Wondering what to tip in restaurants? Where to get a great coffee? Where to find luxury stores? Or whether Vienna takes credit cards? Here some local guidance on how to make life easier when eating out or shopping.
- Book a concert & dinner* for Vienna
- Look for “+ dinner” among the listings
- See also:
- Traditional Viennese food and drink
Jump to:
- Coffee houses
- Café-confectioneries
- Romantic dinners
- Wine taverns
- Vegetarian?
- Dining culture and etiquette
- Shopping advice
- Selected store tips
Eating out in Vienna
(Café Schwarzenberg; one of the many traditional coffee houses in the city centre)
Vienna is best known for its traditional and iconic café and coffee house culture (though we have Starbucks and McCafé now, too). But the city’s Heuriger wine taverns represent another tradition firmly anchored in Viennese life.
Obviously, Austria’s capital also hosts a variety of pubs, bars, and restaurants…from Irish watering holes to Michelin star establishments (ten with between one and three stars the last time I checked).
TripAdvisor and similar are your friend in terms of reviews and recommendations, but I have my own personal tips below for coffee houses, café-confectioneries, and romantic spots, for example.
People also ask me about the famous Schnitzel-serving Figlmüller restaurants in the centre. Are they worth the long queues that often form outside? Answer here.
So let us begin with the uniquely Viennese locations that no visitor should miss…
Coffee houses
(Café Hawelka opened in 1939)
That iconic café culture takes place in equally iconic locations. But which ones should you try?
Here’s a list of some of the best traditional cafés in the city, as suggested by me, friends and relatives. How I suffered: forced to visit each one to try the coffee and cake (often more than once, just to be sure).
Café-Confectioneries
(Sluka opened in 1891)
These Viennese Konditoreien (confectioneries) also have a long and illustrious history.
Think of them as the coffee houses’ sweeter sibling: cafés with an unfeasibly large cake counter and an appetite for gossip. A good source of lovingly-packed edible gifts to take back home, too.
A touch of romance
(The tree of hearts adds a loving touch to the Rathaus park at Christmas)
Looking for somewhere to add some more love to your trip for two? I have a few romantic dinner locations for you.
The suggestions ignore restaurants that are simply good. Instead, I cover unusual spots, dinner with a view, and rather poignant places for snacks or picnics.
Wine taverns
(The “genuine” Heuriger have their natural home in the outer districts)
As you immerse yourself in Viennese culinary life, you might come across the Heuriger or wine tavern: a rustic form of eating and drinking establishment centered around Vienna’s own vineyard tradition.
Expect homegrown wines and a buffet of local delicacies (some of which are considerably more robust in nature than that term suggests).
Vegetarian?
(We even have a chain of vegan ice cream parlours)
Vegetarianism does not come naturally to a nation of pork-eaters, but the city has sufficient solutions for those on a meat-free diet. Discover the delights of vegetarian Vienna.
Particular mention should go to the traditional ice cream parlours, which now offer a number of vegan ice creams, too.
Local traditions & rules
(If you want to avoid a hasty exit, learn the ins and outs of ordering and paying in Vienna. Caricature taken from nine scenes with waiters drawn in pen and ink by Wilhelm Grögler around 1890; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 81636; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
Regardless of where you go to eat and drink, you’ll want to know the rules and etiquette in Vienna. Some helpful advice for you:
- Service is almost always at the table, often even in places that look like British pubs. (Learn about ordering and paying for food and drink)
- And your bill very rarely includes that service; I can’t recall having ever seen it included, frankly. So you should tip waiting staff. (See guidelines for tipping in restaurants)
- If you’re drinking alcohol, particularly with locals, you’ll want to know how to behave before taking that first sip. (Discover how you say “cheers”: it’s a ritual)
- Ah, but when can you drink in Vienna? (Learn about drinking hours)
- And can you have a cigarette inside bars and restaurants? (The short answer is “no”, but read up on local smoking regulations)
- Finally, menus often come with a bunch of letters attached to each food description. These refer to allergens. (Understand the allergy information codes)
Shopping in Vienna
(Part of the Golden quarter luxury shopping area)
Like any affluent capital city, Vienna bursts with shopping opportunities.
The two main central “shop ’till you drop” streets are Kärntner Straße / Graben (the pedestrianised city center) and Mariahilfer Straße (a little further out).
Useful shopping advice
(Kohlmarkt in the pedestrianised centre is full of top brands)
- What are the best shopping areas? The hotspots all sit in or near the centre, except for the big malls
- When are the shops open? Possibly not as often as you might expect. Sunday shopping and 24hr shopping are not a thing in Vienna, barring a few exceptions
- Is Vienna expensive? Probably not as expensive as you might imagine. I’ve listed typical prices for food, travel, and entertainment
- Do stores take credit cards? Not as much as you might be used to elsewhere. Vienna runs on cash and debit cards, mostly, especially in bars and at markets
- What make good souvenirs? You’re spoiled for choice, but cake and chocolate do feature prominently in my list of suggestions
Useful store tips
(An Anglo-American grocery store)
And some advice for particular needs…
- If you’re desperate for self-raising flour or Cadbury’s chocolate, then Bobby’s foodstore near Karlsplatz station stocks UK and US groceries
- Vienna’s largest open-air food market is the Naschmarkt, with products from all over the world as well as numerous bars and restaurants
- The local answer to the tobacconist and newsagent is the Trafik
- If you’re going old school and want to send a postcard back home, then you need to know about stamps and post offices
- For snacks, picnics, bottled water etc., pop into one of the supermarkets, who also make financial sense for a little souvenir shopping if you’re thinking of buying chocolate and Mozart balls (Mozartkugeln)
- Finally, because I had to research this in doomed pursuit of ingredients for an Asiatic sauce, Vienna has a couple of Japanese food stores