Natalie Marchant

Legend has it that Vienna’s renowned coffeehouse culture was born in 1683, when a local grabbed a bag of coffee beans left over by the fleeing Ottomans after the Siege of Vienna. The Wiener Kaffeehaus has become such a feature of the city ever since – and you’ll see it from the moment you touch down here. These are not just places to sip and snack; these are social, community institutions at the very heart of Vienna’s culture. Read on to find our favourites.  The difference between a Kaffeehaus and a café We’d better start by explaining what we mean by ‘café’ in Vienna, eh? Owed to its history, this city is full of beautiful cafés – some traditional Kaffeehauses, some newer, modern cafés. The Kaffeehaus (some of which have UNESCO status), is a grand space where you might find suited waiters, marble tables and a menu of Viennese classics. For tourists, they are a must-try, but we love them just as much locally. But as well as these, there’s a new generation of coffee aficionados, who are leading the modernisation of Vienna’s coffee culture through the ‘Third Wave’. On our list, we’ve got both – so you can take your pick.  ➡️ READ MORE: The ultimate guide to Vienna Jump to list: find your perfect café ☕ Vienna’s best traditional coffeehouses 🧋 Vienna’s best new-wave modern cafés  Susanne Garber and Natalie Marchant are writers based in Vienna. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial gu

Don’t be fooled by Vienna’s imperial grandeur. For alongside its historic palaces and grand boulevards, you’ll find the locals living a high quality of life that embraces being outdoors, fine food and drink, and leisurely living. Where else in the world can you visit one of the world’s finest art museums in the morning, before jumping in an urban lake for a swim or heading to the hills to sample some locally grown wine? Here are the top things to do in Vienna by those who know it best. Jump to list: Vienna at a glance 💸 For free: Walking the Ringstrasse 🍰 For foodies: Coffee at Café Central 🏊 For adults: Outdoor swimming in the Old Danube 🎡 For kids: The Wiener Riesenrad theme park 💑 For couples: Vienna vineyards at Kahlenburg ➡️ READ MORE: The ultimate guide to Vienna Susanne Garber and Natalie Marchant are writers based in Vienna. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. 

The capital of classical music is dusting off its glitter ball, sewing on its sequins and warming up its vocal cords as Vienna hosts the 70th Eurovision Song Contest. The accolade comes a year after Austrian-Filipino opera singer J.J. (real name Johannes Pietsch), representing Vienna, won Eurovision 2025 with operatic pop ballad Wasted Love.  If you missed it, the song starts as an intimate love ballad in a black-and-white boat-themed set before breaking into a turbulent techno tune amid stormy seas. Wasted Love was the clear winner – and this will be the third time Vienna hosts the world’s largest singing competition, having held it in 1967 and 2015, the latter after drag queen Conchita Wurst won with Rise Like A Phoenix. And the city is fully embracing the opportunity to sparkle once again – here’s everything you need to know about Eurovision in Vienna this year.  ➡️ READ MORE: The best things to do in Vienna, all year round   Photograph: ShutterstockEurovision was held at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle in 2015 When will Eurovision be held in Vienna? The Eurovision live shows, including two semis and the grand final will be held on May 12, 14 and 16. Where will Eurovision be held in Vienna? All shows will be at the Wiener Stadthalle, an arena in the 15th district (Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus) with 16,000 capacity.  Are there still tickets? Sadly for some, tickets sold out in record time on January 13. All nine shows (around 100,000 tickets in total) were gone in under an hour, to b

This list is from 2025. Our latest ranking for 2026 is live here. People who don’t live in cities will tell you they’re busy, lonely and expensive places. But there’s a reason so many people choose to live in them: with world-class art and culture, unbeatable food and nightlife, buzzing neighbourhoods and a dizzying amount of stuff to do and see, there’s simply no better place to be.  Every year, we take the pulse of city living by quizzing thousands of locals across the planet about life in their hometowns. This year, more than 18,500 city-dwellers shared their insights on everything from food, nightlife and culture to affordability, happiness and the overall city vibe. When urban living can sometimes feel isolating and costly, this year we wanted to get a sense of what, exactly, makes a city feel like home. Sure, the nightlife is great, but is the city safe and walkable? Is good quality food and art available at a reasonable price? Is it easy to make friends, find love, and access nature?  Livability was a key factor in our ranking this year. But a great city to live in is, naturally, a great city to visit. So, along with the thousands of responses from locals around the world, we asked Time Out’s global network of city experts to vote on the places they think are particularly exciting right now. After crunching all that data, here we are: Time Out’s definitive ranking of the world’s best cities in 2025. Read on to see how your hometown fared… RECOMMENDED:🛍️ The coolest n

City breaks in the summer holidays are fun and all, but we’d go as far as to argue that a ton of the most well-loved holiday hotspots in Europe are even better in winter. After all, winter is when summer destinations lose their throngs of tourists, and cosy wintery cities lean into the wintery-ness.  If we’ve tempted you into heading out on a very wintery city break this year, don’t go anywhere. We’ve rounded our favourite winter city breaks on the continent for 2025, including famous classics, underrated spots and cities with packed-out festive events calendars. Here are the best winter city breaks in Europe for 2025, chosen by our experts.  Europe’s best city breaks at a glance 💏 Best for couples: Paris, France 🍜 Best for foodies: Edinburgh, Scotland 🎊 Best for families: Zagreb, Croatia 💎 Most underrated: Ljubljana, Slovenia At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. 

The cliché of Austrian cuisine is nowhere more present than in the capital itself. Wiener Schnitzel?  To be found on every corner. Apple strudel? A must on every serious coffee house menu. And breakfast? One of the most important meals in Austria, with ’Semmel’ (apricot jam and soft-boiled egg).  While typical Viennese cuisine is not difficult to be found in Vienna, you often need a few tips for all the other delicacies that also make up the lively capital. But don’t worry, you don’t have to spend a fortune to eat well in Vienna. Even the sausages at the Würstelstand will be memorable. Here are my top picks for 2025.  RECOMMENDED:📍 The best things to do in Vienna☕ The best cafés in Vienna🏘️ The best Vienna Airbnbs🏨 The best hotels in Vienna⛪ The best attractions in Vienna This guide was recently updated by Vienna-based writer Susanne Garber. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

‘Schifoan ist des leiwandste,’ as they say in Austria (that’s ‘skiing is the coolest’ to the uninitiated). Given that about 60 percent of the country is covered in mountains, it’s hardly surprising that skiing runs in our blood in Austria – a lifelong love affair for those of us who have been lucky enough to call this place home. I was first put on skis near Zell Am See at the age of four and decades later, I’m still making an annual pilgrimage to the Austrian Alps. In that time, I’ve been skiing as a child, as a teenager when I briefly dabbled with snowboarding, as an overconfident 20-plus year-old and as a more cautious middle-ager. Nowadays I also join my school friends and watch their kids having as much fun as we did.  Skiing is undeniably a privilege but the beautiful scenery, the fresh air and the sheer unbridled fun of it makes it worth every euro cent – be it on one of the panoramic glacial resorts or from one of the traditional small villages Austria is famed for. ‘Gemütlichkeit’ is a term often associated with Austria and, while there’s no direct English translation, the sense of cosiness it conveys is still what I feel whenever I come ‘home’. For there is nothing better than warming up with a Glühwein and tucking into a hearty plate of Kaiserschmarrn for those with a sweet tooth – or a Tiroler Gröstl for those who prefer savoury, like me – in a rustic mountain hut at the end of a hard day’s skiing.  ⛷️ Discover the most affordable ski holidays in Europe Everything

  Vienna’s culture scene is second to none. After all, it played a huge role in developing practically every art form that has flourished in Europe, remember? So it’s no surprise that the museums and galleries here are pretty much love letters to some of the world’s best artists, sculptors, painters, writers and more. From Sigmund Freud to Beethoven, here are the best museums in Vienna.  RECOMMENDED:📍 The best things to do in Vienna💃🏻 The best nightlife spots in Vienna🏛️ Unmissable attractions in Vienna🏠 Vienna's best Airbnbs This article was written by Natalie Marchant, who spent a number of years in Vienna. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.