Vienna in January 2026

Vienna is an odd city.

It looks so pristine, so perfect, so orderly and beautiful, that its easy to miss how insane the history is. This is the city of cake, gold leaf and classical music, but its also the city of inbred kings, depressed princesses, dictators in cafes, neuroticism, paintings of beheadings, and some of the most interesting modern art of the earliest 20th century. Honestly one of the most interesting histories of any city I've been to (but then again I'm obsessed with the Hapsburgs so that had to be expected haha)

I loved it. I get the impression Vienna is a bit like Paris in that some people love it or hate it, but never b​efore have I been to a city that has such a perfect combination of understated elegance and the kind of melancholy you'd find in a Gothic novel.

1. A street in the 1st district
2. The imperial state library
3. A room at Schönbrunn palace​
4. Statue of Strauss at the city park​
5. ​Kleines Cafe
6. Reception hall at the opera house
7. A sphynx at the belvedere
8. Interesting contemporary art at the Belvedere
9. An interesting tower in the city centre
10. A bezoar -- this is a goat stomach stone said to have healing properties!
11. Vienna Secession House
12. A skull at the imperial crypt
13. Augustinerkirche
14. The (alleged) crown of Charlemagne