Vienna

Vienna wears its imperial past with quiet confidence and lives, above all, at an unhurried pace. This was the seat of the Habsburgs, and it shows — in the sweep of the Ringstrasse, the gilded halls of the Hofburg, the vast gardens of Schönbrunn — but the real Vienna is a coffee house on a grey afternoon, where a single melange buys you a marble table, a newspaper and as many hours as you like. It is a city of music, where a standing-room ticket to the State Opera still costs about the price of lunch, and of wine grown within the city limits: come autumn, the Heuriger taverns of Grinzing pour this year’s Gemischter Satz under the vines. Wander the Naschmarkt for a mid-morning bite, the MuseumsQuartier for art and a courtyard beer, the Prater for the old Ferris wheel. Consistently ranked among the world’s most livable cities, Vienna rewards the traveller who slows to its tempo — elegant, green and endlessly cultured.

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