Vienna's new rhythm
As enchanting as it can be while adorned by flickering Christmas lights and mulled wine-serving stalls, Vienna holds a bursting creative soul worth visiting all year round. Contemporary art finds home in neoclassical palaces, while a new wave of specialty coffee sits alongside old grand coffeehouses still pouring decadent Wiener Melange into ceramic mugs. Old and new seem perfectly happy to coexist rather than competing, giving the city a kind of synergy increasingly hard to find elsewhere.
It is often hard to look beyond Vienna's imperial image. And while fairytale-like palaces and opera houses remain an integral part of the city’s identity, there’s a different creative pulse running through the Austrian capital’s districts. “It doesn’t reveal itself immediately in the way London, Paris or Madrid might,” says gloobles friend Cristina Moreno de la Cova, who has made the city her home. “There’s a very interesting, creative and international side to Vienna, but you often find it behind doors rather than on the surface.”
It’s a spirit Roland Hamberger, Rosewood Vienna’s Managing Director, has watched develop since arriving in Vienna in the late 1990s. "Many imagine it only as a backdrop of palaces and classical concerts. And that used to be what people looked for when I moved here. The opening of MuseumsQuartier in 2001 was a turning point, and I still can remember how controversial the project was, but it opened the world of contemporary art in Vienna,” he told us. “Over the years, I've seen more independent voices emerge: young artists, designers, chefs, and creatives using the city's history as their material. What excites me most is how they reinterpret the idea of 'Old Vienna' – typography, flea-market finds, historic shopfronts and old photographs – and weave those references into galleries, restaurants, bars and temporary installations."
That same philosophy has become part of Rosewood Vienna. Within its walls, set across four historical buildings on Petersplatz, even the smallest detail seems to perfectly mirror the Vienna Roland describes. Colourful pop art and photography from local artists adorn the marble corridors, with crystal Lobmeyr chandeliers illuminating the suites – including the very one where Mozart is said to have met his future wife, Constanze.
Bespoke Art Deco minibars, inspired by the city’s Secessionist movement, are filled with original 1920s postcards, crystal trinkets, and a Nespresso machine wrapped in supple leather by Scheer Massschuhe, a nearby shoemaker whose family has practiced the craft for seven generations. In the gallery-like lobby turned-cafè, rotating works from the Nitsch Foundation hang high on the walls – including a monumental light installation by mischer'traxler studio – in a seamless dialogue between modernity and heritage. Even the patterns woven into the wallpaper, etched onto crystal glassware and printed on the coasters were rediscovered from the archives of a historic Austrian weaving company, carrying the city's craftsmanship into every little corner – references that can also be spotted throughout the permanent collections of MAK, Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts, spanning historical furniture, textiles, glass, ceramics, and contemporary design.
Beyond the hotel doors, it's easy to get lost within the Innere Stadt district, wandering its maze-like streets filled with the clinking of coffee cups from Café Korb and the aroma of freshly baked pretzels drifting from Grimm around the corner. But continuing west past the horse-drawn fiakers, the grand façade of the Albertina, and the Burggarten – where the Viennese picnic beneath the Palm House – the city gradually sheds its imperial grandeur. Lining Burggasse, independent boutiques, artists' studios and small galleries sit behind cream-coloured 19th-century buildings. Among them is Die Sellerie, a concept store founded in 2010 by designers and art directors Patrick Bauer and Georg Leditzky. Its charming selection brings together European design and art, from fine-art prints and handcrafted ceramics to whimsical homeware and textiles, alongside the founders' own collection, designed in house and produced in Austria.
Just around the corner, the boutique hotel Altstadt Vienna channels the same creative spirit through its eclectic interiors and ever-changing art collection, before the neighbourhood spills onto the terrace of Tian Bistro am Spittelberg. Here locals sip strawberry Spritzes as they wait for entirely plant-based sharing plates to arrive, including a mouthwatering Pom Bourguignon with shallots and spätzle – an unexpected delight in a city where Wiener Schnitzel still reigns supreme. On the same theme of breaking away from tradition, tucked away in the nearby Raimundhof courtyard in Mariahilf, CAFE GLAS is part of the new wave of specialty cafés that have found a home around the Neubau district. Housed in a striking glasshouse, it pours iced flat whites alongside freshly glazed cardamom buns – perfect before a visit to the photography museum WestLicht and its Hai Bar (named after the giant shark suspended behind the counter) or a stop at blumenkraft, an art studio-meets-florist where sculptural bouquets are as carefully composed as the space itself.
This growing appetite for the new is perhaps most visible around the city's dining tables. For Nuriel Molcho, co-founder of NENI, Vienna's changing culinary scene is part of what has made the capital feel increasingly alive. “Vienna for a long time was very slow in picking up trends, in becoming a younger, cooler city,” he says. “But in the last five years, a lot of young people have started opening cool restaurants, creating cool events, doing cool things.” He has watched the city's dining culture open up from a time when Middle Eastern food was largely reduced to hummus and falafel to a more diverse scene shaped by international flavours and emerging creatives. Yet his connection to Vienna goes beyond food. “It’s small enough to be cute and peaceful, but big enough to still be a world city,” he says. On a Saturday, he heads to Naschmarkt for breakfast, where, as he puts it, “the city lives and comes alive.”
But Vienna's culinary evolution doesn't mean turning its back on tradition. While strolling towards the leafy Stadtpark, on Meierei’s terrace fluffy Kaiserschmarrn and milk-fed veal Wiener Schnitzel are still served the old-fashioned way, with warm potato salad and the restaurant’s signature cloth-wrapped lemon. Set in a historic 1903 pavilion, the more relaxed sister of three-Michelin-starred Steirereck pays homage to Vienna's old milk-bar tradition, with an impressive selection of milks still making their way around the dining room on a drinks trolley. Alternatively, just a few steps from paper republic – a handcrafted leather notebook shop hidden in the passageway between Lugeck and Wollzeile – farm-to-table pioneer Labstelle champions seasonal cooking, with gently poached trout in horseradish broth among its ever-changing dishes. Since opening in 2013, owners Thomas Hahn and Gerald Reichel have kept the focus firmly on regional produce, allowing the seasons to shape the menu.
A bespoke cocktail and a lobster roll at THE1835 make for the perfect nightcap after a day of sightseeing, best enjoyed as the honey-hued sunset slips behind the emerald dome of St. Peter's Church. For something more old-world, the Blaue Bar, tucked inside the legendary Hotel Sacher behind blue velvet walls and candlelit tables, is the place for a martini in full tuxedo before wandering through the Innere Stadt after dark.
On warmer evenings, however, locals head to a Heuriger, one of Vienna's enduring rituals, for local wine and a view beyond the city centre. At Wieninger am Nussberg wooden tables are scattered among the green vineyards of the city’s 19th district – a corner few visitors expect to find, and a reminder that Vienna is one of the few European capitals where vineyards still flourish within the city limits. Here, glasses of estate-grown Grüner Veltliner and Gemischter Satz are shared alongside generous charcuterie boards as the sun sinks behind the skyline and the waters of the Danube glow fiery red – a fitting Auf Wiedersehen to another perfect Viennese day.
Alessio Christian Melis
Duality has shaped Alessio’s life for as long as he can remember. Raised with the warmth of the Mediterranean Sea and the Dutch directness, our editor juggles between his Sardinian and Indonesian roots much like he moves from new-wave cafés to small, family-run warungs. Morocco and Java are among his favourite destinations, yet his heart will always belong to his home city, Cagliari. Despite his love for art and museums, he doesn’t shy away from a nature hike – provided there are enough stops along the way – and seeks out every local way to experience a place. As a recent branding and editorial graduate from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, when he’s not planning his next (overly) curated weekend trip – and the outfits to match – he can be found writing, reading, or doing both at the same time.
