One of the most beautiful Baroque complexes in Europe, Schönbrunn Palace was once the summer home of the royal Habsburgs. Today it’s one of the top Vienna attractions that invites you to discover how some of the richest and most esteemed people lived centuries ago. Up to 40 rooms that played host to the likes of President Kennedy, Napoleon, and Mozart are available to view. They’ve been kept in pristine condition just like they were back in the day.

The Bergl Rooms are worth seeing. With their magnificent murals, which took roughly nine years to complete, they are on the ground floor and are truly amazing! The Schönbrunn Palace Gardens are free to explore if you're strapped for cash. These gardens are a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site and are incredibly beautiful no matter what time of year you visit. They make a great location for a peaceful stroll. You can see almost a mile of tree-lined avenues, landscaped flowerbeds, fake ruins, and bubbling fountains by strolling past the lawns. Even a few red squirrels might be visible if you're lucky!

When Vienna sightseeing gets to be too much for you, let loose at the Prater Amusement Park. Guaranteed to bring back nostalgia, this traditional theme park is home to classic fairground-style rides, such as a ghost train, bumper cars, and a pirate ship. To make sure you don’t get bored, the park has introduced a handful of new, more modern rides over the past few years, too, including a 5D cinema, catapult-style rollercoaster, and indoor rollercoaster.

The enormous Ferris wheel, one of Vienna's most recognizable monuments, can be found here. The Ferris wheel, which is more than 200 feet tall, offers breathtaking vistas of the entire city as well as the Danube River. You can hire one of the cabins exclusively for yourself if you're celebrating a special event and use it for a cocktail party, a candlelit meal, or even a wedding! It's a good thing that the Prater Amusement Park has so many meal options because riding rollercoasters can be exhausting labor. Numerous eateries, beer gardens, and food stands can be found here, serving everything from burgers and spaghetti to Vienna sausage and German beer.

Stephansdom (known as St. Stephen’s Cathedral in English) is one of the most spectacular pieces of architecture in all of Vienna. Construction of the Gothic tower began in the 12th century, and today the massive structure is 112 feet wide and 350 feet tall. The monument is also home to the Pummerin – the second-largest free-swinging chimed church bell in Europe.

The roof is one of the most amazing things about St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It boasts 230,000 glazed tiles carefully placed to form all kinds of shapes and patterns. On the south side, you can see a double-headed eagle, and on the north side, you can see two eagles carrying coats of arms that represent the City of Vienna and the Republic of Austria. The outside of St. Stephen’s Cathedral is so beautiful that you don’t even have to step inside if you don’t feel like it. But if you do, you’ll be greeted with impressive altars and side chapels, relics decorated with precious stones, and sarcophagi where several important people were laid to rest. For the change in your pocket, you can climb to the top of the tower and check out the fantastic city views.

Participating in the Wiener Festwochen is one of the nicest things to do in Vienna at the beginning of the summer. This yearly occasion, also known as the Vienna Festival, spans several weeks in May and June and gives the city a completely new lease on life.

Throughout the festival, more than 30 various activities are held, ranging from musical performances and theatrical productions to exciting parades and dance recitals. The Vienna Festival is one of the largest and best multicultural events of the year since it features not only a large number of outstanding local performers but also extraordinarily gifted individuals from all over the world. There are various showings and events happening throughout day and night, so you can easily fit everything in. The program changes every year, so you’ll need to check for the latest version to see what’s happening on your dates. While you need to buy tickets to see most performances, a handful of them are totally free to enjoy.

On a rainy day, one of the best things to do in Vienna is to embrace your artistic side at Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. This beautiful gallery, which now houses the city's museum of art history, was first intended to exhibit the enormous collections of the imperial family. It is now regarded as one of the world's most prestigious art galleries and is accessible to the public. Here, you may view numerous well-known pieces that you've undoubtedly previously heard of, including Vermeer's The Art of Painting, Velazquez's Infanta paintings, and Raphael's Madonna in the Meadow. Additionally, there are numerous works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Tintoretto, and Titian. Don't miss the Near Eastern and Egyptian collections because they are filled with glitzy artifacts from centuries ago.

Another highlight of the museum is the Kunstkammer Vienna (Chamber of Art and Wonders), where you’ll find valuable pieces that the Habsburgs once owned. It contains some of the most precious pieces of artwork from the Baroque era, Renaissance, and Middle Ages.

Trying a genuine wiener schnitzel is one of the top things to do in Vienna! This classic dish is simple but delicious. A delicate piece of veal is hammered flat, covered in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried until perfectly crispy and golden brown. For a true Viennese experience, enjoy your wiener schnitzel with a side of Austrian potato salad. If you’d rather avoid veal, you can still enjoy wiener schnitzel. Most restaurants serve at least the original veal version and one alternative – often pork, but sometimes beef or chicken. You’ll struggle to find a vegetarian or vegan option, but it’s not impossible!

For regular wiener schnitzel, you can try Schnitzelwirt. They dish up huge schnitzels, which are literally larger than the plate they’re served on. They also come in tons of varieties, including a super delicious one stuffed with ham and cheese. For vegetarian and vegan options, check out Landia. This restaurant dishes up two types of meat-free schnitzel – one made with celery root and one with seitan.

Also called the Imperial Palace, the Hofburg Palace is so large it’s considered to be a city within a city. Spanning 59 acres, the grand palace includes 18 building collections, 19 courtyards, and 2,600 individual rooms. With so much to explore, you can easily spend a whole day here! The Hofburg Palace was originally the seat and residence of the Habsburg emperors, but it has since been transformed into a spectacular tourist attraction home to various art museums and the Spanish Riding School. There are three primary areas to explore: the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum, and the Silver Collection.

Here, you can tour some of the most prominent Viennese people's mansions, many of which haven't changed much in hundreds of years. The Sisi Museum, which is devoted to Empress Elisabeth (also known as Sisi), houses 300 individual objects that let you experience what it was like to be an aristocracy in the 19th century. Finally, you can view more than 7,000 distinctive treasures in the Silver Collection. Watch out for the magnificent array of ruby services that were utilized to provide service to up to 140 guests at formal gatherings.

Since the 16th century, Naschmarkt, the most well-known market in Vienna, has been booming. These busy streets are a great place to find seasonal, fresh ingredients as well as tasty freebies to munch on the way. Beginning with modest milk bottles, Naschmarkt has evolved into a fascinating market where you can find practically any form of Austrian food you can imagine. Here, you may find anything from farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, oven-warm bread, and mouthwatering baked products to vibrant bouquets of flowers, locally produced white wine, and some of the greatest coffee you'll ever taste.

In addition to local classics, the 120 stalls that make up Naschmarkt also provide ingredients from around the world. Treat yourself to everything from pasta from Rome to spices from Delhi. If the free samples you pick up along the way simply aren’t cutting it, you’ll find many cafes and restaurants dotted throughout the market where you can pause and enjoy something a bit more filling.

With so many attractions in such a small area, exploring the MuseumsQuartier is one of the best-do things in Vienna. As the name suggests, this neighborhood is best known for its many museums. The famous Leopold Museum, where you’ll find pieces from Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, and the Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna (MUMOK), home to 10,000 contemporary and modern pieces, are two of the most popular.

But art galleries aren’t the only thing MuseumsQuartier has to offer. Here you’ll also find the family-friendly Zoom Kindermuseum, Libelle viewing platform, and the frei_raum Q21 exhibition space. As an added bonus, this area hosts various events throughout the year, including the fantastic Wiener Festwochen. Even if you’re not in the mood to go anywhere, the MuseumsQuartier is an amazing place to wander. There are countless hidden passageways with art displays decorating the walls, as well as cafes, kiosks, bars, and restaurants where you can take a break.

At the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, you can see the world-famous Lipizzan horses perform the Ballet of the White Stallions. After years of training and incredible trust between each boisterous stallion and its trainer, the dazzling Lipizzans are ready to put on a show.

The gala performances are the most prominent occasions presented at the Spanish Riding School. However, because tickets can quickly sell out months in advance, it can be very difficult to see these. Fortunately, there are a number of different methods to see the horses perform. Purchasing a ticket for a Lipizzaner Special Vienna, which is comparable to a miniature gala performance, is the second-best option. In a brief presentation, you'll get to see the horses and their trainers display their greatest abilities. You may also purchase a ticket to a training session to see the horses hone their abilities as classical Viennese music plays.