Vienna International Guide - Austrian Lifestyle, Travel, Arts, Culture

Get updated news about developments in Vienna's inter-cultural environment: lifestyle, travel destinations, art exhibitions, restaurant- & event-suggestions

"Alles Oper!" at the Vienna Opera Ball 2019

Every year, the Vienna Opera Ball (Wiener Opernball) at the Vienna State Opera is one of the social highlights of the ball season during the Vienna Carnival. With more than 5000 attendees, the ball is one of Austria's largest meeting places for creative artists, entrepreneurs and politicians from Austria and abroad. 144 couples from Austria and beyond will open the ball this year. The evening, often referred to as the "highlight of the ball season", will take place this year on Thursday, 28 February 2019 for the 63rd time after the Second World War.

February 15, 2019

Overseas Chinese in Vienna Celebrate Spring Festival and Start of Year of the Earth Pig

The Chinese Ambassador to Austria, H.E. Li Xiaosi and the Director General of UNIDO, Mr. Li Yong, toasted the Chinese New Year together with Mayor Ludwig and other Viennese Overseas Chinese.

February 13, 2019

The Chinese New Year of the Earth Pig - What Does it Mean?

Since 5 February 2019 we are in the year of the pig according to the Chinese zodiac sign. Celebrated not just in China but overseas in Chinese communities across the world, including Vienna, custom sees every year characterised by one of the 12 spirit animals of the Chinese zodiac. The festivities typically run for two weeks, from New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month.

February 13, 2019

What Does No-Deal Brexit Really Mean for British-Austrian Travel Behaviour?

As of March 29, 2019 at 11.00 p.m. (UTC Universal Time Coordinated) or March 30, 2019 at 00:00 (CET Central European Time) the United Kingdom is no longer an EU member and is to be treated as such by Austria. In order to close the legal gaps in the course of a disorderly Brexit, a comprehensive law is in preparation. This law will be subject to numerous amendments in several Austrian ministries. The main areas affected are civil rights (in particular right of residence, social security), transport and customs. In following we look at the effects of the No-Deal-Brexit on travel behaviour.

February 13, 2019

Koloman Moser - All-Rounder of the Vienna Secession

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of one of the great visionaries of Viennese Modernism, Koloman Moser, both the MAK-Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and the Theatermuseum pay tribute to his work. Both exhibitions can be seen until April.

February 7, 2019

Filipinos in Vienna Celebrated the Sinulog Festival

The Filipino diaspora in Vienna, Austria celebrated the Sinulog-Santo Niño Festival, which is an annual cultural and religious festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, and is the centre of the Santo Niño Catholic celebrations in the Philippines.

February 1, 2019

Vienna Opera Ball - Provide your Kids with the Chance to Debut at the Ball

The Ball of Balls in the magnificent building of the Vienna State Opera is regarded as the meeting place of international celebrities in Vienna and is a social event of the first order. Offer your children aged 17 to 24 the opportunity to open the Opera Ball together with 150 couples. We show you how to do it.

January 31, 2019

Vienna is Europe's Greenest Capital City

A new study has ranked 25 of Europe’s capitals on 10 green factors to reveal the continent’s most eco-friendly capital cities. Vienna - how else could it be expected - has once again emerged as the number one.

January 30, 2019

Irish Ryanair Acquires Austrian Laudamotion Completely

The Austrian Niki-Airline successor Laudamotion has now been taken over 100% by Ryanair. Ryanair last held three quarters of the shares of Laudamotion. No information was given about the price for the remaining 25 percent.

January 29, 2019

Hallstatt App 2.0 - Protective Measures against Chinese Tourists

The Upper Austrian community defends itself against too many tourists, especially from China and South Korea. Since the Chinese built an exact copy of the city in Guangdong Province, and the South Koreans partly shot a soap opera in Hallstatt, the popularity of the Dachstein community has increased enormously. As a result, more and more tourists come to Hallstatt as part of a bus tour classic with 4 destinations including Hallstatt. In the previous year there were exactly 19,344 coaches. For the first time in the history of Austria, a town is now defending its friendly visitors by implementing the new "Traffic Concept Hallstatt 2018" and by strictly controlling the entrance to the town centre.

January 29, 2019

Haus der Geschichte Österreich - Evaluation by a Team of Experts

The recently opened House of Austrian History is intended to present the history of Austria from the middle of the 19th century to as broad an audience as possible, with a special focus from 1918 to the present day in its European and international context. A team of experts met for the first time and will present a concept for the long-term design of the institution until the summer.

January 28, 2019

Vienna Airport Surpasses 27 Million Passengers for the First Time

Vienna International Airport was able to handle 27 million passengers for the first time last year, a year-on-year increase of 10.8%. The top destinations were London, Moscow and Bangkok. 74 airlines serve 205 destinations in 71 countries. In the ranking of airlines as measured by their share of overall passenger volume, Austrian Airlines was followed by Eurowings (incl. Germanwings), the easyJet Group, Lufthansa and Laudamotion. The increase in the number of passengers in 2019 is estimated at 10%.

January 28, 2019

Austrian Tourism: 45 Mio. Arrivals and 150 Mio. Overnight Stays in 2018 - Germans Return

With 149.75 million overnight stays in Austrian accommodation establishments, a new record was reached in 2018. Compared to the previous year, overnight stays increased by 5.25 million (+3.6%). At +5.0% (56.26 million), the number of overnight stays by Germans rose disproportionately strongly.

January 24, 2019

Indexation of Family Benefits: "There are no second-class children in the EU"

The EC European Commission opens an infringement procedure against Austria, as it pays families less child benefit if their children live in another EU country with a lower cost of living.

January 24, 2019

Austria's Religious Controversy over Good Friday Holiday - Statement of the ECJ

The judgement of the European Court of Justice published yesterday is now available at Vindobona.org and can be reviewed by interested parties. According to Chancellery Minister and Austrian People's Party government coordinator Gernot Blümel, the Austrian federal government will also do the same, according to which the status quo will be maintained and no new holiday will be introduced. But until Austria changes the clause, employers would have to grant all employees the right to a holiday on Good Friday. If employees could not make themselves free, they would be entitled to additional pay.

January 23, 2019

Population Development - City of Vienna at 1.9 Million Inhabitants

Last year Vienna grew by 11,000 inhabitants. The birth surplus was 4,000, the migration gain 7,000. Immigration from Great Britain was disproportionately high due to Brexit fears. Serbia is the strongest group of immigrants. The influx of refugees has fallen back to the level before the wave of refugees. In 2027 about 2 million people will live in Vienna.

January 22, 2019

New Twin City Liner to Connect the Danube Metropolises of Vienna and Bratislava

A new, larger and more modern fast catamaran will be operating between Vienna and Bratislava with the start of the season on 29 March 2019.

January 19, 2019

Hollywood in Austria's Mountains - Avalanche Drama Film Follows Current Avalanche Danger

In Tyrol, a Hollywood drama about a married couple whose perfectly believed family life gets completely out of balance when they barely escape an avalanche is currently in the making. Austrian film funding supports the production of "Downhill" with Will Farell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. With a shooting time of 8 weeks, an added value of 7 million Euros and 10,000 overnight stays is expected.

January 18, 2019

WU Ball 2019 at the Vienna Imperial Palace

The ball of the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business 2019 was once again a dynamic and unforgettable dance rendezvous between industry and economics.

January 14, 2019 · Updated: January 15, 2019; 11:50 · Sponsored Content

US Filmmaker Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf Go Wild as Guest Curators at the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts

The American director Wes Anderson, known from films such as "The Grand Budapest Hotel" or most recently "Isle of Dogs", and his partner, the writer and costume designer Juman Malouf, were invited by the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts (KHM - Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien) to design an exhibition according to their taste. The result is an exhibition entitled "Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures".

January 10, 2019

UN Gets Christmas Tree from the City of Vienna - The VIC Will Be 40 Years Old in 2019

Every year the Viennese city administration provides the VIC - Vienna International Centre (UNO-City) with a Christmas tree, punch, zither music and a gingerbread craft station to create a pre-Christmas atmosphere.

December 20, 2018

Austrian-Ukrainian Bilateral Cultural Agreement in Preparation

A new agreement between Austria and Ukraine is to promote cooperation in the fields of art and culture as well as education and science.

December 19, 2018

Largest Viennese Ice Rink of All Times on Two Floors

A total of 9,000 square meters of ice, spread over two levels. The Vienna Ice Dream (Wiener Eistraum) is growing and will offer for the first time in the coming season the "Sky Rink", an opportunity to race across the ice on two levels.

December 19, 2018

Ed Ruscha at the Vienna Secession - "Double Americanisms"

American artist associated with the pop art movement, Edward Joseph Ruscha had a decisive influence on the development of art in the USA from the 1950s onwards and with it on the current understanding of contemporary art. The exhibition at the Vienna Secession shows fifty-seven of his works. It marks the public debut of a new series of linguistic paintings. Used parchment drumheads are inscribed with locutions whose shared feature is the use of a double negation - "I Ain't Telling You No Lie," for example, and "I Can't Find My Keys Nowhere."

December 17, 2018

Expansion and Modernization of Hilton Vienna am Stadtpark

The Hilton Vienna Parkview, the third-largest Hilton Hotel in Europe with a total usable space of around 50,000 square metres on a total of fifteen floors, is being developed and comprehensively modernised by the Vienna Invester Group as a developer and Hilton International while it continues to operate. The modernisation work will start at the beginning of 2019 and completion is scheduled for the end of 2020. With the completion of the expansion, the current capacity of 579 rooms is to be expanded to 660 rooms. So far, no information has been provided on the investment sum.

December 14, 2018

American Christmas Gospel in the Viennese Karlskirche

What would the Advent season be without music? Until Christmas there is still the possibility to enjoy a special listening pleasure. In the Karlskirche, gospel music is performed that is otherwise only celebrated in masses in the USA. The feeling of Harlem, St. Louis and Jersey fascinates every spectator and is a musical feast for the ears, which, in addition to the smell of gingerbread and the pleasure of punch, creates a Christmas mood of a special kind.

December 14, 2018 · Sponsored Content

Three Americans in Vienna: Model - Arbus - Goldin

Three great American photographers, Lisette Model, Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin whose images radically expanded contemporary perspectives on society, are the theme of an exhibition at the Galerie Westlicht.

December 14, 2018

Leonard Bernstein - "I am enjoying Vienna enormously - as much as a Jew can"

An exhibition in the Jewish Museum Vienna to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the star conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein focuses on the New Yorker’s relationship with the music city of Vienna, looks at the great artist’s Jewish roots, and also pays homage to his political activities.

December 14, 2018

How Europe Works - EU Council Presidency Invites to Open Day

Austria holds the EU Presidency until the end of the year. The majority of conferences at ministerial and civil servant level are held at the ACV Austria Center Vienna. ACV now opens its doors and invites all interested parties to get to know the premises of the EU Presidency first hand.

December 7, 2018

Christmas in Vienna 2018

Christmas in Vienna is one of the most renowned Christmas concerts. Every year, the concert programme fascinates with the varied interplay of classical Christmas songs and popular Christmas music from all over the world. This year it will get international with a medley of Russian, Italian, American and French Christmas carols, as a "Special Guest" Jose Feliciano will finally perform "Feliz Navidad".

December 7, 2018 · Sponsored Content

Pandas of Schönbrunn Zoo Vienna on their Journey to Sichuan, China

The two-year-old panda twins Fu Feng and Fu Ban, born in Vienna, relocated to Sichuan Province in China in transport boxes and by airplane as originally planned.

December 6, 2018

Bratislava - Vienna Railway Line Extended

The two EU capitals Vienna and Bratislava are approaching each other. After a construction period of about two years, representatives of Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), the EU, the City of Vienna and the Province of Lower Austria opened the first part, the so-called "Vienna section" of the Vienna - Bratislava line extension. The completion of the second part, the so-called "Lower Austrian Section", will last until 2023. The journey time from the main railway station in Vienna (Hauptbahnhof-Wien) to the main railway station in Bratislava (Bratislava hlavná stanica) will be reduced from 66 minutes to 40 minutes.

December 5, 2018

Opening of Austrian Cultural Forum Sarajevo - Strengthening of Cultural Ties

104 years after the murder of the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Austria opens the 30th Austrian Cultural Forum in the Bosnian capital. The Cultural Forum (Österreichisches Kulturforum Sarajewo / Austrijski kulturni forum Sarajevo) is part of the network of the Foreign Ministry. The aim is to strengthen the cultural links between South Eastern Europe and Austria.

December 4, 2018

19th Century Japan - Place of Western Longing and Enthusiasm

The exhibition "Fascination Japan" of the Kunstforum is dedicated to "Japomania" - the Western world's enthusiasm for the aesthetics and imagery of the Far East. It traces the development from the fascination for the exotic, the novel, from the beginnings in the 1860s until well after the turn of the century, to its amalgamation into the formal vocabulary of Western painting, the influence of its aesthetics on the development of modernism around 1900.

November 5, 2018 · Updated: November 23, 2018; 17:00

First BMW Z4 'Made in Austria' Has just Rolled off the Production Line

The new BMW Z4 has been rolling off Magna Steyr's production line for a few days now. The sporty roadster is produced exclusively in Austria for the entire world market. The BMW Z4 is - besides the BMW 5 Series - already the second BMW car that is currently produced in Austria. This emphasizes and strengthens the BMW Group's commitment to Austria as a business location.

November 22, 2018

Expat Survey: Vienna for Expats Highly Attractive and Newcomer-Friendly

A study commissioned by the City of Vienna confirms that four out of five international professionals and executives who came to Vienna had a good or very good start. 93.9 percent confirm the city's high international attractiveness, 89.3 percent would recommend Vienna as an expat destination.

November 22, 2018

Vienna's Schönbrunn Zoo is Europe's Best

The Schönbrunn Zoo in the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace in the 13th district of Vienna was founded by the Imperial Habsburgs in 1752. At 266 years of age, it is not only the oldest zoo in the world to still exist, but has also been named Europe's best zoo for the fifth time in succession. The zoo scores above all with the successful keeping of the Giant Pandas. Second and third place go to Leipzig Zoo and Zurich Zoo.

November 16, 2018

American International School Vienna: "The United Nations is rather similar to the AIS"

Students and nursery-school children came together at the AIS American International School for the celebration of the UN Day.

November 15, 2018

Happiness Index - Life Satisfaction in Austria Remains Strong

A current study paints a differentiated picture of prosperity and progress in Austria. Subjective life satisfaction remains at a high level. In an EU comparison, Austria ranks fourth in terms of GDP per capita.

November 15, 2018

Ukrainian Week - Connecting Ukrainians and the United Nations

The Ukrainian Week at the United Nations will be organized from 12 to 16 November 2018 at the Vienna International Centre (VIC) with an overall purpose of promoting women´s empowerment and leadership, while introducing and widely popularizing Ukrainian culture and artists at the UN community. Do not miss a fantastic opportunity to taste the colors of Ukraine.

November 1, 2018

Japan's Largest Airline ANA Expands Service Between Tokyo and Vienna

The Japanese ANA - All Nippon Airways relies on Vienna as its European hub for business flights to Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Poland and is expanding its range of services as a result of the facilitation provided by the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

October 31, 2018

What We Can Learn From War

The aim of a special exhibition on "war. tracing an evolution" at the Natural History Museum (NHM - Naturhistorischen Museums Wien) is to make the phenomenon of "war" tangible on the basis of historical evidence. The big questions "Does man learn from his history?", "What is aggression?", "Since when has war existed?" and "Is war inevitable because it is human?" are to be answered.

October 31, 2018

What Do You Know About the Austrian National Day?

The Austrian National Day (Nationalfeiertag) has been celebrated annually since 1965 on 26 October, the day on which the decided Austrian neutrality came into force in 1955 and the last occupying powers left Austria. The Parliament, the Office of the Federal President, the Federal Chancellery, the Foreign Ministry, etc. invite the public to the Open Day, which - this year - is dedicated to the commemoration year 1918. The public is invited to contribute their ideas. Take the chance to get to know Austria!

October 25, 2018

The First-Ever BMW X7 - A New Dimension in Spaciousness

The first-ever BMW X7 has been revealed and we have all the information you need to know about the company’s flagship Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV). Keep reading for the car’s full price, specs and release date.

October 25, 2018 · Sponsored Content

Austrian Airlines - More Women in the Cockpit and Daily Flights to Tokyo

Become one of the few female pilots at Austrian Airlines. A total of 100 fully-trained pilots are currently being sought. As part of its expansion, Lufthansa's subsidiary intends to significantly increase the proportion of women pilots. The airline is also expanding its services to Tokyo, namely six weekly flights from March 2019 and daily flights during the 2019 summer timetable.

October 25, 2018

Canada: New Daily Flight Connection from 2019

From 29 April 2019, Austrian Airlines will be flying daily to Montreal, the second-most populous municipality in Canada. Air Canada will assume flights on the Vienna-Toronto route.

October 22, 2018

Vienna City Tourist Attraction "Fiaker" at Risk of Termination

A last ride quickly? Fiakers belong to the classic tourist image of Vienna. The sightseeing tours through the historic streets at a leisurely pace are very popular with Vienna travellers. According to various media reports, however, a ban on horse-drawn carriages is being considered for downtown Vienna (1st district). The hooves of the horses and carts would cause about 800,000 Euros of damage annually. Are they now part of the cityscape or are they just animal cruelty?

October 19, 2018

Contemporary Artists from Vienna - Memories of the City where I Lived

Many Viennese Artists are intensively engaged with the city of Vienna, its history and society. Between humorous processing of clichés and critical examination of society, they have found many interesting ways to portray their typical Vienna.

October 17, 2018 · Sponsored Content

Agressive Southern Chinese Airline Launches Shenzhen-Vienna Service

The South Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines is pushing ahead with its expansion into Europe by adding Vienna - Shenzhen as the next non-stop route after Zurich at the end of August. The new twice-weekly flights will take off on October 20th, connecting Vienna with Shenzhen on Thursdays and Saturdays using the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (see picture).

October 12, 2018

Outlook - Chinese Tourists and the Destination Austria

With around 900,000 arrivals (+23%) and 1.3 million overnight stays (+25%) in 2017, China is Austria's most important Asian market of origin with the greatest growth potential. From January to July 2018, Austria also recorded record figures with around 542,000 arrivals (+ 8.2) and around 781,000 overnight stays (+ 11.5 %) from China.

October 3, 2018 · Updated: October 11, 2018; 22:55