Vienna Sales Guide 2015

1.000 Reasons for Vienna An agent’s guide to selling Vienna as a year-round destination

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View of the Volksgarten and the Naturhistorische Museum

Facts & Figures WWW.VIENNA.INFO

View of the Ringstrasse from the roof of the Burgtheater

Vienna is one of Europe’s top city tourism destinations. In 2014, the Austrian capital once again demonstrated its enduring appeal among city travellers with over 13,5 million overnight stays in total. The list of reasons for visiting Vienna is almost endless. The city is world famous for its imperial heritage. The Austrian capital is also a byword for culinary enjoyment and in recent years has evolved into a gourmet’s paradise. Vienna has a fair share of tranquil green spaces, including parks and gardens, the Vienna Woods and the wetlands of the Donau Auen National Park. Put all of this together and you have one of the world’s most diversified cities.

VIENNA AT A GLANCE • Vienna is located in the heart of Europe • Vienna is the capital city of Austria • Vienna has a population of approx. 1,7 million • Spoken language is German • Vienna’s climate is temperate with continental and maritime influences • Vienna was awarded world’s most livable city in 2014 by the Mercer Study the 6th time in a row • Vienna’s historic city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site • Over 45 percent of the city’s area is accounted for by gardens, parks, forests and woodland • Vienna is the seat of numerous international organizations (OPEC, UNO, IAEA) • Vienna International Airport is a major European hub and handled 22,5 million passengers in 2014 GETTING TO VIENNA Via plane: The closest airport is Vienna International Airport, located outside the city limits. It is served by 58 airlines flying in from 64 countries and 125 cities worldwide.

From within Europe via train: The ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways, www.oebb.at) are a convenient means of transport to Vienna. The railjet, the new highspeed train with first, business and economy class and an onboard restaurant, connects all of Austria as well as its neighbouring countries with Vienna.

Railjet Travel Times: • Salzburg – Vienna: 2 hours 22 minutes • Graz – Vienna: 2 hours 31 minutes • Innsbruck – Vienna: 4 hours 15 minutes • Prague – Vienna: 4 hours 11 minutes • Budapest – Vienna: 2 hours 37 minutes • Munich – Vienna: 3 hours 55 minutes TOP TIP: VIENNA CARD – The Vienna Card gives visitors access to more than 210 discounts at Vienna’s key attractions plus unlimited free travel by underground, bus and tram for 48 or 72 hours. The card costs just 18.50 or 21.90 Euro. If you are a travel agent or tour operator, you can order the Vienna Card in bulk and receive a discount on the price. For more information please visit www.vienna.info

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From the airport the CAT (City Airport Train) takes passengers in 16 minutes to the city (www.cityairporttrain.com). Other transfers by train, coach and taxi are available as well. For more information on transfers please visit www.viennaairport.com Distance by car to Vienna from other nearby airports: • Munich – Vienna: 4 hours 30 minutes • Salzburg – Vienna: 3 hours 15 minutes • Prague – Vienna: 3 hours 45 minutes • Bratislava – Vienna: 45 minutes • Budapest – Vienna: 2 hours 30 minutes

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Key selling tips

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In the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens

IMPERIAL VIENNA A stroll around Vienna is like a journey back in time to the days of the empire – it comes to no surprise that the historic city centre is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. Vienna boasts 27 palaces and more than 150 other stately residences including the imposing Schönbrunn Palace and the breathtaking baroque splendour of Belvedere Palace. A trip around Vienna‘s magnificent Ringstrasse boulevard is always a special sightseeing experience whether you are on foot or taking a ride in a traditional fiacre. The magnificent boulevard is lined with parks and breathtaking buildings such as the Spanish Riding School with its famous Lipizzan ballet.

In 2015, the Ringstrasse celebrates its 150th anniversary (www.ringstrasse2015.info). It was in 1857 when Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the fortifications surrounding Vienna’s city centre to be demolished, and for a boulevard complete with showpiece buildings to be constructed on the grounds in front of the old walls and towers. Numerous museums and institutions are observing the Ringstrasse anniversary in 2015 by showing exhibitions about the genesis of Vienna’s Ringstrasse.

QUALITY OF LIFE Life is good in Vienna. What the Viennese have always known is now official — the Mercer study ranked Vienna six time in a row in a survey of the best places to live. Why? The city has more green space than virtually any other. It is a place where you can relax — there are even parks in the heart of the city — or enjoy sport. The Austrian capital also has excellent infrastructure and is one of the safest major cities on earth. The healthy Viennese drinking water is yet another reason why Vienna is the world’s true number one when it comes to quality of life. Its particularly crisp and refreshing taste simply rejuvenates body and mind.

Contact details: • Schoenbrunn Palace www.schoenbrunn.at • Belvedere Palace www.belvedere.at • Imperial Palace Vienna www.hofburg-wien.at • Spanish Riding School www.srs.at

Key selling tips

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Coffeehouse: Café-Restaurant at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

MOZART, STRAUSS AND DJ SOUNDS Every night in Vienna around 10,000 music fans are treated to live classical music, something that is simply unheard of in any other city in the world. Each year the Vienna concert schedule includes more than 15,000 events of various sizes and genres. No other city has been home to so many composers — Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven and Johann Strauss, the king of the Viennese waltz, all worked in the city. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Boys’ Choir set the international tone, while the State Opera House and the Golden Hall at the Musikverein are among the world’s leading musical venues.

VIENNESE TASTE Viennese cuisine is the only cuisine in the world to be named after a city. The city serves up a cornucopia of different taste experiences, from hearty to organic and ethnic. Offerings that are often ideally combined with a surprising ambience: Whether you are dining

in the slowly revolving restaurant on the Danube Tower with its breathtaking view or at the Naschmarkt, Vienna’s best-known market with around120 market stands.

Traditional strengths endure to this day and make Vienna a hotbed for contemporary musicians — the Vienna sound pioneered by local DJs enjoys worldwide popularity.

The Viennese coffee house is known around the globe for its informal pleasantness and has been an oasis of gemütlichkeit for ages. A close relative of the café is the pastry shop. Their specialty, pies and cakes, are the icing on Vienna’s dolce vita in the form of Bundt cake and Sachertorte.

Contact details: • Vienna Boys‘ Choir www.wsk.at • Vienna State Opera www.wiener-staatsoper.at • Musikverein www.musikverein.at • Naschmarkt www.vienna.info

Swing into spring

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Roses at Volksgarten

It is easy to enjoy the green of springtime in Vienna – after all, green spaces account for more than half of the urban area. These include 280 imperial parks as well as the large recreational areas in and around the city. Other than that, Vienna has all sorts of open-air pleasures to offer in spring and early summer – from the “Schanigarten” outdoor seating areas in front of cafés to the opera experience under a canopy of stars.

GREEN VIENNA The Volksgarten on the Ringstrasse is full of the fragrance of 400 different kinds of rose, people catch the sun on the meadow next door in the Burggarten, while others walk through the Baroque garden splendor in the parks of Schönbrunn Palace and the Belvedere. The vast Vienna Woods on the edge of the city as well as the Prater, six million square meters of forest and water meadows within the city limits, invite local and visitors alike to go on long walks and take part in all sorts of sporting activities.

LOCAL MARKETS At the exotic Naschmarkt and the multicultural Brunnenmarkt, at the little Karmelitermarkt and the lively Rochusmarkt, the stands offer fresh delicacies. And the street cafés and restaurants around

the markets are packed with vibrant hustle and bustle. The Easter markets in March and April provide additional flair – whether on Freyung or on Am Hof square in the Old City. And at the beginning of May, the Genussfestival in the Stadtpark presents selected culinary specialties from across Austria.

CLASSICAL & WORLD MUSIC The Vienna State Opera broadcasts selected performances live to the square in front of the Opera House starting in April. The

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra gives a free open-air concert in Schönbrunn Palace Park in the middle of May and first-class venues such as the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein house the OsterKlang Festival, which brings first-class music to Vienna at the end of March/early April. Outstanding musical events and exciting stage events dominate the Vienna Festival in May and June. World stars give guest performances at the Vienna Jazz Festival from the end of June.

Summertime in Vienna

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Adria Wien at the Danube Canal

More than 50 kilometers of beach in every guise ensure that summer feeling in Vienna. Summer pools and the shoreline of Danube Island are as much a feature as the urban beaches in the Old City. Chillout areas everywhere invite people to hang out, and hip clubs to dance the night away. An evening in the open-air cinema is as much a part of Vienna’s summertime lifestyle as flying visits to all manner of open-air events.

SPORTS & RECREATION Twenty-one kilometers of sand, grass and gravel beaches, including playgrounds and BBQ areas as well as restaurants, cafés and bars make summer days on Danube Island a real experience.

The exciting combination of restaurant terraces, nostalgic beach pools and boat rentals defines the charm of the Old Danube. And on the urban beaches along the Danube Canal in the Old City, cool drinks are served by Strandbar Herrmann, Badeschiff, Café Bar Urania and Tel Aviv Beach. The Motto am Fluss, the café and restaurant at the mooring site of the Twin City Liner, offers the best view of the colorful hustle and bustle along the Danube Canal.

OPEN AIR MUSIC, MOVIES & CULTURE Europe’s biggest free open-air party is held every year during the Danube Island Festival at the end of June. The MuseumsQuartier, an art area with important exhibition houses such as the Leopold Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, offers a vast array of cultural events in its extensive courtyards during “Summer in the MQ”. Cafés, restaurants and bars as well as the MQ Furniture, the futuristic loungers on the squares in the area, offer a superb opportunity to chill out. Fans of fashion and design flock to the city when MQ Vienna Fashion Week hits the catwalk in the middle of September.

With the Summer Stage and the university campus in the Old AKH, Vienna has a string of other excellent spots that are ideally suited to hanging out in the open air. Before setting off to visit clubs such as Flex, Fluc, Grelle Forelle and Pratersauna. And it goes without saying in Vienna that the “Schanigärten” sidewalk seating areas in front of cafés and restaurants all over the city invite everyone to find a spot and watch the world go by.

The local pop scene celebrates the summer on Karlsplatz during “Popfest Wien” in July. Hot beats from Techno to Electro and Disco are the trademark of the Vienna Summerbreak, which turns the city into a party zone at the end of August – with free admission to 50 clubs, a street parade and a street festival. And on the Gürtel Nightwalk you can experience a live cross-section of current Viennese sounds in the venues and establishments along the Gürtel.

Culinary greetings from around the world are extended by the food stands at City Hall Square, where unusual film recordings of outstanding concert and opera events are presented during the Music Film Festival in July and August. Cinema-goers will find even more open-air cinema on Karlsplatz, on Augartenspitz, in the Arena and on the roof of the Main Library on the Gürtel.

Vienna enchants in autumn WWW.VIENNA.INFO

Wieninger vineyard on the Nussberg

From walks and hikes in the autumnal Vienna Woods and visits to wine taverns to concerts in cozy cafés and music events – that’s how diverse the city on the Danube can be in autumn. Exhibitions, festivals and coffee houses do what they know best to thrill bon vivants in Vienna.

VIENNESE WINE & WINE TAVERNS September and October are high season for Viennese wine. The harvest is over, and the “Junge Wiener” of the current vintage is poured in the simple ‘Buschenschenken’ wine taverns of the wine growing towns on the edge of the city, as is the “Wiener Gemischte Satz”. This speciality, which was even awarded the DAC seal of quality in 2013, involves growing the grapes of at least three different white wine varieties and pressing them together. The delicious wines can normally be enjoyed in a wine tavern with hearty home-made food from the buffet.

COFFEE HOUSES Late autumn is the ideal time for the coffee house. Not only because these oases of coziness are the place to round off a shopping tour of the shopping streets in comfort. Connoisseurs have long since discovered the café as an attractive place to have breakfast – or appreciate the combination of delicious pastries and lively music in the concert-café. Even more lavish is the choice of delicious pastries in the city’s patisseries. After all, the rich assortment of pastries is as much a part of Viennese cuisine as its other culinary symbols: Wiener Schnitzel and Kaiserschmarren.

WALKING & HIKING ROUTES Vienna is a wooded city bordered to the west by the Vienna Woods, a range of hills whose dense woodland not only supplies the city with oxygen, but also provides walking and mountain bike trails of all lengths and for all abilities. Shorter strolls through vineyards and up local hills such as Cobenzl (382 meters) or Leopoldsberg (425 meters) offer a fantastic view over the city.

The Viennese have their favorite spots of grassland and among these is Himmelwiese meadow, lying on the uppermost point of Himmelstrasse road from Grinzing, only a few minutes’ walk from Cobenzl. It boasts not only a glorious panorama but also “talking trees”. The Life Tree Circle reflects the mystic belief that trees have qualities similar to signs of the zodiac. Another popular haunt when the weather is good is Bellevuewiese meadow, being a place to let your mind wander and revel in the views. It certainly lives up to its name – a fact recognized by one of Vienna’s most famous thinkers Sigmund Freud who frequently joined this place.

Vienna dances & parties in winter

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Museums: Belvedere Palace, winter

Vienna offers more than 2,000 hours of enjoyment at 450 balls in January and February. Until then, 30,000 lights at the Vienna Magic of Advent and numerous other Christmas markets in November and December give a taste of Christmas and the silent time of the year. All topped off with a sprinkling of exhibitions, festivals and skating adventures.

NEW YEAR’S EVENING Three-four time dominates in Vienna in the first few weeks of the year. It all begins with the change of year, which is celebrated here with the New Year’s Eve Trail through the Old City. Sparkling wine and snacks are served at stands and colossal live acts on stages. And the waltz is danced on the squares in the Old City – for example, on the centrally located Stephansplatz, when the

CHRISTMAS MARKETS From November, 30,000 lights set the mood for Vienna’s Magic of Advent on City Hall Square, and thousands of others create a homey atmosphere as Christmas decorations in Vienna’s Old City and shopping streets. Romance and enjoyment come together at the Advent markets. The biggest of these is the Christmas market at the Magic of Advent event on City Hall Square. The Christmas markets in front of Schönbrunn Palace and the Kunsthistorisches Museum enchant against an imperial backdrop, while the market on Spittelberg derives its charm from the ambience of the old Biedermeier district.

Pummerin, the large bell in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, rings in the New Year at the stroke of midnight. The waltz dream continues at the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic. The always fully sold out concert in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein is broadcast to the world.

BALL SEASON A real Eldorado of waltzing is offered by the 450 balls held during the ball season in January and February. The season gets off to an elegant start with the New Year’s Ball in the Imperial Palace, and reaches its zenith with the famous Opera Ball in the middle of February. The Philharmonic Ball, the Kaffeesieder Ball and the Johann Strauss Ball are other enjoyable highlights of the season.

VIENNA ICE WORLD The Vienna Ice World (end of January to beginning of March) transforms City Hall Square into a 7,000 m² ice rink that permits everything from pirouettes to evergreens as well as convivial walks on the rinks in the adjacent Rathauspark.

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Vienna from Above: Am Graben

VIENNA FOR FAMILIES How many steps lead up to St. Stephen’s Cathedral? What kind of clothing did the Habsburgs wear? And are there really wild boars in Vienna? Vienna’s secrets await discovery by children young and old. Explore old palaces like Schönbrunn Palace, the ZOOM Children Museum in the MuseumsQuartier, other Viennese museums, the Danube Island with its great outdoor sport, relaxation and fun offer or the Prater amusement park with rollercoasters, merry-go-rounds and the Giant Ferris Wheel.

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SHOPPING IN VIENNA Shopping streets and pedestrian zones offer luxury goods and good values – at jeweler’s shops as well as antique stores, art stores, and fashion designer boutiques. Between flagship stores and shopping palaces, you can discover many things. In the Old City (1st district) exclusive international brands are showcased by exquisite boutiques. Luxurious flagship stores are mostly to be found on Kohlmarkt, the Graben and in the neighboring “Goldenes

Quartier” on Tuchlauben. Vienna’s major shopping streets are also home to the retail outlets of budget-conscious fashion chains!

Fashion stores offer thousands of square feet of unadulterated shopping pleasure – and provide welcome respite from the winter cold and summer heat. Mariahilfer Straße is the city’s longest and most lively shopping street outside the Old City. It will be worth your while to explore the side streets in the 6th and 7th districts.

This is where many out-of-the-ordinary shops and outlets have sprung up recently. The same is true for the Naschmarkt area. The 48 organisations that currently make up WIEN PRODUCTS, a highly select group of Viennese companies and cultural institutions, stand for a range of products and services meeting the highest quality criteria and production standards, as well as capturing the unique flair and very special Viennese aesthetic. Last but not least, the former Imperial and Royal Court Purveyors offer high quality goods with imperial flair More Information here

LUXURY IN VIENNA Vienna has a host of surprises for bon vivants and all those who prefer the more tasteful things in life. And it wouldn’t be Vienna if the extravagance were not accompanied by a hint of the city’s typical charm. Start your luxurious experience with a VIP service at the airport, sightseeing in a limousine, special guided unique experiences and behind the scene tours at several cultural institutions, attend an art auction, shop in the most elegant flagship stores of luxury fashion labels or get your own made-to-measure pair of shoes or hat from traditional Viennese manufacturers. Relax in one of the many day spas in the city, enjoy dinner in first-class restaurants with Viennese and international cuisine and end your day in one of the 5-star luxury hotel properties.

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Services & Information

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Vienna from Above

VIENNA TOURIST BOARD The Vienna Tourist Board is the official destination marketing agency for the tourism sector of the city. It provides many service offers, tips and much information for international and Viennese tourist businesses.

The Vienna Tourist Board’s service portal for the travel industry with information about • Promotional Material: Order and/or download city maps, brochures, decorations, etc.

• Statistics & Market Research: Up-to-date facts & figures about arrivals, bed nights, accommodation turnover, source markets, etc.

• Vienna Guide Service: Find your perfect guide at www.guides-in-vienna.at • Busses in Vienna: Check-out the official bus drivers’ guide: www.bus.vienna.info • Vienna pictures: Online picture database at www.viennaphoto.com • MICE in Vienna: www.vienna.convention.at b2b.vienna.info DESTINATION GUIDE The online Destination Guide offers everything about Vienna at a glance: • Facts & figures • Travel & accommodation information • Itinerary ideas • Event highlights • Music & visitor attractions • Shopping tips • Restaurant list • Information about congresses • A complete list of Incoming Agencies destination-guide.vienna.info

VIENNA EXPERTS CLUB INTERNATIONAL Join the Vienna Experts Club International and enjoy a lot of exclusive benefits on your own Vienna trip: the best conditions at 43 Viennese hotels and special deals with 75 Viennese partners (museums, restaurants, sights & shops) AND the Vienna Card, the 48- or 72-hour transport network ticket with over 210 further reductions. Membership is free! www.viennaexpertsclub.at VIENNA CARD AFFILIATE PARTNER PROGRAM If you run your own website or blog and want to offer your visitors special Vienna experiences while benefiting from a strong brand, then the Vienna Card Affiliate Partner Program is just the right thing for you. This Vienna Tourist Board program gives you the chance to share in the success of Europe’s Best City Card, directly, permanently, and with the minimum of effort. With just the click of a mouse your visitor can buy the Vienna Card – and earn you a commission... affiliate.vienna.info