Vienna

Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg Empire for centuries, and the scale of the centre still belongs to a much larger state than modern Austria. Inside the loop of the Ringstrasse boulevard sit the gothic spire of St Stephen's Cathedral, the winter courts of the Hofburg and the marble staircases of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Outside the Ring lie the summer residences: Schönbrunn Palace to the west and the Belvedere to the south-east.

What stops Vienna feeling like a museum piece is how ordinary life uses these rooms. You can hear the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from a standing spot at the State Opera for the price of a snack, read the newspapers for two hours over a single cup in a traditional coffee house, and end the afternoon on a tram to the vineyards above Grinzing. Start with our first-timer briefing for how the numbered districts, tickets and local customs work.

Vienna International Airport (Schwechat) sits 18 km south-east of the centre. Skip the heavily advertised City Airport Train (CAT) and take a regular ÖBB Railjet to Wien Hauptbahnhof (15 minutes) or the S7 suburban train toward Wien Mitte, remembering that the airport lies outside the city core zone. International trains arrive at Wien Hauptbahnhof or Westbahnhof. All routes and ticket rules are in our transport guide.

Vienna is divided into 23 numbered districts spiralling out from the Innere Stadt (1st). Staying in the 1st puts you on foot for the Hofburg and cathedral; staying just outside the Ring in Neubau (7th), Wieden (4th) or Leopoldstadt (2nd) cuts hotel bills and puts you where residents eat and drink. We compare the seven central districts in where to stay in Vienna.

The big four are the Hofburg, Schönbrunn Palace, the Belvedere (for Klimt's The Kiss) and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, balanced with the Prater and the neighbourhoods outside the Ring. Our things to do list orders them by priority and flags what to skip.

Viennese cooking borrows from across the old empire: veal Wiener Schnitzel, boiled beef Tafelspitz, Hungarian-style goulash, sweet dumplings and layered cakes, washed down with crisp white wine grown on the hills inside the city boundary. Read our food and wine tavern guide before you sit down.

Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler and Strauss all worked here, and at the turn of the 20th century Klimt, Schiele, Otto Wagner and Freud reshaped European art and thought within a few streets of each other. You can trace that shift from the Spanish Riding School and the concert halls to the Secession dome on the Ringstrasse.