This is a delightful little corner of Vienna you could easily miss even if you spent your while…read morelife in the city. But you definitely don't want to miss it! Over the years Yppenplatz has developed into a lovely place for people to come together. There are wonderful restaurants, a couple of artsy places and the classic Viennese Staud's marmelade store. You can spend an enjoyable morning or afternoon here and finish it all off with a trip next door to the Brunnenmarkt, an authentic market which, unlike many markets in Vienna, hasn't lost its ethnically diverse character. Personally, I like to treat myself to breakfast at An-Do or Rasouli, buy some fresh fruit and veg at the market and then stop by Halis Börek to pick up some sweetpotato börek for my kids. The wonderfully old-fashioned (in the experience-a-piece-of-history sense of the word) Kaffee Putz is a great place to stop in, too. Yppenplatz is an ideal example of true local character.

Gorgeous building. We visited right after Christmas and the square is filled with Christmas…read moremarkets, drinks, food and Christmas items. Definitely worth a visit

Christmas market is so expensive you will not find anything to buy under €10 there there are so…read moremany cheaper alternatives that you can find in Vienna don't go here if you're not rich you will save much money

Mariahilferstasse - Is the mother of all shopping streets in Vienna. No other street has better…read moreprices and more stores than this long avenue of fine shopping. The price range is also great for students as well. You can find all types of shops and items on Mariahilfer from US style shopping centers to tiny two customer boutiques. It's the pearl of shopping areas in Vienna and a great place to find museums, bars, restaurants and parks. This street as it all!

A lot less crowded since they turned it into a pedestrian zone. Now they just need to ban people…read moreriding their bikes and smoking.

When people think about WWII bombings, Vienna isn't one of the cities that come to mind…read moreimmediately. It wasn't bombed heavily until relatively late in the war, and though the city sustained a good bit of damage (20% of housing stock lost) it didn't see the widespread devastation of places like Dresden or Berlin. The damage has been fixed - though there were some impressive bullet/shrapnel holes in a building near our apartment. The Flakturn is one of the few tangible remnants - it rises out of a lovely residential neighborhood, stern and forbidding. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live here back then, to see this scary tower being constructed and then see it be put into use firing at Allied bombers night after night. Absolutely terrifying. Today, the reality is much different - thank goodness. The tower sits in the middle of a cute little park where dogs and children play and couples walk hand-in-hand. The tower itself has been repurposed as the highest artificial climbing wall in Europe, which is pretty cool. Absolutely worth short trip out from the center, especially for WWII buffs.

This is pretty much the main reason why I went to Vienna. I've been a fan of Pieter Bruegel since…read morehigh school and this museum has the largest collection of his art in the world. I pretty much spent an hour sitting and looking at their exhibition of his paintings. While most of the art here is Renaissance or just after (and mainly Dutch, German, Italian, and French), there's other good stuff as well. If you like Spanish paintings, there's a lot of Diego Velasquez. Many of the exhibits have German and English descriptions of the art, but there are some that just have German, especially the ancient Greek/Roman and Egyptian parts of the museum. Of course, there are exhibits on relics from the Austro-Hungarian empire. The second (or kinda third) floor of the museum does not have much in terms of exhibits but has an extensive coin collection from that former empire. I liked some of the model ships they had to entertain the royalty during their long dinner parties. Knowing that I would go to other museums, I opt-ed for the 7 Museums annual pass for 53 Euros (as of this writing). It's worth it only if you go to at least two other museums. Just going to the Neue Hofburg across the street and the Imperial Treasury further down will equal the price you paid. I went to those, along with going to Kunsthistorisches another time and Imperial Carriage Museum at Schoenbrunn Palace. You also get re-entry privileges in case you wanted to get some food, because the cafe seemed pretty "touristy" here. Note, this pass does not get you into the Sisi Museum (or related ones) There aren't a ton of restrooms at this museum, so plan accordingly. You could probably cover this museum in about 90 minutes.

We visited this museum in the afternoon of the same day when we had visited the Belvedere Museum in…read morethe morning. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd split up the two art museums on different days. This museum is adjacent to the Hofbrug palace. It was designed as a museum originally, and the Hapsburgs spared no expense on the interior decor. I think I bought tickets in advance, but they were not assigned a time (or even a date). It was just 'one entry'. I suppose that is thanks to the museum's interior size - rooms are generally huge so crowding probably isn't much of an issue. You enter from the front stairway and have your ticket checked. As at the Belvedere, you need to check large bags in lockers that cost 2 Euros but which return your coin at the end. The lobby is a circular tower. There is a hole up through several floors. The 2nd level is a cafe and you can take an elevator up to a 3rd level and have interesting views back down to part of the ground floor. The layout of the museum is on 2 floors. Most people ascend to the upper floor first as that is where the more famous works are located. Here you'll find paintings from the 1600s forward. You'll see works by Velazquez, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Reubens (among others). The audio guide here had the 'select a number' when you encounter a numbered work you wanted to learn more about. It was worthwhile. The rooms are large and the paintings are spread out enough to allow a good flow. I never felt claustrophobic in here. The main stairway up to this floor is breathtaking as well. The ground floor had Egyptian, Greek, and Roman stuff on one side. This also had the largest collection of Roman jewelry I've seen too (maybe the only large set of it). There was at least one room dedicated to all manner of rings, necklaces, etc.). On the other side / wing of this floor is an odd collection of small statues and other odds and ends from the Hapsburgs. This was my favorite art museum in Vienna. I would definitely recommend a visit.