Vienna for The Night Owls: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Gilt, gloom, and coffee that takes all afternoon.
The city after dark. Days start at noon, the real plan starts at nine: a concert, a cocktail bar with a door policy, a club worth the queue, and breakfast on the way home.
Friday: The canal, late dinner, Loos
- Strandbar Herrmann
Deckchairs and sand on the canal bank below the Urania, a Spritzer as the sun drops behind the Ringturm; the summer start to a Vienna night.
- Ulrich
A café-restaurant on a church square in the seventh, kitchen open late, burgers and a proper wine list, the terrace loud on a Friday.
- Loos American Bar
Adolf Loos's 1908 bar, onyx and mahogany in a room four metres wide, mirrors making it endless; a Manhattan, and a queue after midnight.
Saturday: Bread, jazz, the Forelle
- Joseph Brot
Brunch at the bakery's café, sourdough and eggs, a late breakfast that nobody raises an eyebrow at on a Saturday.
- Porgy & Bess
The jazz club in an old cinema, international names on a proper stage, a late second set; buy the ticket in the afternoon.
- Grelle Forelle
The techno club on the canal under the Spittelau incinerator, a serious sound system and a door that opens at eleven and closes at six.
Sunday: Breakfast on the Ring, the Augarten, the Gürtel
- Café Schwarzenberg
The oldest café on the Ring, open from half past seven, an egg and a Melange under the mirrors for the people who have not been to bed.
- Augarten
Baroque alleys and two flak towers in a park across the canal, a bench in the sun and the porcelain factory's café for a restorative coffee.
- Café Carina
A bar under the Stadtbahn arches on the Gürtel, a live band most nights and a Sunday crowd that treats Monday as a rumour.
Monday: Korb, the park, the Haus der Musik
- Café Korb
A 1950s coffeehouse behind the cathedral with an Apfelstrudel that matters and a basement art lounge; the first coffee at noon.
- Stadtpark
The gilded Strauss under his arch, the Wien river canalised through the lawns, and benches for a last half-hour of sun.
- Haus der Musik
A sound museum open daily, a virtual conductor who loses patience with you and the Philharmonic's archive; an hour before the airport train.