Guided Tours
Tours of Vienna and its Surroundings by Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Vienna as another Rome:
Center of Europe or its Borderland?
From there we will walk to the sumptuous Hofburg Palace, where the Holy Roman Emperors of Renaissance and Baroque resided and where some crucial events of the European history well into the 20th century took place.
On the way, we will see the soaring gothic St. Steven Cathedral and other beautiful churches, the residence of Teutonic Knights, which they continue to own since 1206, Mozart’s house (probably more than one of them) and cozy cafes. We will also learn how the Ringstrasse boulevard was built in the second half of the 19th century thus creating the modern look of the city and how Viennese Jugendstil/Art Nouveau/Modern architecture and art burst onto the scene at the tumultuous turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Duration of the walking tour: 3 hours.
A coffee break in a historical café is an option.
It is nearly impossible to cover all of the inner city in 3 hours, but we will explore a good part of it.
For a more detailed survey of historical Vienna, a breakdown into territorial or thematic parts is recommended.
Vienna Tour Ideas
Within the Borders of Roman Vindobona
Within the Borders of Roman Vindobona.
History of religion, art and trade in the Jewish and Greek quarters of Vienna with their churches and the central synagogue, the High Market as the historic city center dating back to the Roman era (as testified by the Roman Museum based on the excavations there), Jesuits with their magnificent church and the old university building, the dramatic history of the Jewish Square (Judenplatz) and the square Am Hof – the site of the Babenbergs, papal visits, Mozart’s first concert and the Revolution of 1848.
Two to three hours.
The Imperial Hofburg Palace and its surroundings.
The Imperial Hofburg Palace and its surroundings.
The tour of this area would greatly benefit from a combination with a visit to the Imperial Treasury, where the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire and its successors – Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empires — are kept. The Treasury is perhaps the best place to explain the history of Austria and thus I highly recommend this place the earlier the better in the course of one’s visit to Austria. After having seen the Treasury, you will likely see the rest of Vienna with a different perspective.
But this tour is also possible without the crown jewels. Next door to the Treasury you’ll find the magnificent State Hall of the National Library – the breathtaking baroque space containing some 200 thousand volumes all fashioned to demonstrate the pride and glory of an enlightened empire. And the neighboring St. Augustine Church, dating back to the 14th century, – the home of a masterpiece sculpture by Antonio Canova as well as of the hearts of the Habsburgs.
The Hofburg area includes the spacious Heldenplatz (Heros’ Square, alas, best known through Hitler’s triumphal speech on the Anschluss (incorporation of Austria into the Third Reich) in March 1938) and small St. Michael Square where the entire history of Vienna from Roman antiquity to modern day architecture is represented. And a block away – the Minoritenkirche church (originally of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and eventually Vienna’s Italian parish), where an amazing mosaic copy of Leonardo’s Last Supper is exhibited.
Two to three hours.
Music in Vienna’s historical center.
Music in Vienna’s historical center.
It is not by coincidence that the Austrian capital prides itself of the informal title of Europe’s musical capital. Music and its history are almost everywhere to be seen in Vienna – a vibrant modern city filled with musical events and institutions. The tour will take you to the buildings connected with the lives of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert to name just a few, tell fascinating stories of their lives, achievements and tragedies. We will also explore the exteriors and histories of great musical institutions such as the Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien and Musikverein, offer tips on how to get tickets including standing room, recommend specific performances.
Two to four hours long walking tour or combined with a car/bus.
The Heart of Vienna – St. Stephen’s Cathedral and its immediate surroundings
The Heart of Vienna – St. Stephen’s Cathedral and its immediate surroundings.
One of Europe’s preeminent gothic cathedrals has in fact been evolving from the 12th century to this day and has been reborn several times. It contains mysteries and miracles, objects of living history of Austria and great pieces of art. Its origins are buried under the ground and its tower stands at 136 meters as the most recognizable and beloved symbol of the city.
Two hours.
Jewish Vienna
Jewish Vienna.
Once one of the capitals of Euroepan Jewry, Vienna is the scene of dramatic history of Jewish prosperity and demise, extermination and revival, integration and alienation. The tour will take you from the Ringstrasse – the splendid monument to the 19th century emancipation of Jewish entrepreneurs – to Judenplatz, where the medieval Jewish community of Vienna had been violently annihilated in 1420, and from the Jewish quarter with the city’s only synagogue that survived the November pogroms of 1938 to the Leopoldstadt – the district which used to be the home of the massive Jewish community, now marked by numerous “stumbling stones” commemorating lost Jewish lives.
A pedestrian tour, two to three hours long. With a car, the city’s oldest Jewish Cemetery in the 9th district and some other objects outside of the city center may be included.
Ringstrasse
Ringstrasse is the main street of the late Habsburg Empire that formed the modern image of Vienna. An exhibition of wealth and beauty, the birthplace of the Viennese Jugenstil and a monument to the emancipation of haute bourgeoisie. Here you find some of the city’s most stunning buildings such as the Opera, Parliament, City Hall and Otto Wagner’s Post Bank, as well as fascinating stories such as Gustav Klimt’s turn to modernism while working on paintings for the University building, and the life of Katharina Schratt – a great actress turned intimate friend of Emperor Francis Joseph.
Three hours on foot and tram plus 30 minutes in a café, without which Ringstrasse is hard to understand.
Otto Wagner
Otto Wagner and his pupils.
A combination of bus and pedestrian tour of the main buildings of Viennese Jugendstil will immerse you into the unique atmosphere of Vienna at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire became one of the most advanced laboratories of modern art and architecture. Otto Wagner (1841-1918) was always at the cutting edge of progressive trends. We will see how he moved from historicism to decorative early modernism (Secession style) and then on to late modernism, finessing the pure geometrical forms of his last buildings.
The tour will take you from the Central Graben street to the Ringstrasse, where you’ll see his famous Postal Savings Bank. We won’t bypass the iconic Secession building designed by Wagner’s junior colleague Joseph Olbrich and the oeuvre by his extremely talented student Joze Plecnik, as well as the famous apartment buildings in the Linke Wienzeile street marking the Secession period in Wagner’s oeuvre.
We will see the city railway, which he artistically curated, and the Church on Steinhof , which the great architect considered to be his masterpiece. We may finish our tour on the edge of the Vienna Forest, where two villas that Wagner had built for himself mark two different parts of his heritage.
Three to four hours by car or bus.
The Orders in Vienna
The Orders in Vienna.
Traces of military and religious orders, of knights and monks, transpire the historical fabric of Vienna. Moreover, this is a city, where the orders are very much alive and visible today too. The gigantic House of Teutonic Knights stands next door to St. Steven’s Cathedral on the land plot donated to the knights as far back as 1206. Since 1809 it houses the official residence of the Grand Master. Across a small street, known as Blutgasse, or Blood Lane, stand centuries-old buildings believed to have once housed the Knights Templar.
The marvelous renaissance cum baroque Franciscan church, part of a functioning monastery, is home to the city’s oldest organ and a revered statue of Our Lady. Not far away reformed Franciscans known as Capuchin Friars are the custodians of the Tomb of the Emperors. Across the old town, Jesuits and Dominicans – once major forces of the Counter-Reformation, neighbor each other in their magnificent churches and monasteries.
Walking tour, 3 hours.
Viennese Brotherhoods.
Viennese Brotherhoods.
From the 18th century onwards, Freemasonry was an important element of integration in Vienna’s society. “The Magic Flute” created by fellow freemasons Mozart and Schikaneder and staged in the Freihaustheater in Vienna is perhaps the best known piece of art rooted in the ideals and rituals of freemasons. But Mozart was by far not the only famous freemason in Vienna. The tour will start at the grand monument to the Empress Maria Theresa – an opponent of freemasonry depicted together with her reformer courtiers, many of whom, like her husband, belonged to the brotherhoods.
We will then go, through the Hofburg, to Palais Fries built by a prominent freemason across the street from the Court Library and the former Natural Cabinet both once headed by freemasons, who played such an important role at the time of the Enlightenment. You will see the old and new buildings of the Grand Loge of Austria and hear stories of the mysterious brotherhoods, that made a highly visible impact on the history and present day of Austria.
Walking tour, 3 hours.
Red Vienna.
Red Vienna. That is the name given to a remarkable set of communal housing projects which grew around the city in the turbulent period of 1922 to 1934, when the city was led by the Socialist government. Created by the offsprings of the Viennese modern architecture, they continue to define, to a large extent, the image and spirit of the city.
A three-hour-long bus/car tour will tell the story of social progress and tensions of the First Republic and show some of the most prominent buildings combining functionalism with traditional architectural styles, from the pioneering structures on the Margaretenguertel avenue to the outskirts of the city, where we will visit the Kongressbad swimming pool, the Sandleitenhof and Karl-Marx-Hof housing quarters.
On Thursdays and Sundays, the Waschsalon Museum in Karl-Marx-Hof is accessible to the public as part of the tour.
Central Cemetery
The Central Cemetery.
By the number of people buried here – more than three million – Vienna’s Central Cemetery (Zentralfriedhof) is Europe’s biggest burial site. It is almost twice as large as today’s population of the city, while the sheer size and the interdenominational structure of the cemetery by themselves represent Vienna’s revolutionary modernization in the late 19th During a three-hour-long walking tour through this magnificent necropolis we will visit the graves of great composers and artists, politicians and doctors, scientists and industrialists who influenced Austria and Europe at large over more than two centuries.
We will also see the memorials to the victims of wars and uprisings that shook this country and learn more about the history of Austria than many other city tours could offer. In a way, it is also a giant sculpture park offering many first rate pieces of sculpture in the well landscaped environment. We will complete the tour at the Old Jewish Section of the cemetery, which stands as the likely greatest monument to the nearly annihilated civilization of Viennese Jewry.
Walking tour, three to four hours. Can also be well done by bicycle.
A Small Town in a Big City
A Small Town in a Big City.
Vienna consists of 23 districts, each of them containing several historical communes – former suburbs, old towns and villages. Of course, a concentration of landmarks in the central First District, or Inner City, which had made up Vienna per se until the city walls were dismantled after 1857 always attracts most of the tourists. But almost all the other districts have a lot of interesting places to see. All of them are worth exploring – a process which also immerses a visitor into the real life of modern Vienna. I gladly offer tours of Vienna districts. Pedestrian, with the use of public transportation.
Three hours. Pick a district and discover what the life in Vienna is like.
I also offer individual tours made of any combination of Vienna’s wealth of museums and temporary exhibitions.
Out-of-Town Tours
Please note that these tours are just here to give you some ideas of what Vienna has to offer.
The Wachau Valley
The Wachau Valley –natural beauty and cultural wealth of the Danube gem. The Wachau Valley, a 40-kilometer-long stretch of the Danube from Melk to Krems 80 km west of Vienna is one of Europe’s most beautiful places. The entire valley is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Famous monasteries and castles, including the one where Richard the Lion Heart was kept as a prisoner, romantic landscapes, beautiful vineyards and excellent vines bring here lots of tourists. But somehow it is never crowded.
In the winter time the vine taverns and some museums are closed, but monasteries remain open and accessible. Some people believe that Wachau can be visited only on a warm sunny day in spring or summer, but I am convinced that Wachau is beautiful in any season and weather – it is always different. Besides some of the most stunning churches in Europe, like that of the Melk or Göttweig Abbeys, good places to eat and drink are always to be found here. Wine tasting on a boat can be organized during the navigation season.
A trip to the Wachau Valley takes from half a day (dense but possible) to a full day.
The sacred Heiligenkreuz and tragic Mayerling.
The sacred Heiligenkreuz and tragic Mayerling.
The Holy Cross Abbey in the Vienna Woods (Stift Heiligenkreuz im Wienerwald) is a Cistercian monastery which counts some 900 years of uninterrupted history and is today one of Europe’s largest by the number of monks. It is a site of a unique monastery church, dating back to the 12th and 14th centuries, with distinct Romanesque and Gothic parts, and a stunning 14th century cloister. The Latin language and Gregorian chant of the Heiligenkreuz church services make a visitor get lost in time. Just a couple of miles away is Mayerling – a former hunting lodge known as a site of the double suicide in 1889 of the Crown Prince Rudolf, the only son of Emperor Francis Joseph and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi), and his young lover, Maria Vetsera.
The tragedy became the subject of many rumors, conspiracy theories and world-famous artistic projects: from the Terence Young movie starring Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve, to the Kenneth MacMillan ballet. Today it is a Carmelite Closter with a part of it open to the public as a museum. Half a day trip including a lunch or dinner at the monastery restaurant
For a full day trip to the Vienna Woods, add Baden bei Wien – the resort town dating back to the Ancient Romans, the Liechtenstein Castle in Maria Enzersdorf (a romantic 19th century reconstruction of the princely family’s original medieval home), or Seegrotte — Europe’s largest underground lake in a former gypsum mine (turned wartime underground factory with an adjacent concentration camp). In that case, it would be a full day trip.
A Full Day of Impressions
A Full Day of Impressions.
If we go for a full day, from morning till night, we can combine some major Otto Wagner buildings on the outskirts of Vienna with the Wachau Valley and the Heiligenkreuz monastery. 10-12 hours.
Up the Danube
Up the Danube. The Imperial Monastery of Klosterneuburg is the cradle of the Austrian state housing the relics of St. Leopold, the patron saint of Lower Austria, and the crown of the Dukes of Austria. Klosterneuburg is a sprawling magnificent complex of Romanesque church and Baroque monastery-palace spanning 12th to 19th centuries.
It opens to the public its treasury of exquisite artifacts, the Verdun Altar – one of Europe’s most important masterpieces of medieval goldsmithery, a collection of old and modern paintings, a stunning suite of state rooms built for the emperor Charles VI, and an excellent winery. Every year, the monastery also puts up a special themed exhibition. For a shorter, half-day tour, Klosterneuburg offers plenty of things to see. For a longer version, we may go from there, passing the writer Franz Kafka’s last residence, where he died in 1924, passing the village of Zeiselmauer, where you see impressive ancient Roman ruins integrated into a typical Austrian village, to the picturesque town of Tulln-an-der-Donau (Tulln-upon-the-Danube).
The site of some ancient Roman buildings also has one of Central Europe’s best Romanesque 12th century rotunda and a typical Austrian town square. The town is the birthplace of one of Austria’s greatest artists, Egon Schiele (1890 – 1918) and has two museums dedicated to him – one at the apartment at the train station where he spent his childhood and another in a former prison on the bank of the Danube. The town also prides itself in its gardens. One of Austria’s best restaurants near Tulln is also an option.
An extended version of the bus/car tour will take up a full day.
The Austro-Hungarian Borderland.
The Austro-Hungarian Borderland.
The picturesque town of Rust has the status of free city dating back to the 15th century, but numbers less than 2000 inhabitants. Situated on the bank of the Lake Neusiedlersee, it is the center of winemaking in Burgenland – Austria’s easternmost constituent land, which had been part of Hungary prior to 1921. Almost every house in Rust is a centuries-old winery. Almost each of them has a stork nest on the roof making Rust a “stork town”.
A trip to Rust is easily combinable with a trip across the border to nearby Sopron – modern Hungary’s town nearest to Vienna. A romantic city dating back to ancient Roman times, when it was called Scarbantia, has a remarkably well-preserved historical center with buildings of 13th century onwards and parts of the city wall and mout. Sopron is a good place to tell – and feel – the dramatic history of the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city has an excellent Hungarian restaurant offering great food for a meager price.
Half a day to a full day.
The Historical Road to Pressburg.
The Historical Road to Pressburg. Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia with its austere castle and charming city center, had been better known for most of its history by its German name Pressburg or Hungarian name Pozsony and was de facto Vienna’s eastern outpost. On the road to Bratislava, which takes less than an hour if you drive directly, lies Carnuntum – the capital of the Ancient Roman province Pannonia Superiora.
Parts of its excavations have been reconstructed to full Roman houses. The present-day village of Petronell-Carnuntum is also a home to a beautiful 12th century Romanesque rotunda church and a magnificent Renaissance castle of Counts von Abensperg und Traun. Nearby is the village of Rohrau – the birthplace of composers Josef und Michael Haydn, whose house is now a museum. Haydn’s parents worked in the castle of the Counts of Harrach. Their castle in Rohrau houses today the amazing collection of mainly Spanish and Neapolitan baroque paintings by masters such as Solimena, Giordano, Murillo and others. Further down the Danube is the heroic fortress town of Hainburg and the hill Braunsberg above it, offering a breathtaking view of the Danube and its surroundings, including Bratislava.
A walk through the Slovakian capital and a dinner in one of its restaurants can well complete the impression of the day.
A full day tour.
