The Viennese coffee house is an institution: it is not for nothing that Viennese coffee house culture was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2011. The traditional cafés are a place for debating, chatting, dreaming, laughing and enjoying. They were once a popular meeting place for famous personalities from the worlds of literature, art, music and politics. Friedrich Torberg even considered the coffee house to be the most important place in Viennese culture. We show you the Viennese cafés where you can soak up this unique flair. Two tips first: make sure you are hungry enough for a real Viennese pastry - and take the Vienna Welcome Card with you, as it gives you discounts in many coffee houses. 

Food for body and soul: Café Museum

Artists of the last century in particular loved to linger here: Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka were regulars at the Café Museum. Writers also enjoyed using the inspiring premises to exchange ideas over a large brown beer: Georg Trakl, Robert Musil and Joseph Roth were just a few of them. To this day, you can read the newspaper in peace and quiet at the Café Museum, enjoy specialty coffees, eavesdrop on conversations at the next table or simply let your thoughts wander. And in a nod to the old days, in addition to pastries, there is also food for the mind in the form of the “Literature in the Museum” reading series. Bonus: With the Vienna Welcome Card, you get a €2 discount on the trilogy of coffee, cake and mineral water. 

Listed building: Café Sperl

Café Sperl in the 6th district on the corner of Gumpendorfer Straße and Lehargasse awaits you with elegant coziness. The large windows offer a view of the street and the dark wooden furniture, combined with the red upholstery, conveys a warm and homely feeling. Once you've got a seat, you won't be giving it up any time soon. The current daily and monthly newspapers are available on the newspaper tables and you can also play a game of pool here. Those with a sweet tooth should definitely order the Café Sperl cake: a chocolate cake with milk chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and almond paste. Sundays from 3.30 pm are also particularly romantic, when your visit to the café is accompanied by piano music. Café Sperl opened its doors back in 1880 and is now a listed building. 

Simply cult: Café Central

It is probably the flagship of Vienna's historic coffee houses: welcome to Café Central, which with its unique architecture is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful traditional cafés. Bright arched windows meet marble vaults, leather wallpaper and fine wood paneling. In the middle, framed by columns, is a piano, which fortunately is not just there for decoration. This Viennese coffee house is on many tourists' to-do lists, so you can usually expect a queue. But the Central is not so popular for no reason - after all, Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, Stefan Zweig and Adolf Loos all came and went here, held their salons and made history - in the truest sense of the word. We highly recommend a visit, because you should at least have had a Melange in this cult café. 

With heart and Buchteln: Café Hawelka

“Wos macht a Nackerter im Hawelka?”, we can't answer this famous line from the Georg Danzer song, but we do know what you should do there: sip a big brown beer and nibble on Buchteln - dressed at best. Leopold and Josephine Hawelka opened Café Hawelka in 1939, and while Mrs. Josephine spoiled her customers with her famous Buchteln, Mr. Leopold greeted each of his guests with a handshake. And he did so for 70 years, until his death in 2011. His wife had already passed away six years earlier, dutifully on a Tuesday, the café's day of rest. Today, the coffee house is run by his grandchildren and attracts visitors with its original interior, dimmed lighting, a selection of newspapers and, of course, Mrs. Josephine's delicious Buchteln. 

Traditional charm: Café Mozart

Café Mozart, directly opposite the Albertina and just a few steps away from the State Opera, is also one of Vienna's most traditional coffee houses. This location has been home to a café since 1794, although it was only given its current name in 1929 in memory of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The coffee house embodies Viennese elegance, where locals and tourists alike relax in a stylish ambience. With its marble tables, crystal chandeliers and classic Viennese coffee house music, it is not only a meeting place for artists, writers and intellectuals, but also a symbol of time-honored Vienna. Café Mozart is known for its excellent coffee specialties, homemade pastries and an atmosphere that exudes a touch of nostalgia. And here, too, you can enjoy discounts on coffee, cake and mineral water with the Vienna Welcome Card.

Opposite City Hall: Café Landtmann

The guest list at this Viennese coffee house reads like a poem: from Marlene Dietrich, Max Reinhardt and Romy Schneider to Sir Paul McCartney, Café Landtmann has welcomed them all. Nowadays, on the other hand, you can often meet the protagonists of Viennese politics and business. With the best view of the Burgtheater and City Hall, the Schanigarten is a great place to sit or sit elegantly in the elegant four walls. The café is also a popular meeting place in the evening to get in the mood for an upcoming visit to the theater or to round it off in an atmospheric setting. We particularly recommend the in-house patisserie, which is also supplied to numerous other restaurants: The vegan Schokoguglhupf and the Esterházy Torte are to die for. With the Vienna Welcome Card, you also get a 10% discount on these. 

Have you had a little too much pastry and now need a savory treat? In this article you will find the best schnitzel in Vienna. And here we show you the best way to get around Vienna by public transport.

By the way: with the Vienna Welcome Card, you can also save a lot of money when it comes to mobility.