48 Hours In: Vienna

WHY GO NOW?

As Mozart's 250th birthday celebrations draw to a close, the Austrian capital is going back to what it does best: winter. Next Saturday marks the start of Advent in Vienna, with traditional Christmas Markets outside the ornate Rathaus (1) (town hall) and in the grounds of Schonbrunn Palace (2). With hand-made wooden toys for sale, as well as home-made lebkuchen (Austrian gingerbread) and gluhwein, it's an enchanting destination for a weekend's shopping. The Austrian capital is an enigmatic and intriguing place, and the best time to see it is right now.

TOUCH DOWN

Fly to Vienna's Schwechat airport from Heathrow on Austrian Airlines (0870 124 2625; www.austrianairlines.co.uk) or British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba.com), or from Birmingham or Manchester on BA Connect. The only low-cost operator is FlyNiki (0870 738 8880; www.flyniki.com) from Stansted, also bookable through Air Berlin (0870 738 8880; www.airberlin.com). From the airport, 17km to the east, the quick way in is aboard the CAT (City Airport Train) which leaves every half-hour to the station known as Wien Mitte/ Landstrasse (3), taking just 16 minutes for a fare of €15 return (£11). A taxi to the city centre will cost about €45 (£32). Other no-frills airlines use Bratislava airport, about 60km east across the border in Slovakia. Ryanair (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair.com) and SkyEurope (09057 222 747; www.skyeurope.com) fly from Stansted; easyJet (0905 821 0905; www.easyjet.com) flies from Luton. Direct buses run from the airport to central Vienna, taking around 90 minutes; the price is €5.50 (£4). Buses arrive at Südtiroler Platz (4) where you can board a U-Bahn (underground train) to any other station in the city.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Vienna is easy to get to grips with, thanks to Emperor Franz Josef, who created the Ring around three quarters of the city centre, along the route of the old city wall. The fourth side is marked by the Danube Canal. Most tourists remain firmly within the Innere Stadt (inner city) defined by these boundaries. Yet many of Vienna's more absorbing sights are a bit further afield. For nightlife, catch a U-Bahn to Wahringer or Nussdorfer Strasse on the Gürtel. Beneath the railway arches on this outer ring road are some of Vienna's liveliest clubs and bars. The tourist information office (00 43 1 24 555; www.vienna.info) is right in the centre of town, on the corner of Maysedergasse and Tegetthofstrasse (5). It opens 9am-7pm daily.

CHECK IN

Vienna's most established boutique hotel is Das Triest (6) at Wiedner Hauptstrasse 12 (00 43 1 589 180; www.dastriest.at); doubles from €258 (£170), including breakfast. Redesigned 10 years ago by Sir Terence Conran, the style here is understated chic. The Levante Parliament (7) at Auerspergstrasse 9 (00 43 1 228 280; www.thelevante.com) opened this summer. Stark but elegant, the building dates back to the last days of the Hapsburg Empire, but it's been renovated in a striking contemporary style. Doubles from €260 (£186), including breakfast. There are plenty of good mid-range hotels in or near the centre. The most unusual is the Pertschy Pension (8), inthe 17th-century Cavriani Palace at Habsburgergasse 5 (00 43 1 534 490; www.pertschy.com). Grand rooms with high ceilings are arrayed around a courtyard. In November, the price for a double is a very reasonable €102 (£73), including breakfast.

TAKE A RIDE

The Vienna Card - €16.90 (£12) from the tourist information office (5) or any public transport ticket office - buys you 72 hours on trams, tubes and buses, and reduced admission to most museums. One of the greatest pleasures in Vienna is riding around the Ringstrasse on an old fashioned tram. Many of the city's finest buildings can be seen from tram 1 (clockwise) or 2 (anticlockwise), including the bombastic Opera (9) and the Hofburg (10) - the spectacular palace of the vanquished Hapsburg monarchy.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

The best place to sample Vienna's multicultural heritage is the Naschmarkt. Between Karlsplatz (11) and Kettenbrückengasse U-Bahn station (12), a row of antiquated wooden huts house everything from fruit and vegetable stalls to proper sit-down restaurants, where you can eat food from all around the world.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

Austria's most arresting modern artists, Klimt and Schiele, rub shoulders at the splendid Leopold Museum (13) on Museumsplatz (00 43 1 525 700; www.leopoldmuseum.org). It opens 10am-6pm daily except Tuesday (to 9pm on Thursdays), admission €9 (£6.50). For a more unusual display, head for KunstHausWein (14) on Untere Weissgerberstrasse, by the Danube Canal (00 43 1 712 0491; www.kunsthauswien.com). Designed by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, this former factory is filled with his dreamlike paintings and eccentric architectural plans. Hundertwasser may strike you as an old hippy (he certainly looked like one) but as you wander through this retrospective, you realise he actually spoke a lot of sense. His ecological philosophy was remarkably prophetic, and - having lost 69 relatives in the Holocaust - he had a better reason than most of us to bang on about love and peace. The museum opens 10am-7pm daily, admission €9 (£6.50) - half price on Mondays.

WINDOW SHOPPING

As its name suggests, the MuseumsQuartier on Museumsplatz has more than its fair share of museums, but like London's South Bank it's also a great place to go shopping. The Leopold Museum (13) and the Museum of Modern Art (15) both have their own shops, but there are also some super boutiques and record shops, all housed in the old stables of the Hapsburgs' imperial parade ground. Also, head to Wiedner Haupstrasse on the south side of Karlsplatz (11), where the Viennese go shopping.

AN APERITIF

A Viennese café isn't just somewhere you go to drink a cup of coffee. It's more like a communal living room. You can play billiards or read the papers, and the waiters never try to hurry you out. The more famous (Sacher, Landtmann, Central, Mozart) are now more like posh restaurants, but there are plenty off the beaten track that still retain their old nonchalant élan. My favourite is Sperl (16), a fin de siècle hideaway at Gumpendorferstrasse 11 (00 43 1586 4158; www.cafesperl.at). It's the ideal retreat for kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake) - the Austrian equivalent of high tea.

DINING WITH THE LOCALS

Kim Kocht (17) at Lustkandlgasse 6 (00 43 1 319 0242; www.kimkocht.at) is the brainchild of Sohyi Kim, a petite Japanese-Korean woman. Her intimate restaurant is in the heart of Vienna's nightclub district. Her quirky cooking is an exciting mix of East and West - her zingy seafood dishes are especially delicious. Three courses cost €42 (£30).

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

You will adore the Karlskirche (18). In 1713, Emperor Karl VI of Austria promised that if Vienna survived the latest plague he'd build a church dedicated to the Patron Saint of Plagues who just so happened to share the Emperor's Christian name. The result was this baroque meisterwerk, a flamboyant jumble of Doric columns and Italianate domes and arches. It's open to visitors every day; Sunday services at 10am, noon and 6pm.

A WALK IN THE PARK

Vienna's biggest public park is the Prater, which has its own U-Bahn station (19) and has been the city's playground since 1766. You'd never guess this was where the SS made their desperate last stand against the invading Red Army. Today this former battlefield contains a football stadium, planetarium, miniature railway and a slightly seedy funfair, but British film buffs come here to ride the Reisenrad (20), that iconic Ferris wheel immortalised in The Third Man. A Sunday morning alternative is to wander through the Stadtpark in the centre of Vienna. As you walk across this pretty park, between Stadtpark and Stubentor U-Bahn stations, you'll pass the statues of Johann Strauss and Franz Schubert, which personify the spirit of this festive yet melancholy city.

OUT TO BRUNCH

Café Berg (21) Berggasse 8 (00 43 1 319 5720; www.cafe-berg.at) is the perfect spot for brunch, any time from 10am to 3pm. Gay and straight punters mingle comfortably in this stylish local café. The Parisian breakfast (€10/£7.15) comes with a complimentary condom. It's on the same street as Sigmund Freud's old apartment at Berggasse 19 (22), where the founder of psychoanalysis lived for nearly 50 years - and which today is an atmospheric and fascinating museum (00 43 1 319 1596; www.freud-museum.at). It opens 9am-6pm daily, admission €8.50 (£6).

TAKE A HIKE

The Austrian author Brigitte Timmermann organises walking tours of Vienna (00 43 1 774 8901; www.viennawalks.com) covering every aspect of the city. Her Third Man tour, exploring the locations from the classic Carol Reed movie, departs from Stadtpark U-Bahn station (23) at 4pm on Fridays and Mondays. It costs €16 (£11.40) and lasts 150 minutes. The 90-minute Jewish Vienna tour sets off from Schwedenplatz (24) on Mondays at 1.30pm, price €12 (£8.60).

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