traveldk.com

There are several adventure pools in Vienna, but the Diana-Tropicana is the only one that features dinosaurs and pirate ships. A waterslide that also goes upwards is great fun too.

When the medieval bastions around the inner city were knocked down at the end of the 19th century and the Ringstrasse was laid out, Theophil von Hansen constructed a building in the Italian Renaissance style in 1872–6 to house Vienna’s art school. The school, founded by Peter Strudel in 1692, moved here from the Strudelhof building on the academy’s completion. The Academy of Fine Arts became internationally famous for its training of painters, sculptors, architects, graphic artists and stage designers. It also houses a gallery of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish Old Masters, 19th-century Austrian works, and a copper etching collection of more than 60,000 prints and drawings (see p44).

The Augustin Church was built in 1327 in Gothic style. In the course of its history, many imperial weddings took place here, including Marie Louise’s marriage to Napoleon in 1810 and Franz Joseph I and Sisi’s wedding in 1851. But the church is most famous for its Herzerlgruft (hearts’ crypt) containing the hearts of Austria’s emperors.

A long staircase leads down to the Club Fledermaus, named after the bats (Fledermaus ) that would have inhabited Vienna’s cellars in the Middle Ages. Today it is frequented by night owls who invade the red velvet interior as one of the major party spots in town. There are events Wednesday to Sunday.

The Geymüller-Schlössel is a little gem off the beaten track. The entire summer palace, both inside and out, reflects the Biedermeier style. The palace is owned by the Museum for Applied Arts and houses a collection of some 170 clocks, among them an early Viennese flute clock (c.1800) playing music by Haydn.

Vienna is the only capital in the world where wine grapes are grown within the city boundaries – some 1,670 acres of vineyards are found here. The most widely known wine-growing community in the capital is Grinzing. Once a small vintners’ village on the outskirts of the city, it is today the hub of Heurigen , with crowds of both locals and tourists flocking to the wine taverns (see pp74–5). The narrow streets still boast an old-fashioned rural charm.

Fish and reptiles from all across the world have found a home in a former anti-aircraft tower in Esterhazypark. You can “journey” from the chilly North Sea to the Australian Great Barrier Reef, taking in the natural landscape en route. Very popular with kids is the sharks’ and piranhas’ feeding time in the “Amazon pool”, and stroking slippery, harmless snakes.

The composer Ludwig van Beethoven often came to Heiligenstadt to spend his summers – Vienna’s bourgeoisie favoured the area as a holiday resort in the late 18th century. Beethoven lived in various houses in Heiligenstadt. In 1802 he stayed at Probusgasse 6 and visited the nearby spa to gain relief for his deafness; when nothing helped he wrote the Heiligenstädter Testament, a desperate letter to his brothers. Today the house is a museum.

Situated on the former imperial hunting grounds of the Lainzer Tiergarten, Emperor Franz Joseph had this little palace built for his wife Elisabeth. Between 1882 and 1886 architect Karl von Hasenauer constructed the splendid villa with its opulent interior, and the imperial couple used to spend May and June here every year. Elisabeth’s bedroom, with a large 18th-century bed once owned by Maria Theresa, is painted with frescoes following Hans Makart’s designs of Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream . The villa’s name derives from the Hermes statue in the park.