Vienna
With its hexagonal skylight, allegorical sculptures and beautifully lit arcades in Italian Renaissance style, Palais Ferstel hearkens back to a more glamorous age of consumption. Opened in 1860, it sidles up to the ever-grand Café Central and likewise bears the hallmark of architect Heinrich von Ferstel, the Habsburgs' blue-eyed boy in the mid-19th century.
Today it shelters upmarket delis, jewellers and chocolatiers; pop in for a mosey even if you have no intention of buying.
0.56 MILES
Vienna's foremost opera and ballet venue, the neo-Renaissance Staatsoper, is one of the finest concert halls in the world. Even if you can't get tickets…
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Vienna’s Gothic masterpiece Stephansdom – or Steffl (Little Stephan), as it’s ironically nicknamed – is Vienna's pride and joy. A church has stood here…
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The MuseumsQuartier is a remarkable ensemble of museums, cafes, restaurants and bars inside former imperial stables designed by Fischer von Erlach. This…
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The Hofburg's Kaiserliche Schatzkammer contains secular and ecclesiastical treasures (including devotional images and altars, particularly from the…
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A masterpiece of total art, Schloss Belvedere is one of the world’s finest baroque palaces. Designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt (1668–1745), it was…
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Nothing symbolises Austria's resplendent cultural heritage more than its Hofburg, home base of the Habsburgs from 1273 to 1918. The oldest section is the…
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The Habsburgs' opulent summer palace is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Of its 1441 rooms, 40 are open to the public; the Imperial Tour takes you into…
Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
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A highlight of any trip to Vienna is a visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, brimming with works by Europe’s finest painters, sculptors and…
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The private Kunstforum museum gets about 300,000 visitors each year, and for good reason – it stages an exciting program of changing exhibitions, usually…
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Built by Hildebrandt in 1716, Palais Kinsky has a classic baroque facade; its highlight is an elaborate, three-storey stairway off to the left of the…
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Part of the Nationalbibliothek collection of museums, along with the Esperantomuseum and Papyrusmuseum, where admission covers all three and audio guides…
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The oft-overlooked Esperantomuseum is mostly devoted to the artificial language created by Dr Ludvik Zamenhof in 1887. The first book in Esperanto, by Dr…
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Before moving to the site of the Hofburg in the late 13th century, the ruling family the Babenbergs resided on this large square. Rising up in the centre…
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The Schottenkirche (Church of the Scots), at the northern end of Herrengasse, was founded by Benedictine monks probably originating from Scotia Maior …
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Vienna's mind-bending Museum of Illusions, opened in 2017, confounds your senses through its 40 interactive optical illusions and installations. They…
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The Minoritenkirche is a 13th-century Gothic church that later received a baroque facelift. The stubby edifice was ‘shortened’ (ie partially destroyed) by…