austria
- Currency
- EUR · Euro
- Languages
- German
- Time zone
- Central European Time
- Local time now
- Calling code
- +43
The atlas
Vienna in figures
The figures under this guide: the climate on modelled 2001–2020 averages, how far it is from the UAE, and the places around it.
Climate
The weather in Vienna, month by month
- Jan2°
- Feb4°
- Mar9°
- Apr15°
- May20°
- Jun24°
- Jul27°
- Aug26°
- Sept20°
- Oct15°
- Nov8°
- Dec3°
- Mild to warm and dry
- Mild to warm, humid or showery
- Hot
- Cool
- Wet
- Cold
Good for going, on these averages: May to September.
Mean highs run from 2°C in January to 27°C in July, with about 737 mm of rain in a year.
These are modelled averages for 2001–2020; the seasons described above are our own reading of a typical year.
Month-by-month climate for ViennaModelled averages for an area about 50 km across, not a weather station's record: NASA POWER climatology, 2001–2020.
Airports
How far it is from the UAE
From DXBVienna
4,240 km
5 hrs 45 mins · Estimate
From AUHVienna
4,260 km
5 hrs 45 mins · Estimate
The great-circle distance, and a rough flying time: the distance at an average 850 km/h plus 45 minutes for take-off and landing. Real flights follow airways, meet headwinds and wait for traffic, so schedules differ.
On the map
Places near Vienna
Plan this trip: Vienna
Open the trip builder with Vienna already filled in. Flights, stays and everything else are priced together in one quote, prepared by a person on our team.
