A few weeks ago we had a wonderful citytrip to one of the classiest cities I have seen so far in Europe. I am talking about Vienna, the capital and largest city of Austria, and even the 7th largest city of Europe. Although I love several cities in Europe, like Paris and Lisbon a lot, as you can read in my post: top 10 European cities to visit, Vienna is really something else. It is not a coincidence that the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a 2,5 hours we arrived at our hotel surrounded by a whole other world of wide streets, clean surroudings and impressive architecture.
Everything in this city is imposing, the buildings are big and stylish, the streets are broad and the parks are abundant and beautifully maintained. This is one of the most prosperous cities of Europe and it shows! If you are an architecture, heritage and culture lover like me this city is definitely worth a visit. It’s even pretty with cloudy weather and dark skies, don’t you think?:)
Baroque, Art Nouveau and Classist influences are visible throughout the city in the impressive buildings and architecture. And music and culture is well represented in the many opera houses and museums all around.
As I love taking pictures and adore architecture & pretty sights I have explored much of the heritage and authentic sights of this city, and will share lots of my own pictures with you in this blog post! So if you are a visual peron like me and are looking for citytrip inspiration read on, and click on the pics to see the bigger picture and description of the sight.
We have only been here for 3 days, which is nearly enough to see a few museums and main sights, but of course there is much more to be seen here. Most public buildings and monuments are however situated conveniently close to each other around the Ringstrasse and near the Museumsquartier, where our hotel was located.
More about our beautiful 25hours Hotel beim Museumsquartier in the next blog post, as this experience was way to special to combine in this post. But hereby already a preview of the suite and rooftop view of this hotel.
Stay tuned because in my next blog post A hip citytrip stay in 25hours Hotel Vienna I will even be giving away a free stay for 1 night incl.breakfast here as well!
But now back to Vienna…I will take you on a tour around and inside my favourite buildings and sights of Vienna, including the following:
Parlament and Rathaus
From our hotel it was a short walk to the left and immediately we saw these impressive sights line up after each other.
The park around the Rathaus is really nice as well and will give you great views towards the impressive building.
Burgtheater
Across the street from the Rathaus you will see this impressive building.
This beautiful music theater offers perfect views towards the Rathaus, and if you’re lucky you will even see Mozart himself walking around here:)
Volksgarten
If you pass the Burgtheater on the right, facing it, you will arrive at the Volksgarten park, leading up to Hofburg.
A wonderful place for a quiet stroll and relaxing stop on one of the many benches. If you walk on to the right you will arrive at another impressive building:
Hofburg
The former principal imperial palace in the centre of Vienna, which was the royal family’s winter residence and has seated many monarchs, rulers and governments over the centuries since 1297.
Schatzkammer
Hofburg has many areas worth a visit, but we mainly walked around the beautiful building and visited the imperial treasury, ‘Schatzkammer’ which showcases the king’s and queen’s robes and jewels.
Twin museums of natural history and fine art
Near Hofburg are the twin museums of natural history and fine art, which dominate the sky of Vienna. These two identical buildings are an impressive sight and built right opposite to each other, almost impossible to capture together in 1 picture….
Inside the Kunsthistorisches Museum
We have only to visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In this museum of fine art you will find Renaissance and Baroque paintings from renowned old masters such as Rubens and Vermeer, and numerous art treasures from the Habsburgers assembled over the centuries.
Besides the artworks on display the building itself was very impressive. The diversity and richness of the materials used, the architecture and the decoration of the ceilings are more baroque and opulent than I have ever seen.
Museumsquartier
This building and courtyard with several modern art museums is across the street from the famous Maria-Theresien Platz, where the twin museums are located.
A bit further in the west part of the city are Stephansplatz, Stephansdom, Stephanskirche and Graben, some of the main attractions of Vienna. A nice area to walk around to admire the diverse architecture, climb the stairs of the Stephansdom church, do some shopping in Graben shopping street, but also find some authentic smaller shops around Stephansdom and Stephansplatz.
Views from Graben and towards Stephansdom church
Stephanskirche
Stephansdom and surroundings
Karlsplatz
It might sound strange, but the subway station of Karlsplatz is a definite must visit! You will be surprised by one of the most important examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe. The top level of the subway station houses a small museum built in this style, and the café opposite to it is also very pretty and quiet. Certainly recommended for a coffee with a tasty sacher torte, while enjoying some of the most unique views of Vienna.
Karlskirche
Right on Karlsplatz this impressive church will rise up in front of you while exiting the subway station. The church is huge and one of the most beautiful Baroque buildings I have seen so far!
Schloss Schonbrunn
Your visit to Vienna is not complete without a visit to the summer palace of renowned princess Sisi. Situated just outside Vienna and only a short subway ride away.
The building itself is gorgeous from every side, but as the frontside is very crowded we loved the walk around the gardens, which are more quiet and make the views towards the building even prettier. There are a lot of benches where you can relax and enjoy the view.
We also did an audio tour of the building inside and saw many of the rooms of the royal family and learnt about their history. The decoration and furniture is all Roccoco style, nice but very kitsch in my personal opinion, a lot of gold, prints, paintings and decor combined. We were actually forbidden to take pictures inside, but I did manage to take 2 to give you an idea:)
The gardens are stunning and in my opinion even more beautiful than the inside of the palace. I could have walked around here for hours as the area is huge, and even has a zoo, labyrinth and several themed gardens.
Gloriette
At the back of the palace up the hill there is an impressive arch including café and extra view point, called the Gloriette. It is surrounded by a park which offers a wide and unique view over Vienna and the palace itself, one of the highlights of our visit to Schonbrunn and worth the walk up hill!
Vienna has so much beauty that we had to skip some sights, as we wanted to enjoy the surroundings and sights we did visit to the fullest.
Of course this is a good excuse to come back for the other beautiful sights we missed, such as: Hundertwasser Haus, Nationalbibliothek, Prater, Schloss Belvedere and Liechtenstein. And of course just to stroll around the beautiful neighborhoods of the city some more.
What do you think of Vienna? Have you been there already and if not, did my pictures make you want to visit? Let me know in the comments below or find me on social media for daily pics and get connected:
