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Popular Tourist Traps | Miscellaneous Tourist Traps Tips | All Tips (129) Unfortunately at the time of our visit many buildings were being renovated. Leave a Comment
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Vienna is famous for its coffee houses and they are indeed something special. Now, with that comes the exploitation of tourists, unfortunately. Luckily, most of the coffee houses, even those listed in guide books are decent and still offer "the real thing", ie. old-fashioned atmosphere and simply good coffee and a selection of newspapers (at least in German language), and it is fine that you stay for a couple of hours even if you only order a small coffee. There are still a few tourist traps among the coffee houses: - Cafe Diglas: Big screens showing the cliches of Vienna; horses, cakes and balls. Bad enough. Worse is: The coffee is often not even drinkable, some of the too tempting looking cakes in their gorgeous exhibition barely have any taste at all, and even if Viennese waiters are generally grumpy and unfriendly, which is part of the fun, these haven't even got any grumpy charisma. Location in Wollzeile behind St. Stephansdom must be the one thing that saves this otherwise beautiful place from a total disaster. - Cafe Westend: Good looking cakes from one of the pastry giants, ie. not very home-made. Amazing decoration, but very expensive and with waiters who cheat you. Practical location vis-a-vis the West Train Station (Westbahnhof) and near Mariahilferstrasse shopping area. - Cafe Sacher/Hotel Sacher: Here you get the real Sachertorte, a verdict states so even, the true Austrian way. Still, arrogant waiters, complete lack of charm and the most boring cake ever, no matter how real, makes this a place you go to maximum once. Been there, done that. Wasn't even worth it. - Cafe Mozart: Stylish coffe house with cakes from one of the most successful, and righteously so, pastry families in town. Located next door to Hotel Sacher and the Opera, vis-a-vis Albertina, famous from "The Third Man". The lack of charm, style and personality is as impressive as the pastry selection.
Order a small coffee or a small beer and enjoy some ogling.
- Alternative to Cafe Diglas: For an equally great selection cakes plus the sight of Viennese ladies eating them; go right accross the Wollzeile street, and walk a bit upwards, to the left to pastry shop Heiner. This is not a place to spend many hours. If the coffee, newspaper and watching other guests are more your cup of tea, walk down Wollzeile until you almost reach Ringstrasse. On your left side is a true gem, Cafe Prückel. The cakes are way better than Diglas' although they look less pro. Coffee is always good and the lounge-like atmosphere is something special. - Alternative to Cafe Westend: Some worn-down but wonderful cafes are just a short walk away, such as Cafe Jelinek in 6th district in Otto-Bauer-Gasse, right off Mariahilferstrasse. Another world and homemade cakes. Not many tourists find their way here. Even fewer find their way to Cafe Weingartner in Goldschlagstrasse in 15th district. More interesting and local than stylish. Or take tram no. 5 for approx 10 minutes to 8th district and Cafe Hummel in Josefstädterstrasse. Cakes are delicious, a coffee house loved by construction workers and politicians alike. The waiters are either incredibly nice or Viennese-style grumpy. - Alternative to Hotel Sacher and Cafe Mozart: Although Demel lost the Sachertorte battle, they do not have the best Sacher alternative. Cafe Tirolerhof in Tegetthoffstraße, between Albertina and Kapuzinergruft, is certainly a better option. Stylish place with properly grumpy waiters. A decent coffee house experience. If cakes are less important, check out Cafe Bräunerhof in Stallburggasse. If the cakes are crucial and you've already picked out one or five you just have to try, Cafe Landtmann near Burgtheater is where you should go. You get the same cakes. Very upscale cafe, always a couple of tables with seriously misfit tourists. If you want to check out further cake options, go to Demel in Kohlmarkt. You may not believe what you see though and you will seriously wonder what the boring Sachertorte is all about after all.
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| | | | don't take taxi, it's very... | | | | | |
it´s allways tourist like to try to be in mozart´s era, and vienna knows it well. It´s pretty to go to a big theather, but i dont especially like to see litle mozarts all over the place playing as if its theather. Maybe not tourist concerts the next time.
enjoy. think it was really like that :)
the spring festivals Leave a Comment
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the Prater wheel has some historic meaning, but a)staff was rather lazy and impolite when I got there b)the view is disappointing c)the "normal-priced" wheel sections need some work as they were dirty d) the surrounding area was ugly Leave a Comment
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they are famous ...a viennese symbole, ...beautiful to look at, ...noisy, ...smelly, ...expensive, ...and boring.
take the tramway around the Ring instead it's ...a viennese symbole, ...beautiful to look at, ...noisy, ...smelly, ...cheap, ...and everything else than boring on a tour around the first district u see most of the architectural highlights (Opera house, Burgtheater, Rathaus, University, Hofburg ...) Leave a Comment
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