Austria’s wonderful capital Vienna spreads along both sides of the “Blue” Danube (which, as the Viennese are certain to point out, is actually muddy brown). The city is a smorgasbord of Baroque with a dash of art nouveau. Circling the old town (or Innere Stadt) is the striking revivalist architecture of the Ringstrasse, Vienna’s main boulevard. These buildings range from the charming Opera House to the monumental Natural History Museum.

Nestled throughout the city are the graceful art-nouveau buildings of turn-of-the century architects Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos. The buildings are one of the many remnants of the artistic and intellectual flowering that took place in Vienna at the turn of the century. Of course, the buildings and the city’s history are only a backdrop for the daily culture that can still be found in the concert halls, opera houses, and cafes.

Before traveling to Vienna, try to reserve tickets to the main attractions in advance, as ticket requests from outside of the country are given priority. We recommend the Vienna State Opera, the Spanish Riding School with its famous Lipizzaner stallions, and the Vienna Boys Choir, which is particularly moving.

If tickets for the State Opera aren’t available try, the Volksoper, which features operettas, musicals, and ballets. If all else fails, the Gothic Rathaus (city hall) hosts a popular Christmas market in the winter and free concerts in the summer. Take a tour of the city to get oriented either on foot or in a Fiaker (a horse-drawn carriage). If you’d prefer a more elevated impression of the city, go up to the top of the Donauturm (Danube Tower)—at 846 ft/258 m it provides quite a panorama from its observation platform, as well as two revolving restaurants. You can see from there that Vienna is quite a large city — its sights are dispersed throughout so you’ll want to buy bus/subway passes for the number of days that you’ll be there.