Vienna: an insider's guide

History seeps through Vienna’s 1st district, Innere Stadt, where baroque streets lead to Gothic showstopper St Stephen’s Cathedral. Ironically nicknamed Steffl (Little Stephen), the cathedral wows with its chevron-tiled roof and south tower (climb up 343 steps for the view).

Mozart married Constanze Weber here in 1782, and it’s just a five-minute stroll to his former home, Mozarthaus on Domgasse, where he penned The Marriage of Figaro.

The copper-domed Hofburg was the Habsburgs’ winter HQ from 1273 to 1918. Horse-drawn carriages clip-clop up to the colossal palace, where you can tour the Imperial Apartments of Empress Elisabeth, marvel at crown jewels, see Lipizzaner stallions dance at the Spanish Riding School, and hear the angelic voices of the Vienna Boys’ Choir at 9.15am Sunday Mass.

Right opposite is Demel, 18th-century purveyor of confectionery and cakes to the imperial court. The chandelier-lit café serves Vienna’s finest, flakiest strudel.

Few Habsburg palaces are lovelier than Schloss Belvedere, with fountain-ribboned gardens, dress-circle skyline views and a 24-painting Klimt collection, including The Kiss (1908).

But don’t stop there. West of the centre, 1,441-room Schloss Schönbrunn is a rococo riot, with folly-strewn gardens to explore. In 1762, six-year-old Mozart first performed for enraptured Empress Maria Theresa in the sumptuous Hall of Mirrors. Book tickets online and skip the queues.

Make time for a gallery hop. Top billing goes to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, presenting a spectacular romp through Renaissance and Old Masters, from Botticelli to Van Dyck, in a vast neoclassical palace.

Don’t miss the Leopold Museum, with the world’s biggest Egon Schiele collection, and the modern art museum, mumok, straying into more experimental, contemporary waters with works by Picasso, Paul Klee and Warhol.

For a less touristy feel, go beyond the rumbling trams on the monumental Ringstrasse boulevard to neighbourhoods such as Leopoldstadt in the 2nd district. Here the Prater (twice as big as Central Park) is wonderful for a wander as the chestnut trees come into bud in spring or turn gold and copper with the autumn.

Ride the Riesenrad Ferris Wheel, which starred in the 1949 film The Third Man.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony: celebrate with tickets for a performance of the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein.

Where to eat and drink

For the Viennese, every day usually features a visit to a Kaffeehäuser (coffee house). The poshest of the lot is Café Central in an Italianate palazzo. Trotsky, Freud and poet Peter Altenberg played chess and procrastinated over coffee and Altenbergtorte here.

For faded art nouveau grandeur, droll waiters and classic Tafelspitz (boiled beef with horseradish), swing across to Café Sperl. In a rustic, wood-panelled Beisl (tavern), Figlmüller Wollzeile has been turning out Vienna’s best schnitzels since 1905, as big as boots and cooked to crunchy golden perfection.

 For a special occasion book the two-Michelin-starred Steirereck am Stadtpark, where Heinz Reitbauer cooks with precision and panache. Dishes such as pike-perch with spinach, gooseberries and fava beans look simple on paper and taste anything but.

A quick U-Bahn or tram hop from the centre, vineyards spill down to the Danube. Try Most (fresh grape juice), Sturm (fizzy, semi-fermented wine) and elegant Riesling and Grüner Veltliner whites at a Heuriger (wine tavern); favourites are Wieninger, Edlmoser and Mayer am Pfarrplatz, where Beethoven stayed in 1817 to write his Ninth Symphony.

As dusk falls, glass-walled Das Loft on the 18th floor of SO/ Vienna pairs creative cocktails with riveting views of the skyline.