A Vienna café

The Hofburg façade on Heldenplatz in central Vienna.

04Experiences

After the height, sit down

A Vienna café is not a coffee break between two palaces. Since October 2011 Viennese coffee-house culture has been on Austria’s national inventory of intangible cultural heritage, within the national system linked to UNESCO. That is a national inventory, not a World Heritage site listing. Its description in that inventory: a place where time and space are consumed, while only the coffee appears on the bill. Read the sentence literally. Do not ask for the cheque after twenty minutes and think you have visited the custom. The tourism site mentions Sachertorte alongside schnitzel among what the cuisine is known for, and the café is a natural place for it if it is on the menu. Leave an afternoon for the café in Vienna, after Schönbrunn or before Belvedere — not squeezed between them in a rush.

2011
On the national inventory since

Highlights

The customTime and space are part of the place. Only the coffee is billed, according to the inventory’s description.
At the tableSachertorte is among the names the tourism site mentions with Wiener schnitzel.