Susanne Garber

While the classic Wiener Schnitzel remains a stalwart on many menus, the Austrian capital has plenty of other foodie options to tempt your tastebuds, from Italian to Middle Eastern to Japanese. Those who stick to more traditional Austrian cuisine, however, are finding new ways of serving it, making this year an exciting time to eat your way around the city.  If you can’t quite make your mind up, there’s always the budget-friendly option of lining up with the Viennese to try a hotdog at one of the many Würstelstands across the city. Here are the best restaurants in Vienna for 2026.  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. The best hotels in Paris at a glance 🍽️ Best for traditional cuisine: Am Nordpol 3 💸 Most affordable: Mani ⭐ Michelin-starred: Pramerl & the Wolf 🍷 Best for wine: Glacis Beisl 🥕 Best for vegetarians: Wrenkh 🏘️ Discover the best Airbnbs and the best things to do in Vienna

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. 

Right now, it feels like a great time to celebrate our cities. What cities do best is bring people together – everything we love about urban life, from the galleries and bars to the neighbourhood parks, exists thanks to the communities that make it all happen.  That’s why, every year, we raise a toast to the city with our definitive annual ranking, created on the back of a comprehensive survey of city-dwellers worldwide. Our survey asks not only what people love about their cities – the food scene and nightlife, the shops and museums, the parks and people – but also how it feels to live there. We asked you about happiness, affordability and quality of life, among a variety of other criteria. And, in order to dig deeper into the everyday lives of locals, this year we expanded our survey to cover aspects like love, romance and community feel. Time Out’s Best Cities with Intrepid Travel spotlights the destinations that offer the best of both worlds: an endlessly exciting catalogue of reasons to visit, as well as all the good stuff that makes a place feel like home. The 50 cities that made the list this year did so thanks to the insights of more than 24,000 people across 150 cities worldwide. To determine the final Best Cities ranking for 2026, we combined their thousands of responses with the votes of more than 100 Time Out city experts. Then we tapped up our network of local writers to tell us exactly what makes their city worth a visit right now. The result? A rundown of the m

Oh Vienna, how we love you so. But we’ll be the first to admit that your districts can be a little confusing. Vienna has 23 of them, to be exact, starting with the first one in the centre, from which each of them wind their way outwards in a ring. They’re numbered 1-23, but they also have specific names and postal codes, where the district can be identified by the two numbers in the middle. The 8th district is therefore 1080, also known as ‘Josefstadt’. But each of them has its own distinct character, home to plenty of artistic heritage, beautiful imperial palaces or just the perfect cup of coffee with a perfect people-watching view. You’ll love this city anywhere you stay, but it’s worth learning about its neighbourhoods (or Grätzl, as we say in Viennese), to stay somewhere that matches your vibe. Here’s our ultimate neighbourhood guide.  RECOMMENDED:🏘️ The best Vienna Airbnbs🏨 The best hotels in Vienna📍 The best things to do in Vienna☕ The best cafés 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.

What is Belvedere Palace and why is it so famous? Belvedere Palace is not only one of the most famous baroque palaces in Vienna (in fact, it is actually two palaces), the museum located inside also houses one of the most famous paintings in the world: ‘The Kiss’ by Gustav Klimt. It shows a self-portrait of the Austrian painter with his muse Emilie Flöge as lovers and attracts visitors from all over the world. Why is Belvedere Palace worth it? Seeing ‘The Kiss’ in real life impresses even most native Viennese. The museum's permanent exhibition also includes numerous other impressive works by famous Austrian painters such as Oskar Kokoschka or Egon Schiele. The palace itself, including the beautiful surrounding baroque garden, is an easy visit from the city centre and a must-visit for any first timer.  How much does it cost to visit? Tickets can be bought on site, online, or via GetYourGuide, but the entry fee is a little cheaper online and you save yourself time for waiting at the ticket office. Tickets start from from €17.50 euros. Groups of 10 people or more have to book a free time slot in advance.  Where should I eat nearby? Café Schwarzenberg, Vienna’s oldest Ringstrasse café, is very close, and is the spot to indulge in Viennese coffee house culture. Stöckl im Park has a lovely garden for al fresco dining (with  an inviting Schanigarten air) and serves up Viennese classics like knoblauchcremesuppe (creamy garlic soup) and sacherwürstel sausage.  ➡️ READ MORE: The best t

What is it? Vienna’s Ringstrasse is a 5.3 kilometre-long street that runs around the city centre. It is home to many of Vienna's most famous monuments, such as the Parliament, the State Opera House, the University of Vienna or the Museum of Art History. Built between 1860 and 1890, the architectural style is also known as Ringstrasse style – a form of historicism. Is it worth visiting? You will hardly be able to avoid the Ringstrasse when visiting Vienna, as it is not only lined with the most famous (and beautiful) buildings, but it is also one of the most important trac routes. How long does it take to walk Ringstrasse? For the real experience, we recommend walking as much of it as you can to take it all in. Make sure to hit the University, past the Town Hall and the Burgtheater, to the Parliament and nally, close to the Museum of Art History and the Natural History Museum, where you can turn o to Heldenplatz and the National Library. The State Opera House is also nearby.  Walking the full length of it will take about three hours, but for those who don’t fancy it, you can also take the tram, known as ‘Bim’ in Vienna. Lines 1, 2, D and 71 don't go all the way round the Ring, but cover a fair bit of it – or book one of the many bus tours on offer. Where’s good to eat there? The iconic Café Schwarzenberg is the oldest café on Ringstrasse in Vienna and well worth visiting. Otherwise, it’s better to turn into one of the side streets and try one of the lovely restaurants in the Mu

What is it? The Museums Quarter (MQ for short) brings together numerous museums, famous monuments, cafés, restaurants and shops in the former imperial horse stables, making it one of the world’s largest cultural centres. Is it worth visiting? The great thing about the Museums Quarter is that it’s not only home to some of the city’s best cultural attractions, it’s also just a vibey spot you can spend a whole day in and soak it all up. In the summer months, a load of seating areas get set up in the MQ’s inner courtyard, known as ‘Enzis’, and the cafés stay open late, so you can spend a whole evening soaking it up too.  Are any of the museums free? While MQ itself is totally free to hang out in, the museums there each have their own ticket system – but you can usually get them on site without any booking in advance. You can also book tours on GetYourGuide which include multiple museums and hotspots.  Where should I eat there? MQ won’t let you go home hungry, promise. Café Leopold serves up Asian-inspired dishes, the Kantine has lunch and snack food and visitors with children will feel right at home at Dschungel, a child-friendly café opposite the Zoom children’s museum. ➡️ READ MORE: The best things to do in Vienna