Food Tour › Taste of Vienna

Food Tour in Vienna

The culinary tour starts in the centre of Vienna and leads in an arc around Vienna, coming full circle back to the centre of Vienna towards the end.

Details of the private Vienna Culinary Tour

What is included in the private, guided culinary tour of Vienna?

Pick-up in Vienna by car

Guided tour of Vienna by car to some of the best places for typical Viennese cuisine and wine.

At the beginning of the private culinary tour there are cold appetisers, e.g. in the form of delicious spread rolls with a Pfiff beer. The main courses are Wiener Schnitzel and Tafelspitz (boiled beef) in a beautiful ambience that is mainly frequented by locals.

Dessert is served in a typical Viennese coffee house or a typical Viennese patisserie. The tour ends with a visit to a Viennese winery and a tasting of Viennese wines.

What can you expect on the guided Vienna Culinary Tour?

This guided culinary tour takes you in an arc around Vienna, from the Graben to the Vienna Woods and Pater and back to the city centre.
You will stop at typical Viennese restaurants, where you will have the opportunity to taste the flavours of classic Viennese cuisine. You will also get to know Viennese pastry cuisine and traditional Viennese coffee houses.
A visit to a winery with a tasting of Viennese wine and a long-established ice cream parlour round off the culinary tour through Vienna.

Arrival and return journey to the guided Vienna Culinary Tour

Travel details
We pick up guests from all Viennese accommodation, from railway stations and from Danube cruise ships that dock in Vienna.
If the hotel or the landing stage cannot be reached by car, we will pick you up from a nearby location that is within walking distance.
Details of the return journey

Accessibility

The Vienna Culinary Tour is not wheelchair accessible.

Booking

Bookings for the private Vienna Culinary Tour can be made by telephone on +43 680 301 7720 or by email to office@fasten-tour.com.
Bookings are confirmed after a deposit of 150 € has been transferred to our PayPal business account under the link PayPal.Me/tasteofvienna.
The balance is due at the end of the tour and can be paid in cash or by card.
This tour is a private tour for 2 or 4 people.
2 people per booking are required.
The minimum age is 16 years.
Pick up is between 11.00 and 12.00.
Exact pick-up times will be arranged at the time of booking.
Most travellers can take part.
Duration approx. 4 – 5 hours. The exact duration including pick-up and return journey may vary.

How much does the Vienna Culinary Tour cost?

- The private Vienna Culinary Tour for 2 people costs € 1,095.00 and € 1,220.00 for 4 people.
- After transferring a deposit of € 150 to our PayPal business account under the link PayPal.Me/tasteofvienna to confirm the booking, the remaining amount is due at the end of the Vienna Culinary Tour and can be paid in cash or by card.

Cancellation conditions

Cancellation is possible free of charge up to 24 hours before the start of the Vienna Culinary Tour.

Help

If you have any questions about the Vienna Culinary Tour, just give us a call. The telephone number is +43 680 301 7720 and you will speak directly to Mr Schlappack, the organiser of the Vienna Culinary Tour.

Possible stops on the private Vienna Culinary Tour

Graben

As the central starting point of a culinary tour of Vienna, the Graben stretches from Stephansplatz at the beginning of Kärntner Straße in a north-westerly direction to the Kohlmarkt-Tuchlauben crossroads. Narrow historic alleyways branch off from the Graben, such as Dorotheergasse, which is named after the Dorotheerkloster monastery that was located in Dorotheergasse. The Brötchen Buffet Trzesniewski is located in Dorotheergasse 1.

Trzesniewski

In the warmer months, people, locals and tourists alike, stand on the street in front of the pub in Dorotheergasse at the bar tables of the Trzesniewski Brötchen Bar nestled against the wall and eat their sandwiches with a small glas of beer.

Trzesniewski“ was founded in 1902 by Cracow-born Franciszek Trzesniewski. The special thing about Trzesniewski’s bread rolls is that the toppings, such as tomatoes, eggs, lentils, matjes and beetroot, are chopped into spreads and the coated bread is cut into small strips. This makes it easy to eat without cutlery, just with your hands.

The bread rolls from Trzesnieswki were accompanied by a legendary „Pfiff“ beer. In this case, a Pfiff is just an eighth of a litre of beer. The beer at Trzesnieswki, which is always freshly tapped and goes perfectly with the rolls, comes from the Ottakringer brewery. The Ottakring brewery has been an Austrian-owned brewery in Ottakring, Vienna’s 16th district, since 1837.

St Stephen's Cathedral

From Trzesniewski in Dorotheergasse, it is only a few steps out onto the Graben, from where you have a beautiful view of the south tower of St Stephen’s Cathedral and the neighbouring Weltkugelhaus. St Stephen’s Cathedral was donated by Duke Rudolf IV in 1359. The Weltkugelhaus was built in 1897, restored after the Second World War and renovated in 1975.

The Graben in Vienna is the filled-in trench of the Roman military camp. In the Middle Ages, the Graben was a market square and at the end of the Middle Ages, elegant town houses were built. In 1679, Emperor Leopold I donated the baroque Trinity Column after the plague epidemic. Subsequently, high secular and religious festivities were held on the Graben. In the 18th century, upmarket businesses settled on the Graben and it became a rendezvous and promenade for Viennese society.

From Graben, it is only a few steps towards Am Hof and you are already at the „Schwarzes Kameel“ in Bognergasse, which takes its name from the bailiffs who lived near the Babenberg ducal court. The bogners supplied the Babenberg armies with bows and crossbows for shooting arrows.

Zum Schwarzen Kameel

There were originally two buildings at Bognergasse 5, both of which were owned by bogners who supplied the Babenbergs and Habsburgs with bows and crossbows for shooting arrows. In 1539, both houses were built into one, which was purchased by Johann Baptist Cameel from Brno in 1619 to set up a spice shop, which he called „Zum schwarzen Kameel“.

Art Nouveau, an artistic movement at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is a counter-movement to historicism with the inclusion of concrete and iron. Viennese architects such as Joseph Maria Olbrich, Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos constructed buildings with ornamentation such as the Secession and the Postal Savings Bank and the Looshaus, where ornamentation was replaced by high-quality materials such as the interior of the „Schwarzes Kameel“, which was also designed by Adolf Loos.

In addition to bar tables, there is a long bar with stools in front of the wine rack. The wine rack contains wines from well-known Austrian winegrowers from the Wachau valley, such as Emmerich Knoll, FX Pichler, Franz Hirtzberger and from the Kamptal, such as Schloß Gobelsburg.

The snack bar in the Schwarzes Kameel’s „Schwemme“ is legendary. On the counter you will find sandwiches such as leek with salmon, red cabbage with tuna, lentils with diced ham, salmon cream with horseradish, housewife’s salad with matjes and the classic leg ham sandwiches with horseradish. Viennese ham is derived from Prague ham, which is cured on the bone, lightly smoked and then cooked. It has a pink colour, a slightly salty taste and is particularly juicy. Leg ham is served with grated horseradish and brown bread.

In addition to the rolls, Wiener Schnitzel is also available as finger food at the Schwarzes Kameel. Two pieces of schnitzel are cut into small squares and served on a plate with small wooden forks. They are served with a lemon and, on request, cranberries, a popular side dish for Wiener Schnitzel in Austria.

Gasthof zum Renner

The Gasthof Zum Renner has been a classic Viennese inn in the north-west of Vienna, on Nußdorfer Platz in Vienna Döbling, since 1899. Nußdorfer Platz is located at the end of Greinergasse and is separated from the Danube by Heiligenstädterstrasse, which was already the link to Klosterneuburg in Roman times.

In the Middle Ages, beef was one of the most important foodstuffs for the Viennese population, whereas in the countryside people lived mainly from flour and fat products. Beef was plentiful in Vienna thanks to cattle and fattened oxen from Hungary.

Boiled beef is an original Viennese speciality. In the first half of the 19th century, boiled beef was already a standard dish in the imperial court kitchen. Boiled beef was served daily with a variety of side dishes. Emperor Franz Joseph was satisfied with simple fare such as boiled beef with side dishes for the private court table.

Starting at the imperial court, the rather simple dish found its way into middle-class homes via servants. The Viennese citizens imitated the Emperor’s eating habits, as they liked to model their meals on those of the court, and Tafelspitz became the norm for upper-class dining.

Tafelspitz

Tafelspitz, one of the most famous dishes in Viennese cuisine, is made from a fine-fibred, well-hung piece of beef from the leg, the rear part of a young ox, or more precisely from the flat end of the rump, which tapers towards the tail. Tafelspitz owes its name to the typical triangular shape of the piece of meat used for the dish, which is wider at the front and thinner towards the tail. Carving beef in the Viennese style was considered a true art.

Ready-prepared boiled beef is cut into slices and served with chive sauce, bread and or apple horseradish, vegetables and roast potatoes in the beef soup, which can then be enjoyed with the boiled beef with fritters as a soup garnish.

Preparation of the boiled beef

Boil the boiled beef, bones and peppercorns in water. Before the end of cooking, add the roots, leek, lovage and fried onion. Remove the cooked meat from the soup, season the soup and strain through a fine sieve. Slice the boiled beef, season with salt and sprinkle with chopped chives. Serve the boiled beef with chive sauce, bread and or apple horseradish, vegetables and roasted potatoes.

Organic Winery Obermann

The wine tavern of the Obermann organic winery, now in its 5th generation, is located in Cobenzlgasse in Grinzing. In addition to traditional home-made dishes, such as roast pork, the Obermann organic winery also serves Viennese wine, for example Wiener Gemischter Satz from the Sommeregg vineyard in Grinzing. The Sommeregg vineyard is a steep hillside site that mainly faces south-east. The soil consists of limestone and calcareous sandstone.

Grinzing

Grinzing, situated in the north-west of Vienna at the foot of the Kahlenberg, was already a flourishing village at the beginning of the 12th century, which in the Middle Ages was mainly inhabited by winegrowers and day labourers who were in the service of the monasteries. During the reign of Emperor Joseph II, „wine journeys“ to the surroundings of Vienna became common. After the Napoleonic Wars, Grinzing developed into a „wine tavern town“ where wine was served in numerous wine taverns.

Café Rondell on Cobenzl

The Cobenzl on the Reisenberg, a local Viennese mountain on the edge of the Vienna Woods, originally belonged to the Jesuits. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order, the mountain passed to Johann Philipp Count Cobenzl and under Mayor Karl Lueger, the property was purchased by the municipality of Vienna in 1907. The city of Vienna subsequently built a mountain and viewing road starting from Grinzing with hairpin bends on the Cobenzl, which was also used by buses, so that in the 1930s the Cobenzl reached its heyday as an excursion destination.

The legendary Rondell Café, a rounded building on the Cobenzl directly on Vienna’s Höhenstraße, which was designed in the early 1950s by Anton Potyka, a sought-after coffee house architect, with wood panelling, terrazzo floors, a mid-century bar in the middle and a beautiful view of Vienna, was demolished and rebuilt larger, higher and more solidly in 2022, with metal-supported glass elements along the entire height, so that you can also enjoy the view of Vienna from inside the café in the colder months of the year.

On the roof of the new Cafe Rondell there is a publicly accessible viewing terrace from which you have a spectacular view over Vienna. The northern part of the city to the left of the Danube stands out with the skyscrapers of Donau City.

From Cobenzl, the route continues on the outskirts of the city along the scenic, winding mountain road through the Vienna Woods to Sievering, one of Vienna’s most important wine villages in the narrow, cool valley of the Arbesbach stream, which rises in the Vienna Woods.

Restaurant Eckel

The Eckel restaurant in Sievering has a beautiful, shady gravelled garden with old trees in the inner courtyard.

Restaurant Eckel has been located in Sievering, where Vienna merges into the countryside, since 1952. Christine Mueller-Zarl is the fourth generation of the family to run the restaurant, which serves traditional Viennese cuisine and is the perfect address for anyone who wants to enjoy a perfectly prepared Wiener Schnitzel, the classic of Viennese cuisine.

How is a Wiener schnitzel perfectly prepared?

Preparing a Wiener schnitzel to perfection is very simple. Flatten a piece of veal cutlet with a mallet, season with a pinch of salt, dredge in wheat flour, egg and breadcrumbs, fry in hot fat in a pan until golden brown and serve with a lemon wedge and a mixed salad.

Plachutta

Professor Ewald Plachutta is the chef who ushered in a renaissance of traditional Viennese beef cuisine in the 1990s. The Plachutta Stammhaus Hietzing at Auhofstraße 1 emerged in 1987 from the „Ottakringer Bräu“ restaurant, which had specialised in preparing beef since the 1970s.

Beef was already a relatively cheap foodstuff in Vienna in the late Middle Ages due to the abundant supply from the Hungarian lowlands. The oxen from Hungary were offered for sale on a large square on the banks of the Vienna River in front of the Stubentor. However, it was not until around the middle of the 19th century that Viennese beef cuisine began to flourish, although beef soup with various garnishes, such as fritters or liver dumplings, had long been served as an appetiser.

Beef soup was very popular because the Viennese had a preference for soups made from ox meat. Beef soup was eaten at court at the aristocratic table and at the table of the bourgeoisie. At the beginning of the 19th century, an increasing number of different soup ingredients were added to Viennese cuisine. For example, semolina dumplings, baked peas, cream puffs, potato dumplings, meat dumplings and liver dumplings.

However, beef soup has gradually lost ground in Viennese cuisine. Its decline began in the interwar period. The effort and cost no longer seemed worthwhile. Soup packets and soup cubes became available. Beef soup also largely lost its status as the start of a meal in Vienna.

The Viennese butchers were also very skilful at trimming cuts of meat to make them best suited for a particular type of preparation. In addition to boiled beef and roast lung, Viennese roast beef is a well-known and popular dish. Due to the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Vienna’s plentiful supply of beef from the Hungarian Plain came to a standstill and it was not until long after the Second World War that a chef such as Professor Ewald Plachutta returned to Viennese beef cuisine.

After a visit to Plachutta in Hietzing, we recommend a short digestive walk in the nearby Schönbrunn Palace Park before continuing at Cafe Dommayer with Kaiserschmarren and Topfenstrudel. On the way to Schönbrunn Palace Park, we pass the square by the Hietzing church in Hietzing.

Hietzing Church

Hietzing Church was a pilgrimage church and the favourite church of Maria Theresa, who visited Hietzing Church every day during her stays at Schönbrunn Palace. The Hietzing church originated from a chapel of Klosterneuburg Abbey, which was rebuilt in Gothic style in the 15th century and remodelled in Baroque style in the 17th century. The Hietzing church attracted many pilgrims because of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, which was preserved in 1751.

Large Palm House Schönbrunn

The Great Palm House at Schönbrunn was commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1880 and built on the site of the former botanical gardens in the late historicist style in the form of a rectangular central building with a square extension to the north and south and three domes, a palace for His Majesty’s tropical plants. The 110 metre long and 30 metre high glass house is an iron construction with double glass walls, whereby the convex and concave lines lend a certain lightness to the curved, external wrought iron construction.

In the past, subjects could only visit the Imperial Household’s plant collection on selected days. Today, the Great Palm House at Schönbrunn, the last and largest of its kind in Europe, is open all year round. The Habsburg family collected living plants for Schönbrunn on research expeditions to America, Africa and Asia, such as the screw tree from South Africa and the sago palm from India. You can also see the Australian bottle tree, which is around a hundred years old, and the equally old Canary Island dragon tree.

After the Habsburgs also collected bitter orange trees that originally came from China, there are now over 180-year-old specimens on display in the Great Palm House at Schönbrunn, the fruits of which were used in the court kitchen and in the court pharmacy. In traditional Chinese medicine, the bitter orange is valued for its bitter flavour and dried bitter orange peel is used where the effect of bitterness is indicated, for example for loss of appetite, flatulence or abdominal pain.

Schönbrunn Palace

Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence of the Habsburgs. In 1282, the Habsburgs took over the former Babenberg lands and thus also became the city rulers of Vienna, their favoured residence. The first Habsburg, Rudolf I, who became German king in 1273, challenged Přemysl Ottokar II, King of Bohemia and Duke of Austria, for Austria and Styria in 1276. In 1278, Přemysl Ottokar II was defeated by Rudolf I at the Battle of Dürnkrut and murdered immediately after the battle.

As dukes, archdukes and emperors, the Habsburgs ruled Austria until 1918, controlled Hungary and Bohemia (1526-1918) and ruled Spain and the Spanish Empire for almost two centuries (1504-06, 1516-1700). Maximilian I acquired the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Burgundy through marriage. Frederick IV, the Habsburg King of Germany, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1452 as Frederick III. The Habsburgs retained this title until 1806.

Schönbrunn Zoo

Schönbrunn Palace Park is home to Schönbrunn Zoo, the oldest existing zoo in the world. Schönbrunn Zoo was founded by the Habsburg Emperor Franz I, the husband of Maria Theresa, and laid out in 1752 in a circular shape with an octagonal Baroque centre pavilion on 17 hectares of land. Schönbrunn Zoo has been in operation at the same location without interruption ever since. 800 animals from 700 species can be seen at Schönbrunn Zoo. With more than 2 million visitors a year, Schönbrunn Zoo has been honoured several times as the best European zoo.

Schönbrunn Palace Park

Schönbrunn Palace Park, which stretches 1.2 kilometres from east to west and around 1 kilometre from north to south, was laid out in the style of a French garden around 1705/1706 by Jean Trehet, the imperial garden engineer who was apprenticed to the French garden architect Le Notre, and opened to the public around 1779. Schönbrunn Palace Park, which is open to visitors all year round from 6.30 a.m. daily, attracts around 5 million visitors a year.

Café Dommayer

Café Dommayer, which was opened by the Schneider family of café owners after the First World War, is located on the corner of Dommayergasse and Auhofstrasse on Anna-Strauss-Platz in Hietzing, Vienna’s 13th district. Seen from the city centre, Hietzing lies to the west, after Schönbrunn Palace on the southern bank of the Wien River.

Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburgs, led to the settlement of many aristocrats and high-ranking officials, so that Hietzing is still considered an elegant residential neighbourhood today. In 1984, the Gerersdorfer family had the Cafe Dommayer renovated in the old Viennese style. In 2006, the Kurkonditorei Oberlaa took over the business.

In front of the Cafe Dommayer in Auhofstraße there is a garden with wooden decking and towards Dommayergasse, adjacent to the coffee house building, there is a spacious, gravelled, shady garden with trees and a small music pavilion.

The interior of the Cafe Dommayer in Vienna’s Hietzing district is classically furnished in the old Viennese style. This includes large window fronts facing the street, stucco ceilings with low-hanging chandeliers and wall lights, mirrored walls, red plush boxes and marble tables. The armchairs in the Cafe Dommayer are so-called bentwood armchairs as they were made by Jacob & Josef Kohn and the Thonet brothers before 1900. The backrest of these armchairs consists of a bentwood frame with Viennese wickerwork, the front and rear feet of the armchairs are turned and curved. Between the armchair legs there are 3-dimensionally curved rungs, so-called bentwood frames.

Kaiserschmmarren

Kaiserschmarren, a pan-fried dish made from torn pancakes, sprinkled with icing sugar and traditionally served with stewed plums, is one of the most famous desserts in Austrian cuisine. For centuries, Schmarren was known as „poor people’s food“ until the 18th century, when it was adopted, refined and made „socially acceptable“ by the urban bourgeoisie. Schmarren was particularly popular with woodcutters because it was rich in energy and could be prepared for breakfast over an open fire in a short space of time. The Schmarren was served straight from the pan and everyone could eat it straight from the pan.

Milchrahmstrudel

Milk cream strudel, a classic of Viennese pastry cuisine, came into fashion during the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Milk cream strudel consists of hand-made strudel dough with a filling. To begin with, the filling is made from butter, icing sugar, egg yolk, curd cheese and vanilla. Then diced bread cubes and sultanas are added. Finally, fold in the beaten snow and granulated sugar. The filled strudel is baked in an ovenproof tin in the oven with a glaze consisting of milk, sugar and egg, a third of which is added at the beginning and the rest gradually during baking. The milk cream strudel is served warm with a vanilla cream sauce.

Buchteln

Buchteln are a fine pastry made from yeast dough, a classic contribution of „Bohemian cuisine“, the Bohemian cooks who served many Viennese town houses. Today, Buchteln are considered the epitome of Austrian coffee pastries, having probably been known in Vienna since the Biedermeier period (1815 to 1848). Traditionally, Buchteln are filled with Powidl (plum jam) or apricot jam and baked in the oven in a pan.

A smaller version of the Buchteln are the Dukatenbuchteln. They are cut out in the size of a ducat (a former Austrian gold coin) and then baked without a filling with jam but served with vanilla sauce instead. Vanilla sauce is a dessert sauce in which sweetened milk is flavoured with vanilla and mixed with starch, egg yolk and cream.

Zahel Winery

The Zahel winery is located in Vienna’s Mauer district, where the potential of the Wiener Gemischter Satz was recognised around 30 years ago. Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC is the oldest ‚wine variety‘ in Vienna, as in the 19th century, people favoured noble grape varieties such as Riesling, Rotgipfler, Pinot Blanc and Traminer, which were planted together with other white varieties in the vineyard and the harvested grapes were processed together in the cellar.

Winegrowers owed a regular yield to this approach, as the different flowering times of the individual grape varieties prevented a total loss of the harvest due to adverse weather conditions at flowering time. However, with the trend towards single-varietal wines, the Gemischter Satz was somewhat forgotten. However, the „WienWein“ group has once again recognised the potential of the subtle interplay of different grape varieties in the Wiener Gemischter Satz, as the combination of highly ripe grapes with the freshness and breed of grapes that are still somewhat less ripe at the time of harvest produces wines with unique aroma compositions.

Meixner

For a Wiener Schnitzel, you can also leave the city centre and take the underground to Reumanplatz, where Meixner’s restaurant is very close by.

What does Wiener Schnitzel taste like?

A Wiener schnitzel tastes primarily of the baked breading. Breading is the coating of the schnitzel meat. In Wiener schnitzel, this consists of flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Baking the schnitzel in hot fat turns this coating into a crust. If the crust is baked until browned, it has an intense flavour with many different aromas. Otherwise it tastes boring. The fine, tender veal of the Wiener schnitzel tastes juicy and provides a satisfying mouthfeel together with the intensely flavoured crust.

Why lemon with schnitzel?

Lemon juice tastes sour and fruity, so lemon juice gives a fresh flavour in the mouth when eating. With lemon, the Wiener Schnitzel tastes light and fresh, rounded, because lemon subtly enhances the flavours of the Wiener Schnitzel. The lighter flavour of lemon counterbalances the heavy flavours of the schnitzel crust. Lemon also enriches the innately mild flavour of veal.

From Meixner’s restaurant, which is located in the north-east corner of Reumannplatz, you can reach the Tichy ice cream parlour via the square on its west side.

Tichy Ice-cream Parlour

The Tichy ice cream parlour was opened in 1955 on Reumannplatz in Vienna’s Favoriten district. Before that, Kurt and Marianne Tichy had been selling ice cream with a three-wheeled trolley for 3 years. In 2021, Xenia Tichy took over the ice cream parlour in the third generation with recipes for ice cream flavours that have remained unchanged for almost 70 years.

Tichy’s ice cream is famous throughout Vienna. People used to drive to Reumannplatz to eat an ice cream from Tichy. Kurt Tichy’s ice cream became even more famous for his ice-cream dumplings, which he invented in 1967.

Ice Marrow Dumplings

At Tichy, the egg dumplings are made by machine. The ice cream dumpling made from fine vanilla cream is given a creamy apricot centre before the dumpling is rolled in roasted and lightly caramelised hazelnuts. The wording „Eismarillenknödel“ was registered by K. Tichy GmbH at the Austrian Patent Office.

If you are making ice cream dumplings by hand, you will need cream ice cream, apricot jam and grated nuts. Cut a ball out of the ice cream and cut it in half. Then take some ice cream from the centre of each half-sphere and fill it with apricot jam. Then place the ice-cream scoop halves back on top of each other and roll the ice-cream dumpling in the grated nuts.

Also in the south of Vienna, just a little further out, in Oberlaa, is the Kurkonditorei Oberlaa, which can be reached in 7 minutes from Reumannplatz on the U1 underground line.

Oberlaa Spa Confectionery

Since 1974 there has been a patisserie production in Vienna Oberlaa and the Kurkonditorei Oberlaa in the immediate neighbourhood of the Kurpark Oberlaa. The village of Oberlaa lies at the foot of the south-eastern slope of the Laaer Berg. The listed Kurpark Oberlaa was created from the site of the „Vienna International Garden Show 1974“.

In 1934, a hot sulphur spring was discovered in Oberlaa during an oil test drilling. Provisional bathing operations began in 1969 and the Vienna Oberlaa Spa Centre was opened in 1974, where people with musculoskeletal and rheumatic disorders are treated.

Therme Wien, an extensive wellness and spa centre in Oberlaa, opened in 2010. The underground line U1 takes you from Stephansplatz to Oberlaa in a quarter of an hour. After a visit to the spa, we recommend a visit to the spa confectionery. In addition to the wide range of the finest pastries, cakes and tarts, there are so-called Laakronen, filled macaroons in 19 variations, as more and more people seem to have acquired a taste for macaroons in recent years.

What is so special about macaroons?

A macaroon is a round biscuit with a flat base, the foot, and a smooth top, the crown, with a filling in between. A macaroon is a little moist so that it melts easily in the mouth.

To make a macaroon, egg whites are beaten until a stiff pastry mixture is formed. Then slowly fold in sifted, ground almonds or nuts and icing sugar until the desired consistency is achieved. Using a piping bag, pipe dots measuring approx. 3 cm in diameter from this mixture onto baking paper, flatten slightly and bake.

After baking, you can spread a dab with the desired filling and cover with a second dab. Macaroons are available in a variety of flavours, from chocolate to apricot and coffee.

From the Kurkonditorei Oberlaa, the route continues into the Prater to the Schweizerhaus.

Schweizerhaus

Budweiser beer and Bohemian cuisine since 1920.

Kolarik’s Schweizerhaus in the Prater, the cosiest pub in Vienna with a huge, shady, small-scale beer garden with a total of around 1500 seats and 80 percent regular guests, is run by the third generation of the Kolarik family from Bohemia.

The beer at the Schweizerhaus, Budweiser Budvar, has been coming from České Budějovice since 1920. It is still delivered from České Budějovice to the Swiss House in barrels today. The original Budweiser Budvar is a dark yellow, 12-grain lager beer that is tapped in three stages at a 12-metre-long tap, just like in the Czech Republic and Austria in the past, after the keg has been in the beer cellar at four degrees for at least a week. The freshly tapped, cool Budweiser beer is poured slowly, topped up after a break and finished after another break.

In addition to the beer, Vienna’s favourite beer garden with its shady chestnut trees, which create a real beer garden atmosphere, is also known for its crispy stilts. The famous Stelze is a tender, juicy, crispy piece of pork knuckle served with fresh coleslaw.

It all began in 1716 with a Swiss hut where Swiss huntsmen entertained the lords. In 1766, Emperor Joseph II opened the Prater to the public under the name „Volksprater“. In 1840, the architect Eduard van der Nüll, who also built the Vienna State Opera together with August von Sicardsburg, erected a bar building in the style of a „Swiss house“ in the centre of the Wurstelprater. Since then, the establishment has been known as the ‚Schweizerhaus‘. After the Second World War, the Schweizerhaus had to be rebuilt. This reconstruction corresponds to its present appearance.

Rösthaus Prater

From the Schweizerhaus, it’s just a few steps further along the Straße des 1. Mais, past the former pony carousel, and you’re in front of the Wiener Rösthaus. Here you can enjoy a coffee standing up after a heavy Stelze in the Schweizerhaus.

At the Wiener Rösthaus, coffee is roasted according to the original Viennese roasting method. Although green coffee contains caffeine, it tastes grassy or woody. The flavours desired when enjoying a cup of coffee are only created by roasting the coffee beans. To do this, the raw coffee beans are heated in a rotating drum to temperatures between 180 and 220 degrees Celsius. The initially green coffee beans turn brown in colour. The longer the roasting process lasts, the darker brown they become in colour. Viennese roasting is when the roasting process is stopped before the beans become too dark brown in colour.

Christ Winery

The Christ winery is located above the Danube in Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna, in the district of Großjedlersdorf. Jedlersdorf was created on an island formed by the side arms of the Danube. Until the 19th century, remnants of the side arms were recognisable as cattle drifts.

The Christ family’s organic winery in Großjedlersdorf dates back to a small farm with cattle breeding and arable farming in the 17th century. In more recent times, however, the Christ family has focussed entirely on viticulture and produces outstanding wines from the best Bisamberg vineyards, such as Pinot Blanc from the 1ÖTW Falkenberg vineyard and Wiener Gemischter Satz from the 1ÖTW Wiesthalen vineyard. A 1ÖTW site is a vineyard that produces wines that have proven to be the best representatives of their appellation over time.

The Pinot Blanc variety only delivers the highest quality in very good locations, such as the south-east facing Ried Falkenberg, situated at the top of the 358 metre high Bisamberg. The Bisamberg lies in the north of Vienna and, together with the Leopoldsberg, forms the Vienna Gate, the breakthrough of the Danube to the Vienna Basin. The Bisamberg lies between the Atlantic-influenced, Central European climate and the warm, Pannonian climate radiating in from the east with its warm late summers and autumns, which Pinot Blanc loves.

Café Sperl

In 1880, Cafe Sperl was built for Jakob Ronacher at the exit of Lehárgasse from Gumpendorfer Straße in Vienna’s Mariahilf district, the 6th district, and was taken over by the Sperl family in December 1880. To this day, it still bears the Sperl name and the atmosphere of a Viennese coffee house from the end of the 19th century.

Apple Strudel

In Austria, the casing of the apple strudel is made from a strudel dough that has been stretched out into a sheet of dough with the hands and is therefore called „ausgezogener Apfelstrudel“. The filling of the apple strudel consists of sliced, sweet and sour apples, sultanas and breadcrumbs roasted in butter and sometimes also chopped walnuts. Apple strudel tastes best when it is served fresh, warm and crispy and sprinkled with icing sugar.

Meierei im Stadtpark

The Vienna City Park, which was laid out in 1862 in an English landscape style with meadows, water features, ornamental shrubs and trees on the site of the former Wasserglacis, stretches from the Parkring in an easterly direction across the Wien River to Heumarkt.

From the 13th century onwards, Vienna was surrounded by a city wall. After the Thirty Years‘ War (1618-1648), this city wall was reinforced and a glacis, a strip of grassland, was laid out around the fortifications between the city wall and the suburbs to provide a clear field of fire for the defence of Vienna.

This glacis, known as the Wasserglacis, was already one of the most popular and most frequented promenades during the reign of Emperor Joseph II from 1765 to 1790. Emperor Joseph II had footpaths and carriageways laid out across the glacis, lanterns installed and avenue trees planted. In 1788 there was a coffee tent on the glacis where Turkish musicians played in the evenings and during the reign of Emperor Franz II (1792 to 1835) the glacis became a popular place of entertainment.

In 1810, Empress Karoline Auguste ordered a connection from the city, from Weihburggasse and Seilerstätte, to the Wasserglacis and the city wall was breached for this purpose. This breakthrough was developed into a picturesque Viennese city gate, initially called Seilerstättentor and later Karolinentor.

In 1818, the Wasserglacis was embellished with ornamental gardens and a pavilion and a Viennese citizen was authorised to build a coffee house and „drinking spa“ in the glacis area in front of the Karolin Gate. The name Wasserglacis can be traced back to this spa pavilion, where mineral water was served.

During the so-called Biedermeier or Vormärz period, the time between the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the bourgeois revolution of 1848, the Wasserglacis in front of the Karolinentor was a local recreation area for the city’s inhabitants, a favourite entertainment spot for the Viennese, who liked to have their snacks here and listen to the sounds of bands until late at night.

In 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I ordered the abandonment of the inner city wall and the construction of a boulevard in its place. After the demolition of the city wall, the Vienna City Park was laid out in 1862 on the site of the former Wasserglacis, which disappeared when the Ringstrasse zone was built. It was connected to the children’s park across the Wien River by the Karolinenbrücke, today’s Stadtparksteg, which was laid out in 1863.

The drinking hall, also located on the other side of the Wien River, with a terrace for a music band on the Wien River side, was built in 1903 by the planners of the Wien River regulation.

Small stables in the suburbs of Vienna served milk in their own public gardens. As a result, milk drinking halls were built in some of Vienna’s parks at the beginning of the 20th century. In 2004, the former milk drinking hall was remodelled because the Reithofer family wanted to relocate their gourmet restaurant „Steirereck“ to the Stadtpark. The Meierei in the Stadtpark was designed to be completely open towards the Wien River with a terrace and promenade and the old loggia was restored.

The Vienna River, with a length of 34 kilometres, has its source in the western Vienna Woods and crosses Vienna from the west. The partial arching of the Wien River ends at the beginning of the Stadtpark in the area of the Wien River Portal, which was built in 1906. The Wienflussportal is an artistically designed hemicycle complex with steps leading to the banks of the Wien. The Art Nouveau structure is flanked by two domed pavilions.

The Wien River flows through the Stadtpark in an open section with figurative and decorative sculptures on the quay walls and flows into the Danube Canal at the Urania.

Viennese fork breakfast

A fork breakfast is a mid-morning snack between breakfast and lunch, for example a parlour snack, a small goulash or simply Frankfurter sausages. After the fork breakfast was already common in London and Paris, it also became fashionable in Vienna during the so-called Vormärz, the period after the Napoleonic Wars, and was served between eleven and twelve o’clock.

Salonbeuschel

Beuschel is a classic component of the old Viennese fork breakfast. Beuschel, actually Bäuschel, is a diminutive of Bausch, which refers to the puffy texture of the lungs, as Beuschel is a ragout made from heart and lungs, usually from veal. Salonbeuschel is refined with goulash juice and a little whipped cream or sour cream. Serviette or bread dumplings are typically served with Beuschel.

Until around the 19th century, offal was a favourite dish of the lower classes. Due to its „inferior“ ingredients, Beuschel was considered too common for aristocratic tables. However, in the 19th century, Beuschel, refined with cream and goulash juice, found its way onto bourgeois and fine dining tables as „Salonbeuschel“. Colloquially, „Beuschel“ is used as a synonym for lung and other offal.

When preparing a Beuschel, the heart and lungs are cooked with roots and herbs and then cut into small strips after cooling. The Beuschel cut into small strips is then reheated in a creamy sauce containing ingredients such as onions, gherkins, capers, garlic, anchovies, flour, vinegar and spices. Salonbeuschel differs from ordinary Beuschel in that it is refined with goulash juice and a little whipped cream or sour cream before serving and is typically served with napkin or bread dumplings.

Goulash

Goulash arrived in Vienna at the beginning of the 19th century via the Pressburg region and became a classic dish at Viennese fork breakfasts. Goulash is made from diced beef with roasted onions. Goulash is seasoned with sweet paprika, caraway, marjoram, a little garlic and vinegar. The diced meat, roasted onion and spices are poured over water, steamed until soft and served with bread dumplings or napkin dumplings, or simply a crusty bread roll.

Frankfurter

Sausages have a long tradition in Vienna, as sausage was long a cheap substitute for roast meat. Apart from the Wiener Schnitzel, no other dish is as well-known internationally as the Frankfurter sausage, which was developed in Vienna and became a meal for poorer people and students. Usually served with mustard and/or horseradish and a roll, you can get frankfurters in Vienna at the numerous sausage stands.

The butcher Johann Georg Lahner, who went travelling after his apprenticeship in Frankfurt am Main, is considered the inventor of the Viennese Frankfurter sausage. He hired himself out as an oarsman on a ship on the Danube and came to Vienna in 1798, where he initially started out as a chopper. In 1804, after his master craftsman’s examination, he was able to open his own butcher’s shop with the help of a loan of 300 guilders from a wealthy countess.

Lahner also began producing Frankfurter sausages in Vienna, which were still fairly unknown in Vienna at the time. However, the rustic sausage, which was also very salty and smoky, was not recognised by Viennese society.

He subsequently developed the Frankfurter sausage further by adding beef to the pork meat commonly used in Frankfurter sausages, something he could only do in Vienna, where he was not subject to the strict Frankfurt sausage law, according to which a butcher was only allowed to offer meat from one type of animal. Lahner used sheep’s small intestine as the casing for the new Viennese Frankfurter sausages because, in Lahner’s opinion, it made such an appetising crunch when bitten into.

This refinement of the Frankfurter sausages was also necessary for the palate of the spoilt Viennese society, who loved their beef so much. Lahner called his creation „Wiener Frankfurter Würstel“ in memory of his time as a journeyman, in conjunction with the name of the place of origin of the new Frankfurter sausages. Thanks to their fluffiness, the „Wiener Frankfurter Würstel“ soon became so popular that Lahner was even able to present his speciality to Emperor Franz Josef in the Hofburg and was then allowed to serve it daily.

Emperor Franz Josef is said to have enjoyed eating Wiener Würstel for a fork breakfast, a small meal between breakfast and lunch. Because „Frankfurter sausages“ are protected as a regional speciality in Germany and can only come from the area around Frankfurt am Main, Viennese Frankfurter sausages are called Wiener sausages all over the world and only in Vienna are they called Frankfurters.

Poppy seed pasta

Poppy seed noodles are a speciality of Viennese cuisine that originated in Bohemia. Landsknechts used to make long noodles by hand with flour and water. Due to the availability of potatoes from the 17th century onwards, the flour in the noodles was largely replaced by potatoes, as this made the noodles juicier. After the noodles have steeped in gently boiling water, they are tossed in butter, rolled in sugared poppy seeds and served with plum roaster.

Ice cream parlour at Schwedenplatz

Ice cream became popular in the Viennese aristocracy in 1683 after the Second Turkish Siege. Eating ice cream was an exclusive pleasure, as sugar was expensive and the procurement of ice blocks for cooling was costly. The advent of cheaper beet sugar in the 19th century made it possible for the first Italians to roam the streets of Vienna with their „caretti“ from the end of the 19th century and bring ice cream to the masses. One of the first Italian ice cream makers in Vienna was the Molin Pradel family, who opened their first ice cream parlour in Vienna in 1887. The ice cream parlour on Schwedenplatz has existed since 1932.

From Schwedenplatz, it’s just round the corner to Rotenturmstraße, where the first branch of Eis Greissler, which opened in 2011, is located. The Bucklige Welt is a landscape characterised by gentle valleys and hills, which adjoins the Vienna Basin to the south. Andrea and Georg Blochberger have around 50 cows grazing on the green meadows of the Bucklige Welt, whose organic milk they process into ice cream.

Eis-Greissler

In 2011, the Blochbergers opened their first branch in Vienna on Rotenturmstraße, between Schwedenplatz and Stephansplatz, under the „Eis-Greissler“ brand, with a rustic look thanks to the turquoise and white chequered pattern used throughout the floor and walls, whereby the term „Greissler“ stands for a high-quality, regional product from the Bucklige Welt.

Eis Greissler offers unusual ice cream flavours such as goat’s cheese, semolina pancakes, pumpkin seed oil and Sacher cake, as well as fruit ice creams such as strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb and blackcurrant, which contain no milk and are therefore also suitable for vegans as they are made with water instead of milk.

Café de l' Europe

The Café de l’Europe was built on Stephansplatz in 1874. It was open day and night and was frequented by officers, diplomats, composers and members of the imperial family. After the Café de l’Europe burnt down in 1945, it was rebuilt in 1951 as Vienna’s first espresso bar at Graben 31.

An espresso is a type of Austrian catering establishment that is popular with people who want to drink coffee in a relatively short time. Espresso is also the name given to a coffee that is prepared using an espresso machine with a portafilter by forcing hot water through finely ground coffee at high pressure and serving it in a small, thick-walled, pre-warmed cup with a capacity of around 40 ml.

The Cafe de l’Europe serves coffee roasted the Italian way, which means that the coffee beans are dark and deep brown with an oil film on the surface due to the release of the fats contained in the coffee bean.

Café Frauenhuber

Cafe Frauenhuber was opened in 1795 on Himmelpfortgasse in Vienna. Himmelpfortgasse runs from Kärntnerstraße to Parkring. Cafe Frauenhuber is located where Rauhensteingasse meets Himmelpfortgasse.

The town house at Himmelpfortgasse 6, which was built in 1720 in the style of Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, an important representative of Austrian Baroque, was home to a traiteurie. A traiteurie was the name given to an inn in an upmarket setting, which usually also hosted high-quality musical performances. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart conducted a pastorale by Handel and played a piano concerto, while Ludwig van Beethoven performed his quintet for fortepiano with four wind instruments in this house.

Cafe Frauenhuber differs from most other typical, historic Viennese coffee houses as it is housed in a rather low room with a vaulted ceiling instead of a high hall. The furnishings are also very classic. Red plush boxes, Thonet armchairs and Thonet clothes racks, marble tables, chandeliers and a mirror on the wall.

In the Frauenhuber café, a lady is still politely addressed as „gnädige Frau“ by the waiter. The polite form of address „gnädige Frau“ dates back to the time when servants used this form of address, as gnädig meant kind, merciful, indulgent and lenient in their judgement of human actions.

Café Landtmann

The listed Café Landtmann, an institution, the most elegant coffee house, the Grand Café of Vienna, was opened by Franz Landtmann in 1873 on the ground floor of Palais Lieben-Auspitz, which was built in 1872 in the historicist style at Universitätsring 4, near the Burgtheater and City Hall.

In 1976, the Cafe Landtmann, a large, high, historically furnished room with a window front facing the Ringstraße, which radiates elegance, was taken over and restored by the Querfeld family.

People, Viennese and tourists, celebrities and ordinary people, go to the Landtmann because of the Landtmann. Some go in the morning for a croissant, others in the later morning for a sausage. Kipferl is the Viennese name for a small, long, curved pastry made from sweet dough (crumbly Kipferl) or brioche dough (Briochekipferl).

A Kipferl breakfast at Cafe Landtmann includes Landtmann’s Original Briochekipferl, which is handmade from yeast dough in the in-house patisserie and tastes wonderfully fluffy. Even in imperial times, a brioche, a fluffy and egg-rich breakfast pastry that originated in France, belonged on the breakfast table. Brioche dough contains wheat flour, salt, sugar, yeast, milk, butter and egg yolk, which gives the brioche its yellow colour.

Landtmann’s Original Mürbes Kipferl, the classic breakfast croissant, contains the same ingredients as the brioche croissant, only the egg yolk is omitted. Landtmann’s Original Butterkipferl is handmade from Danish pastry. Danish pastry is a dough that consists of 3 to 4 layers. A butter brick is worked evenly into a basic dough of flour, salt, butter, milk, yeast and egg yolk by repeatedly rolling with a rolling pin and the dough is then folded into 3 or 4 layers.

Café Prückel

In 1903, the former European racing bike champion Maxime Lurion opened a coffee house in the residential building on the corner of Stubenring and Dr Karl-Lueger-Platz in Vienna, which was designed by Jakob Gartner, who mainly built synagogues, and which was taken over by Wenzel Prückel just one year later.

Ringstraße entrance Cafe Prückel

In 1954, the architect Oswald Haerdtl completely redesigned Café Prückel from the opulent Makart style, which was characterised by great pomp, plush, heavy wall hangings, panelling and massive chandeliers, to a modern, straightforward café by removing pillars and enlarging the window openings, as it is still preserved in its original state today and is a listed building.

Interior view of Cafe Prückel

In the 1950s, organic shapes, rounded corners and clear lines characterised the appearance of furnishings. Chairs and tables have slender, straight or tapered legs, giving an airy, uncluttered impression. Bag lamps and pointed conical floor lamps light up the Cafe Prückel alongside chandeliers.

Until its renovation in August 2024, Cafe Prückel was known for its numerous, excellent homemade pastries.

Cafe Prückel pavement café

Cafe Prückel has a so-called „Schanigarten“ on the wide pavement on the side facing Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Platz, i.e. tables and chairs set up in front of the café. The blinds, which are intended to protect guests in the Schanigarten from the sun, are the original ones from the time the café was built, with their wrought-iron spiral windings.

Taste of Vienna