By: CHRIS GRAEME
IF YOU are on a diet and you do not like classical music or history, then don’t go to Vienna.
One of the jewels in the central European crown along with Prague, Budapest and Salzburg, this living testament in stone to 900 years of imperial grandeur has to be one of the most inspiring cities in Europe.
It is neither funky and modern like Berlin nor is it glamorous and elegant like Paris. It is grand with a capital G and smells of affluence, and of course scintillating smells of pastries and cakes are found at each and every turn.
Vienna has a reputation for being expensive but if booked well in advance, flights can be competitive, from as little as 180 euros with KLM via Amsterdam, Iberia via Madrid or BA via London.
Booking cosy three-star hotels beforehand on the internet will also work out cheaper with rooms from as little as 35 euros per night.
Once you arrive at Vienna’s international airport, go to the tourist information kiosk and get a three-day travel card, which costs between 17 and 22 euros. This card gets you into the main museums with a 10 to 15 per cent discount.
Majestic
If you’re doing a four-day city break tour, then a suggested itinerary might be to spend the first day doing an all-day hop on hop off bus tour (24 euros), which will take you around the Ringstrasse with its splendid and majestic mid and late 19th Century official buildings of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This way you’ll see the Hofburg Palace complex (Metro: Stephansplatz – red line U1), which is huge and includes the private apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph II and Empress Elizabeth (Sissi), the Crown Jewels and the Spanish Lipizzaner Riding School with their prancing, dancing white horses.
You’ll also see the Burgtheater, Volkstheater, Volkgarten gardens, Rathaus (city hall) and, of course, the classical
 The Crown Jewels can be seen at Hofburg Palace |  |
Corinthian parliament building. Don’t miss the Votivkirche church, built after the 1853 assassination attempt on the Emperor Franz Joseph’s life, or the bijou Maria Teresa Square, with its natural history museum.
Day two could be divided into art in the morning and palaces in the afternoon with a visit to see the wonderful De Stijl Gustav Klimt paintings at the Belvedere Palace (10 euros). The gallery on the second floor houses the famous Kiss painting, where you have to decide if the girl is in raptures in the arms of her seducer or dying to get away! There are also paintings by Van Gogh, Ferdinand Georg, Waldmuller and Richard Gerstlentre among others. Visit www.belvedere.at for more information.
Sissi
A stroll through the wonderful ornamental gardens takes you down to the lower palace park and out to the city. The afternoon could be devoted to the wonderful palace of Schonbrunn, which costs between 14 and 27
 Taste the mouthwatering cake at Hotel Sacher | |
euros at the entrance (Metro: Schloss Schonbrunn – green line U4). Visit www.schoenbrunn.at for more information. You will see the perfectly preserved apartments of Maria Teresa and Empress Elizabeth or ‘Sissi’, who is something of a cult even more than 100 years after her death. As the most enigmatic beauty of her day, there are many parallels with her tragic life and that of Princess Diana.
Your third day could be devoted to a spot of retail therapy around the smart shopping districts of the city including the Graben (Metro: Schwedenplatz – red line U1), where you’ll see the Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) with its amazing coloured tiled roof and the baroque style Plague Column.
No visit to Vienna is complete without taking in a classical Mozart medley concert at Musikverein, prices of which range
 Soak up the atmosphere with a Mozart medley concert | |
between seven and 50 euros. Visit www.musikverein.at for more information. Sample the wonderfully rich chocolate and raspberry jam cake at the palatial setting of the Hotel Sacher and the mouthwatering rum cream and pink icing slices at Café Demel, next to Hofburg’s main square.
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