03Cities and regions

On the Danube

Vienna, where the land still lies low

Vienna is Austria’s largest city, on the Danube at the eastern edge of the Vienna Woods. Here the Alpine foothills give way to the Pannonian Basin. Vienna has a little over two million people, with the wider metropolitan area near 2.9 million, and calls it the most populous city on the Danube. Statistics Austria puts the city at 2,040,914 people on 1 January 2026. The airport is in Schwechat, eighteen kilometres southeast of the centre. It is the country’s largest airport and a hub for Austrian Airlines. Give the palace and gardens one day, and the centre another. Schönbrunn has 1,441 rooms; its gardens are free and stretch 1.2 kilometres from east to west; palace and gardens have been World Heritage since 1996. The adult palace ticket is 42 euros with audio guide, the tour about 75 minutes, and prices shift with the season. Belvedere is a pair of early-eighteenth-century baroque palaces. The Hofburg is the central complex, once the winter residence opposite Schönbrunn. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is a Romanesque and Gothic building with a coloured tile roof. The historic centre has been on the World Heritage List since 2001. Arrive by river light and leave time for the cafés after the rooms — Vienna rewards an unhurried second look.

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Vienna population

1441

Schönbrunn rooms

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Palace ticket in euros