Vienna, Austria

Photo credit: Digital Stock

One of Europe's most attractive capital cities, Vienna rewards visitors with its cosmopolitan ambience and magnificent grand architecture.

Vienna is both Austria's capital and its prime tourist attraction. It is a city that encapsulates much of European history, and its story mirrors the great themes of empire building, colonial expansion, destructive war and the process of reinventing itself in the modern age. This venerable past delights visitors who are treated to a visually splendid modern city that celebrates its traditions and customs in everyday life.

The Viennese themselves are particularly proud of their city's cultural heritage and cosmopolitan worldliness and perpetuate Vienna's rich history in year-round festivals of music, theatre and cuisine. For the visitor each and any such celebration is a perfect excuse to visit as the city seems even brighter with the infectious enthusiasm of the locals.

For a city with so much to offer Vienna is amazingly compact. Conveniently for visitors, many of Vienna's prime attractions are located within the Ringstrasse, a roughly circular road that contains the city centre. Within the Ringstrasse, visitors can easily walk to the major sites, while soaking up the unique Viennese ambience at their own pace.

But it is also well worth travelling beyond this somewhat congested area to experience the Heurigen (wine taverns) and coffeehouses frequented by the Viennese for centuries. Magnificent Schönbrunn Palace, and the funfair and parklands of the Prater are only a bus ride ctix and certainly shouldn't be missed.

Home to the Habsburgs, Mozart and Freud among other luminaries, and the backdrop for one of the most famous films of modern times, The Third Man, Vienna is a living work of art, still as beautifully refined as ever.

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