Vienna is a classic short-break destination with the added appeal of being voted the city with the best quality of life in the world. Home to opulent palaces, a glorious musical and artistic heritage and convivial coffee houses, it has won the accolade for the past two years.
Among the attractions contributing to the Austrian capital’s charm are its vibrant markets, particularly its Easter markets, which add a burst of dazzling colour. Stalls brim with intricately painted Easter eggs and other symbols of the season created in decorated marzipan and chocolate.
The best-known Easter market begins on Saturday in front of the bright yellow Schönbrunn Palace, the Baroque seat of the Habsburgs, itself looking like a giant marzipan cake. More than 40 stallholders also sell Easter decorations and speciality foods such as Osterpinze buns. Workshops for making marzipan bunnies and crafts add to the fun and the Children’s Museum at the palace runs Easter egg hunts for the little ones.
Other Easter markets can be found in Freyung Square in the Old City, where a mountain of about 40,000 painted eggs is created, and at Am Hof,where the focus is on arts and crafts. Both markets will operate from Friday. At the Kalvarienberg market, which is already under way, a carousel, ship swings and pony rides complete the merry scene. All the markets run until Easter Monday.
If shopping is more to your taste, the Naschmarkt at Wienzeile is well worth a visit. The historic street market, open every day except Sunday, includes charming wooden shop-like stalls selling fresh produce to rival the finest of Borough Market in London.
Advertisement
On Saturday mornings, if you can resist the enticing aromas wafting from the food stalls, you will come across the open-air flea market stretching along the Weinzeile. For anyone who enjoys a spirited haggle at a car boot sale, this is heaven. Wooden tables are laden with paintings, trinkets, jewellery and design pieces. The quality of the wares is excellent and they are surprisingly inexpensive. Overlooking this bustling scene are highly ornamented Art Nouveau buildings.
Just off the Naschmarkt is the bohemian Freihaus quarter with trendy fashion boutiques, including Flo Vintage, which has a client list including Kate Moss, Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs. Despite its high-fashion endorsement, the welcome is friendly and prices for a Sixties miniskirt or a natty waistcoat start at about €50 (£44). Even if you waltz out of Flo in a pair of killer heels, you could still complete a shopping expedition on foot in this very compact city. About half of it is covered with green spaces and it is the only city in Europe that has significant vineyards within its boundaries. There are also several mountain spas just a Viennese whirl away.
The elegant city’s renowned coffee houses provide a pleasant haven when you need to rest your feet. Regulars colonise seats for anything up to two hours, reading the paper or chatting with friends, while old-school bow-tied waiters look on benignly. Meals in the €8 to €12 range can be ordered all day. Tap water is piped to the city from a mountain spring and tastes excellent.
Among the cooler coffee houses are Café Prückel, with its 1950s interior, and the trendy Café Drechsler, open 23 hours a day, with DJs spinning records. Its interior was redesigned by Sir Terence Conran.
This year marks the centenary of the death of Gustav Mahler and tickets for concerts showcasing his music at beautiful venues around the city can be had for as little as €11. Art and architecture born out of the Vienna Secession at the turn of the last century also offer much to admire. An exhibition by Egon Shiele, who was associated with the artistic movement, is showing at the Belvedere Palace until June 13.
Advertisement
Directline-Holidays is offering two nights’ B&B at the three-star Mozart Vienna Hotel for £353 a person with flights from Gatwick on April 12. Depart on Good Friday and two nights’ B&B at the four-star contemporary Roomz Vienna Hotel cost £455 a person, also flying from Gatwick.
Corona Holidays has three nights’ B&B at the four-star Hotel Favorita, five minutes from St Stephen’s Square, for £358 a person, flying from Gatwick on April 16 or 23. The five-star Ring Hotel on the Kaerntner Ring costs from €275 a night for B&B in a single room and €325 for a double.
Bmi operates five flights a day from Heathrow starting at £99 return.
www.directline-citybreaks.co.uk — 020-8239 3399
Advertisement
coronaholidays.co.uk — 01582 390939
theringhotel.com — 0043 122 122
www.flybmi.com — 0844 8484888