The legendary Cafe Hawelka.Credit: AFP
Along cobblestone streets, Robert Upe enjoys smoky coffee houses and the sweet cakes of this European city.
The surly waiter wears a bow-tie and has a white handkerchief neatly pointing out of the top pocket of his black jacket as he circles the tables bearing a silver tray of coffee and tap water. He is a big man and his fingers are thick, like over-boiled frankfurts; they look like mitts better suited to a carpenter nailing an A-frame on a new Tyrolean house than handling strudels in one of Vienna's most intriguing cafes.
The service is brisk at Cafe Hawelka but I am here to linger, despite the cigarette fumes, in one of Vienna's few remaining coffee houses in "original" condition. Entering Cafe Hawelka is like stepping into a sepia movie. Humphrey Bogart would be at home at this time-worn coffee house that opened in 1906 and survived the bombings of World War II without a broken window pane.
The ageing owner is Guenter Hawelka and in between helping his surly main man he tells me that much of the furniture, and dust, in the dark wood-panelled cafe is from 1906. I don't think he is joking.
Guenter's father, Leopold, 99, bought the cafe in 1939 and he is also front of house: not serving but keeping an eye on comings and goings from his favourite seat. He wears a suit and bow-tie and is a picture of Austrian formality and grace as he patiently sits while tourists take his photo.
Cafe Hawelka is legendary as a meeting place of writers, artists, actors and musicians and, more lately, tourists. Despite the increasing number of travellers arriving for coffee, it is still an authentic Austrian experience. Visit any time but it is liveliest between 11pm and 1am. The house speciality is buchteln, a jam-filled and sugar-topped bun made by Guenter to a secret family recipe and served from the oven at 10pm.
Cafe Hawelka, Dorotheergasse 6, 1010 Vienna, open Mon-Sat 8am-2am, Sun 10am-2pm, closed Tue. Buchteln €1.40 ($2), coffee €3.60; www.hawelka.at.
8am
Breakfast at Hotel Rathaus is a feast of European food: dark ryes, fresh butter and homemade jam, pickled herring, prosciutto, cheeses, continental sausages and pastries.
Rathaus does not sound appealing in English. However, it means city hall and this wine-themed boutique hotel in a converted four-storey townhouse is centrally located and admired for its funky character and a rattling wrought-iron lift.
Each of the 39 rooms is unique but think of wooden floors, ultra-modern furniture, mood lighting, open-plan bathrooms and pleasurable rain showers.
Each room is dedicated to an Austrian winemaker with an image and name emblazoned on the door and corresponding wines in the minibar. In my room, 308, Krutzler wines are €19-€29 a bottle and there are black-and-white photos of wine bottles and vineyards on the walls.
The Austrian wine industry was scandalised in 1985 when some winemakers added the chemical diethylene glycol to their wines to make them taste better.
Following the destruction of about 36 million bottles of wine, the industry bounced back and is known for its quality rather than quantity, with the peppery gruener veltliner dry white wine style particularly lauded.
Hotel Rathaus Wine and Design, Lange Gasse 13, 1080 Vienna; rooms from €118, breakfast €15; www.hotel-rathaus-wien.at. Hotel Bristol is also recommended for its character; rooms from €235; www.westin.com/bristol. Or try Schweizer Pension on a budget, from €44 a night; www.schweizerpension.com.
10am
Before exploring, it's helpful to know Vienna is divided into 23 districts. The first district, also called the Innere Stadt, comprises Vienna's historic centre with cobblestone streets and a concentration of museums, galleries and shops. Districts 2-9 surround the Innere Stadt and are good locations to stay. For a range of city maps see vienna.info.
There's no need to hire a car. The underground train system, trams and buses are easy to use, punctual and feel safe. The 72-hour Vienna Card (€18.50, from hotels and some train stations) provides unlimited access to public transport plus discounts to 210 attractions and is the most economical way to get around for tourists.
Use the card for a discount on the yellow tourist Ring Tram, which clatters around a 25-minute Innere Stadt route and provides glimpses of Vienna's landmarks, such as the State Opera and Hofburg Imperial Palace. There are headphones on the tram and running commentary in several languages. You can hop on or off at any stop on the Ringstrasse line. There are also horse-and-carriage rides in this precinct, about €40 for 20 minutes.
10.30am
Within walking distance of the tram, the MuseumsQuartier is a collection of museums and galleries in modern and heritage buildings, including former imperial stables. This vast cultural space is adjacent to the Hofburg Imperial Palace and interspersed with outdoor cafes and restaurants. Among the galleries are the Leopold Museum, which showcases Austrian art, and a children's museum called ZOOM. There are more museums at Hofburg Imperial Palace, which also houses the famous Spanish Riding School and Burgkapelle, where the Vienna Boys' Choir sings Sunday Mass. Tickets to the 9.15am Mass, from €14.50, are available at hofburgkapelle.at (German language only and difficult to arrange) or turn up at 8.30am for free standing room (the choir does not sing there from July to mid September). The Mass is the focus of the service and it is not always possible to clearly see the choir. A better option may be the choir's regular Friday concert, see www.mondial.at.
Most MuseumsQuartier buildings open at 10am and have varying closing times. The MQ Kombi ticket is €25 and includes entry to all MuseumsQuartier buildings; www.mqw.at. Hofburg Imperial Palace; www.hofburg-wien.at.
2pm
Five minutes' walk from the Hofburg Imperial Palace is the historic five-star Hotel Sacher. It's a good place to boost energy levels with a sachertorte, one of Vienna's most controversial sweets. The cake - with two layers of thick chocolate separated by a line of apricot jam and topped with chocolate icing - was the centre of a long legal stoush between Hotel Sacher and Demel Patisserie, both of which claimed to have the original recipe from 1832.
In 1963, an out-of-court agreement was reached, with the hotel retaining the right to sell its cake as the Original Sacher-Torte. The patisserie version is now called Demel's Sachertorte.
If you want your cake and a sausage too, try a wurstel stand.
These cheap sausage kiosks are all over the city and the cheese-infused bratwurst (nicely sliced into bite-sized discs) with bread costs €3.80.
I find a concentration of wurstel stands at City Hall Square, where Vienna's Ice Dream is in action. The massive outdoor skating rink is buzzing with skaters and music; when the sun goes down it is colourfully and beautifully illuminated.
The Ice Dream operates annually between January and March but if you're visiting during December this is also the site of Christkindlmarkt, the city's biggest Christmas market, which attracts about 3 million people a year.
Hotel Sacher, Philkarmonikerstrasse 4, 1010 Vienna, sachertorte with whipped cream €4.90; www.sacher.com.
3pm
A 20-minute train ride from the city centre is the 1441-room Schoenbrunn Palace and gardens, once home to the Habsburg dynasty.
Various self-guided tours (with headphones and commentary in English) are available to see the lavishly furnished rooms, including the parlour where six-year-old Mozart played recitals.
Schoenbrunn Palace, 22-room tour €9.50/€6.50; www.schoenbrunn.at/en.
5pm
Industrial-style furniture and accessories decorate Das Moebel, a cafe where the in-crowd gathers to chat and catch up on emails, the furniture is for sale and emerging designers are showcased. The collection changes every two months.
A beer, such as a Czech Kozel, is €2.50, or try the popular Austrian soft drink, Almdudler (a blend of apple juice, grape and herbs) for €2.60. Almdudler is Austria's second-favourite soft drink, after Coke.
For a classical coffee house, try Cafe Central, opened in 1860, with chandeliers and marble pillars. The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was one of its customers.
(At any Viennese cafe ask for a melange - coffee with milk - rather than a latte. I'm told by a waiter that latte isn't a Viennese thing and they don't appreciate requests for it; the waiter will likely want to tell you to go to Italy to get one.)
Das Moebel, Burggasse 10, 1060 Vienna, coffee from €1.90; www.dasmoebel.at. Cafe Central, corner Herrengasse/Strauchgasse, 1010 Vienna, piano player performs daily 5pm-10pm, coffee from €2.60; www.palaisevents.at/cafecentral.
7pm
At Figlmueller (a famous schnitzel house in business since 1905) they beat the schnitzels with a mallet until the diameter is 34 centimetres. As mine is brought to the table by another surly waiter in a tuxedo, I see it is bigger than the plate, a cause for mirth and camera clicking.
Service is quick and there's no beer, only wine. Stick to your precise booking time; we are turned away when we arrive early.
Close to Figlmueller, at Stephansplatz in the geographic centre of Vienna, is Stephansdom (St Stephens Cathedral), an impressive gothic cathedral that is one of the most visited tourist sites in Vienna. Locals affectionately call it Steffl and the main tower is 136 metres tall.
Figlmueller, Wollzeile 5 and Baeckerstrasse 6, schnitzel €12.90, see www.figlmueller.at. Stephansdom, see www.stephanskirche.at.
9pm
After overdoing the schnitzel, bratwurst and sachertorte, a good lie down beckons. Vienna does, however, have appealing nightlife for anyone able to press on.
The hottest night spots are Loos American Bar, open until 5am (www.loosbar.at); First Floor, a hidden-away cocktail bar on the second floor at Seitenstettengasse 5, Ecke Rabensteig; Volksgarten Club Disco (www.volksgarten.at); and the new Sass Music Club where electronic music rules (www.wien.info/en/lifestyle-scene/nightlife/young-and-wild/sass).
Robert Upe travelled courtesy of the Austrian National Tourist Office.
Emirates flies to Vienna for about $1870: to Dubai (14hr), then Vienna (6hr). Fare is low-season return from Sydney and Melbourne, including tax.
The City Airport Train (CAT) provides a 16-minute connection between the airport and Wien-Mitte railway station in the city centre (€16 return).
Luggage check-in and boarding passes are issued at the train station for some airlines. See www.cityairporttrain.com.
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