Vienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria. It is by far the largest city in Austria as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. As the former home of the Habsburg court and its various empires, the city still has the trappings of the imperial capital it once was, and the historic city centre is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- Spring starts sometime in late March, normally it is very brief and summer-like weather sets in before the trees have had time to grow back their leaves.
- Summer in Vienna is usually warm. Weather in June is moderate and sunny with a light summer windy breeze. In July and August, there are some hot and humid days where it reaches 35°C (95°F), but overall, summer in Vienna is pleasant.
- Autumn starts around September, although an "Indian Summer" with warm and sunny days often occurs that month and it gets colder as it approaches November. A main disadvantage of the Viennese climate is that it is rather windy and usually overcast during these months.
- Winter in Vienna can be just above 0°C (32°F) and drizzeling for days on end, or just below with dustings of snow that manage to melt again quickly. There is the occasional cold-snap where it will stay below freezing for a week or two at a time. Due to Vienna's relative easterly position in the Central European Time Zone its daylight hours (if its not too gray outside entirely) are relatively early during the winter.
Night Services
The regular trams, trains and buses run until about 00:30 (just past midnight). Most of the commuter rail is shut between 1 AM and 4 AM. On Friday and Saturday (as well as on nights before Holidays) the entire U-Bahn network runs 24/7. Additionally, a dense network of night buses, called "NightLiners" is available every night of the year. Regular tickets are valid. Most buses terminate at "Kärntner Ring, Oper", which allows for easy interchange. Intervals are every 15-30 minutes. Daytime service resumes at 5 AM.Most Viennese speak a range and mix of Austro-Bavarian and German as their mother tongue, unlike in most other parts of Austria where pure Austro-Bavarian is much more prevalent. German is the sole official language and thus the main recoginzed written language.
- Ball Season: One thing you should not miss when you visit Vienna during the carneval season is to attend one of the many glamourous balls in the city, some of them in wonderful elegant locations like the Vienna Hofburg or the City Hall. River and Canal tours.
- There are also a lot of other open-air-film festivals in summer, e.g. at the Augarten, the Vienna Turf Krieau, the Prater, and Schloss Neugebäude.
- In the summer, there is also the ImPulsTanz Festival for contemporary dance & performance. They are also good if you are interested in dance workshops.
Vienna airport
has a duty free shopping area with 70 shops. Plan around one hour if you're going to visit every other shop. The shopping area is just after ticket control counters, so you only need to checkin before getting to shops, not pass security check nor passport control.
Viennese restaurant
menus offer a bewildering variety of terms for dishes, most of which the visitor will never have heard of and many of which aren't in the brief lists of menu terms included in phrase books. However restaurants that have any foreign patrons at all usually have an English menu, though you may have to ask for it: the phrase "English menu" usually will be understood even by wait staff who don't speak English. Bread in Viennese restaurants is usually charged as an extra; if there is a basket of it on the table, you'll usually be charged by the piece only if you take some. The traditional Viennese fast food is sausage in all shapes and sizes. You can buy hot sausages and hot dogs at snack bars. In addition to this, the local snack culture also includes more ex-Yugoslavian and Turkish varieties of fast food. Good kebaps can be bought at the Naschmarkt. By far the cheapest way to get a fast food meal in Austria (and probably the only meal available for just over €1) is buying an Austrian sandwich (sliced brown bread + ham/cheese + gherkin) from a supermarket.
Drink
Vienna's (coffee houses) are world famous for their grandness and the lively coffee house culture. Most cafés also serve beer, wine and liqueurs. Many serve meals, especially at lunch, and these are often cheaper than in restaurants. Vienna prides itself of its dozens of varieties of different coffees, although the Italian style and names are better known by many youth than the Viennese, the cafés are keeping the traditions alive. New wine is usually enjoyed at a Heurigen (family-run vineyard bars allowed to the the new vintage). Austria in general, but especially the area around Vienna, produces quite a large amount of wine each year. After a long day, the perfect place to relax among Viennese are the Heurigen in the suburbs. Somewhat akin to a beer garden, except with wine, these tiny treasures are the only places authorized to serve new wine. New wine is made from the first pressing of the grape and can appear a little cloudy. Be careful, it's stronger than you might think! This is why it's served in very small glasses, .25L and up.Despite Vienna's stuck-up reputation don't be led to believe it is a quiet city. There are diverse cafés, bars, clubs, parties and festivilles as well as thriving noctornal prostitution and casino scenes.Vienna offers a complete range of hotels. Prices are relatively higher than in neighboring countries, or in the neighboring countryside, but quality is also often better.In choosing an accommodation it is important to know which part of the city you want to spend time in. Most accommodations claim to be centrally located, which for the Viennese would mean they should be in or next to the 1st District, few actually are. Many are even outside the core districts 2-9. Still, all of them are located within about a 5-minute walk to an underground or at least a rail or tram station, you can get to the center within 20 minutes or less on public transportation form anywhere in the city. Smoking rooms are relatively common. Non-smoking rooms are in limited supply, and hotels with non-smoking floors are less common. Senstive non-smokers may be bothered that public areas of the hotel (often the hallway outside your room) are often heavy with tobacco smoke.
