Michaelerplatz
The round square at the Hofburg’s gate, where Roman ruins and Adolf Loos’ plain house face the palace.
The St Michael’s Gate of the Hofburg, with its green dome and fountains of giants, was only finished in 1893. In the middle of the square lie the dug-up remains of Roman and medieval Vienna.
Opposite stands the Looshaus of 1911, whose plain front without decoration shocked Vienna; Emperor Franz Joseph is said to have kept his curtains closed so as not to see it.
More in Vienna
St Stephen’s CathedralVienna’s Gothic cathedral, with its 136-metre south tower and a roof of glazed tiles in zigzags.
GrabenVienna’s grand shopping street on the line of the Roman ditch, with the Plague Column in the middle.
Plague ColumnThe Baroque column of clouds and angels put up after the plague of 1679.
HofburgThe Habsburgs’ winter palace for six centuries, now the seat of Austria’s president.
Spanish Riding SchoolThe white Lipizzaner stallions dance in a Baroque riding hall inside the Hofburg.
State OperaOpened in 1869, the first great building on the Ringstraße and one of the world’s great opera houses.
AlbertinaA Habsburg palace with one of the world’s largest collections of prints and drawings, Dürer’s Hare among them.
BurgtheaterOne of the most important German-language theatres, on the Ringstraße, opposite the town hall.
RingstraßeThe grand boulevard round the old town, built where the city walls stood.
FiakerThe two-horse carriages that wait on Stephansplatz to drive you round the old town.
Coffee housesMarble tables, newspapers on wooden holders and a glass of water with every coffee.
SachertorteA rich chocolate cake with apricot jam, invented by Franz Sacher in 1832.