Tour Features

Itinerary

• 1st stop

  Vienna State Opera

  We meet in front of the Vienna State Opera, the theater that has shaped the musical life of the city since the nineteenth century. It is the right place to introduce Vienna, its composers, and the role music plays in daily life here, before we set off through the streets of the historic center at an easy pace.

• 2nd stop

  Albertina and Albertinaplatz

  A few steps from the Opera we reach the Albertina and Albertinaplatz, where the palace, its balustrade, and the terrace above the entrance give us a view back over the Opera and the streets around it. We stop here to look at the proportions of the square and at the passage between the old city and the monuments.

• 3rd stop

  Burggarten

  We cross into the Burggarten, the imperial garden beside the Hofburg, where the lawns and the paths open a quieter chapter of the visit. Next to the garden stands the Mozart monument, and we stop there to talk about the composer and the city that adopted him, with the green of the park around us.

• 4th stop

  Hofburg and Heldenplatz

  The heart of imperial Vienna is the Hofburg and Heldenplatz, the monumental square that opens in front of the palace. We walk its edge and talk about the Habsburgs, their court, and the long chapter of Vienna's history that they shaped, with particular attention to the reign of Franz Joseph and Elizabeth, known as Sisi.

• 5th stop

  Michaelerplatz

  We reach Michaelerplatz, one of the most beautiful corners of the center, where the monumental entrance of the Hofburg faces the street. Below street level, the excavations of the Roman settlement remain visible, and we stop between the two to read the layers of the city, from the imperial palace to the ancient camp.

• 6th stop

  Kohlmarkt

  We continue along Kohlmarkt, the elegant historic street of the center, with its shop windows and its old facades. We pass in front of Demel, the pastry shop that has been part of the street for generations, and follow the curve of the street toward the Graben, at an easy pace and with time to look around.

• 7th stop

  Graben and the Plague Column

  On the Graben we walk one of the most theatrical stretches of Vienna, between baroque facades and the line of the street. In the middle stands the Plague Column, and we stop to look at its sculptures and the story it tells about the city and the epidemics of the seventeenth century, in the heart of the old center.

• 8th stop

  Stephansplatz and St. Stephen's Cathedral

  We close the tour at Stephansplatz, in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the symbol of Vienna, with its Gothic towers and its roof of colored tiles. We take our time on the square to look at the details of the facade and the roof, and to talk over the walk before saying goodbye in the middle of the old city.

Tour Details