Vienna

Vienna is often defined by its palaces, opera houses and grand Ringstrasse façades, but beneath the imperial splendour lies one of Europe’s most influential design cities. Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann and the Vienna Secession challenged convention here more than a century ago, leaving a legacy that still shapes contemporary architecture and interiors. Baroque palaces, Jugendstil masterpieces and elegant apartment buildings now coexist with bold new interventions, giving Vienna a creative tension that extends far beyond nostalgia for the Habsburg era.

Food and drink are inseparable from Viennese life. Historic coffee houses remain magnificent places to lose an afternoon over cake and newspapers, while traditional Beisln, wine taverns and grand dining rooms preserve a distinctly local rhythm. Alongside them, a younger generation of chefs, specialty coffee shops, natural wine bars and cocktail addresses is quietly rewriting the city’s culinary rules. And few capitals have vineyards within their city limits, making an evening at a traditional Heuriger an experience that is unmistakably Vienna.

Vienna’s most interesting hotels inhabit this meeting point between history and reinvention. Former banks, grand townhouses, Modernist buildings and historic landmarks have become distinctive places to stay, often combining original architecture with surprisingly adventurous interiors, restaurants and bars. At DNA Hotels, we curate the places that reveal Vienna beyond its imperial image—hotels where design, food, culture and a certain elegant eccentricity make the city feel very much alive.