10 Iconic Buildings and Places in Vienna

Schönbrunn Palace, which directly translates to beautiful spring palace, is a historic building that once served as the summer residence of the House of Habsburg. Today, this palace is preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that you can visit to see its remarkably well-maintained architecture and interior.

The palace features 1,441 rooms and baroque architecture designed in the rococo style. When you visit this centuries-old palace, you can explore the elaborate interior and impressive gardens surrounding the building. It's all accessible a few miles west of the city centre.

St Stephen's Cathedral is a massive cathedral and influential Catholic church that sports an alluring Romanesque and Gothic architectural style. This church is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the archbishop.

One of the first things you might notice when visiting is its multicolored tile roof, which makes it stand apart from many other churches. It dates back to 1160 when it was completed, though many extensions have been added in the centuries since. You'll find it near the city centre just south of the Bermuda Triangle neighbourhood.

Belvedere Palace is a building complex where you'll find 2 baroque palaces, the Lower Belvedere and Upper Belvedere, that both offer stunning architecture. The lower area here dates back to the early 18th century and is best known for its stunning gardens.

Upper Belvedere, meanwhile, was constructed around the same time as its lower counterpart. Inside, you'll find incredible sculpture work as well as some valuable pieces of art. The Marble Hall is home to a stunning ceiling painting created by Carlo Carlone. It's located in Fasanviertel.

The Vienna State Opera is an incredible opera house that's massive in size and still holds regular performances despite its age. The opera house was built in 1869 and has been showcasing incredible performances ever since. To this day, it's home to its own opera company along with an orchestra and ballet company.

When you visit this attraction, you can simply enjoy the architecture with its Renaissance Revival style, but you may want to consider actually seeing a show. There are over 1,700 seats available, but you still may want to book ahead. You can get to it around the southern end of the city centre near the Karlsplatz metro station.

The Hofburg is an old imperial palace you can tour to see impressive architecture that has evolved and expanded over the centuries. The oldest parts of the palace date back to the 13th century, but several wings have been added in the years since, and most of it is open for tours.

Quite a few famous architects have worked on the expansions throughout the centuries. You'll find work from Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini along with Lukas von Hildebrandt's baroque stylings. Plus, you'll find an immense statue of Archduke Charles out front. See it for yourself in Kärntner Viertel near the center of town.

The MuseumsQuartier is a popular neighbourhood where, as the name suggests, you'll find a lot of different museums to explore housed within baroque and modernist buildings. A lot of the buildings here are relatively modern compared with others elsewhere in the city, but you'll still find a few historical sites.

Among the attractions here, you'll find Kunsthalle Wien and the Leopold Museum. Mumok is quite unique as well with its grey-brick facade. While the buildings alone are impressive, don't forget to look inside the museums as well. You'll find it all east of Laimgrube and west of the city centre.

Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien is one of the most acclaimed art museums in the city and the country as a whole with an impressive architectural style. Visiting this museum will put you among 19th-century Renaissance Revival design.

The exterior of the building is impressive enough, but you'll also find a lavish interior with stucco ornamentation and gold-leaf decor. Murals are popular throughout as well, and the octagonal dome above the rotunda is 60 meters high. See it for yourself just east of St Ulrich's Church.

Karlskirche Church is a stunning historical church that sports baroque architecture along with incredible workmanship that you can get up close to and appreciate. The church was built in the 18th century under the reign of Emperor Charles VI in stylish baroque fashion.

When you visit this church, you can take a lift up to the panorama to look at the dome paintings up close and see the hidden beauty of this building. Plus, it offers some impressive views of the city. It's located in north-eastern Wieden south of the city centre.

Heldenplatz is a scenic public square in front of a palace where you can relax and take in the local history, which had some low points to it. This square was the site of an infamous speech made by Hitler declaring the area as part of the German Reich.

When you visit today, you'll find a diverse array of people traveling about, and you may even be able to enjoy some events depending on what time of year you visit. Art installations are also popular here, with many of them working to contradict the speech that made the square historically famous. It's located in front of Hofburg Palace south of the Herrengasse metro station.

Danube Tower is a remarkably tall tower and one of the tallest in all of Austria with a viewing platform that lets you see out for miles. This tower reaches a height of 252 meters, and its viewing platform lets you see some of the best sights in town.

From the viewing platform, you'll be able to see even more iconic buildings, including the skyscrapers of Donau City. Consider visiting at night to see the sea of lights stretching over the city. You'll find the tower east of the city centre across the Danube River.