Vienna, New Wave

Every year, for the New Year’s Eve Grand Ball, a group of young Japanese women makes the journey to Vienna. Their highly romanticized, cinematic vision of European gallantry leads them to hire the services of an Austrian professional dance partner. For one evening, they go all in: floor-length gowns, hand-kissing and waltzing, arm in arm, with a dancer embodying the ideal husband. But at first light, the handsome hunk puts his jeans back on and the innocent young women faint… Is Vienna no longer what it used to be? Not at all. In fact, it is one of the European capitals that has managed to embrace modernity without losing its soul. Contrasts are its thing: let’s not forget that Sigmund Freud practiced just a few meters from Sissi’s palace, while Adolf Loos, by building his radical Looshaus opposite the Imperial Palace, nearly gave Emperor Franz Joseph a heart attack!

Hybrid neighborhoods

Vienna has resisted change for a long time, but today it is racing ahead of the trends. Behind its sublime Baroque, Art Nouveau and Secession façades, it is experimenting and, in its oldest neighborhoods, shamelessly mixing traditional addresses with offbeat venues. Take Vollpension, embraced by Gen Z, where grandparents bake homemade strudel in a retro atmosphere. This slightly quirky café is tucked away in Freihausviertel, the up-and-coming neighborhood in the fourth district. On the fringes of the city-center hustle and bustle, coffee was being roasted here and second-hand goods sold long before either became fashionable. Art galleries now line Schleifmühlgasse, alongside vintage shops and old cafés such as Café Anzengruber, a traditional inn serving one of the city’s most authentic Wiener Schnitzels. Just next door, the Sekt counter at Szigeti offers tastings of this famous sparkling wine produced just outside the capital. Modernity again at Meinklang Hofküche, the very embodiment of farm-to-table dining, where dishes are prepared almost exclusively from produce grown on the family farm. Not forgetting the Third Man Museum, for a dive into the film’s black-and-white photography and soundtrack!

A Journey Through Time

Let’s not call it nostalgia, but rather a happy marriage. At dusk, from the panoramic terrace of the MuseumsQuartier (MQ), you can contemplate the historic rooftops and ornate domes of imperial Vienna, sitting comfortably alongside the contemporary volumes of one of Europe’s most avant-garde cultural centers. This 60,000-square-meter museum complex, reinvented in the heart of the city’s historic quarter, made Vienna a pioneer two decades ago. Here, you leave one museum only to enter another. But you always end up at the MAK, the Museum of Applied Arts, which has also managed a gentle transformation. Start on the top floor, admiring Thonet chairs, then make your way down through Josef Hoffmann’s interiors and Koloman Moser’s cabinets, before ending up in the basement at the MAK Design Lab, moving through works by Donald Judd and James Turrell, and Franz West’s twelve sofas. Traveling through time as though it were the most natural thing in the world. That is the charm of Vienna today.

Allez Hop off to bed chez Michael, Florian, Christian & Kai

Three friends — Michael, Florian and Christian — all from the hospitality world. Together with Hamburg-based entrepreneur Kai Hollmann, they took the risk, right in the middle of Covid, of opening a Vienna replica of the famous German Superbude hotels. A total success. Now the four have embarked on a new adventure: the renovation of a classic building, entrusted to Piotr Wiśniewski of weStudio (…) Read more

Allez Hop off to the table chez Jonathan & Larissa

Jonathan and Larissa: it sounds like a song. The Sound of Music? It certainly looks that way. They met, as so many couples do, at work, in a famous Viennese vegetarian restaurant, and soon took the plunge and opened a place of their own. Their virtuous approach to vegetables, more joyful than preachy, and their intense flavors (…) Read more

Allez Hop off to the table chez Phil

Was it because wallpaper used to be printed in this former factory? Phil is a little bit of everything we love about the café-bookshop-object genre. During the week, everyone snacks on muesli or toasted sandwiches while working on their laptops; at weekends, electronics are banned, leaving time to wander between the vintage bar, the bookshelves and the carefully curated vintage finds. You leave with a light heart, an architecture book and a sixties lamp.

Address: Gumpendorfer Str. 10

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Allez Hop off to the table for the best Tafelspitz

Emperor Franz Joseph made it his favorite dish, and the Plachutta family has built its own Tafelspitz empire. Its five Viennese restaurants specialize in this beef cooked in vegetable broth and served with marrow bones, horseradish and sautéed potatoes. Finger-licking good. Chic surroundings and stylish service. Come hungry!

Address: Wollzeile 38

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Allez Hop for a slice of virtuous cake

Two entrepreneurs, disappointed not to find the taste of their childhood cakes in Vienna’s famous cafés, decided to create Vollpension, an association whose name means “full board.” It brings retired people together, helping them reconnect socially while earning a little extra income. Grandmothers bake their family cakes, which are sold at two kiosks in the city center and in a “pension” where welcoming hosts strike up conversations with their young customers while serving breakfast and afternoon treats in a vintage setting. A thoroughly delightful intergenerational project.

Address: Schleifmühlgasse 16

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Allez Hop, just a little coffee

Viennese cafés are famous for their inspiring décor, the solemn demeanor of their waiters and the perfection of their coffees, served on little silver trays. A new trend is now emerging: restoring these legendary establishments.

Café Bellaria, one of the city’s oldest, has been revamped by Viennese architecture firm KLK, which saved its spectacular dome and highlighted it with a neon installation. Adlerhof has undergone a more traditional makeover, with Thonet furniture and 1960s wallpaper. Café Central, which had become so touristy that one no longer felt like going there, has closed to make way for a contemporary project — sadly. Instead, take refuge at Café Sperl, still intact; Schopenhauer, where you can watch players of Tarock; or Prückel, a venerable institution redesigned by the great Oswald Haerdtl in the 1950s.

Allez Hop, off to the Balkans

Like Berlin, Vienna has its multicultural working-class neighborhood. To the west of the capital, Ottakring is fragrant with the smell of Middle Eastern grills. Along the aptly nicknamed “Balkan Mile”, Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian are spoken in a string of cafés, bars and restaurants from the former Yugoslavia. Guaranteed conviviality over a plate of burek, a shot of rakija and an ultra-strong Turkish coffee, accompanied by traditional music.

Allez Hop, Fall for a Viennese piece of furniture

When leaving Vienna, it is rare not to feel tempted to take home a genuine Jugendstil desk, an Art Deco chest of drawers or the famous office chair designed by Otto Wagner for the former Vienna Post Office. Head to Galerie Hollzer, whose catalogue is packed with consoles, cupboards and chairs enough to drive any design lover wild.

Address: Siebensterngasse 32

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Allez Hop, buy the pepper mill of your dreams

Translated as “wow” — and quite rightly so: a mandatory stop at designer Thomas Kreuz’s shop. He loved pepper so much that he eventually designed his own pepper mills, then expanded into utensils for grinding all kinds of things: chili, nutmeg, coffee, salt… His shop is also his workshop. Huge pieces of raw wood bear witness to this, as he carves them before forging mechanisms designed to last a lifetime. The objects are exceptionally elegant, and the mechanisms allow you to adjust the fineness of the grind. An indestructible tool for sophisticated cooks. Thomas also imports rare peppers, which he is always happy to let you taste.

Address: Westbahnstrasse 7

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Allez Hop, let’s go to the MAK

Housed in a sublime palace built around an immense atrium, the Museum of Applied Arts brilliantly embodies the city’s determination not to wallow in its past. Riding on the legacy of the Wiener Werkstätte, the movement that foreshadowed the Bauhaus, it constantly reinvents itself. Here, you can feast your eyes on Art Nouveau treasures, such as the gilded cardboard Klimt created for the dining room of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, pieces by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser whose aesthetic codes still shape Viennese life, as well as works by contemporary designers showcased in spectacular temporary exhibitions.

Address: Stubenring 5

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Allez Hop, step inside a private collection

A new address offers access to one of Europe’s most prestigious private collections: that of patron Heidi Horten. An impressive selection of works gathered throughout the history of art, from classical modernism to contemporary art. After extensive renovation, they have moved into the “Stöcklgebäude” of the Hanuschhof, an annex to a city-center palace dating from 1862, its façade now covered in greenery.

Address: Hanuschgasse 3

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Allez Hop, hop aboard history

The Ring Tram, the yellow tram that used to endlessly circle the historic center, offering a complete half-hour panorama of Vienna’s architecture, has permanently returned to the depot. But regular lines 1 and 2 run along the same tracks! From the Neoclassical Parliament to the Opera House, from the Hofburg to the banks of the canal, each stop reveals a layer of the capital’s architectural genius: imperial, Art Nouveau, modernist, Bauhaus… A perfect introduction to the city’s urban history. All you have to do is let your eyes wander across the façades…

Allez Hop, rediscover the charm of night trains

Sadly, the brilliant night train linking Paris and Vienna, allowing passengers a few hours of dreams along the way, has been discontinued. No more French subsidy for slow, ecological and romantic travel. The solution, depending on where you live: depart from Brussels or Zurich. Then it’s yours to enjoy: the slightly blurred light on the platform at boarding time, thick gray curtains blocking out the windows, enveloping the train in an aura of mystery, and the Valkyrie-like conductresses in peaked caps.

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Allez Hop, find out more

Vienna Tourist Board

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