Why Café Culture Makes Vienna Unique
City tripping through Europe quickly reveals that European capitals have a lot in common, and although all of Europe’s cities are magnificent, what sets apart one trip from the other are the unique quirks & opportunities that each city offers. Whether these are excellent shopping opportunities, amazing night life, or delicious cuisine the local culture permeates the city beyond historical landmarks, museums, architectural masterpieces and squares.
A bit of History
Vienna’s past as the seat of the Habsburg Empire – once one of the most influential and powerful monarchies in history- is evidenced by the royal architecture that is sprinkled all over the city. Although Vienna’s glamour would be enough for a traveler to fall in love with it, it’s the combination of such elegance with its distinctive coziness that sets it apart as a unique traveling experience.
In between all the grand buildings spread out throughout the city there are just as many coffee houses; ranging in style from fabulously furnished to retro & hipster. Local Viennese love to visit these cafés and lounge around in them making themselves at home- which is why they have been dubbed the living rooms of Vienna!
Great places for travellers
If you have ever found yourself exhausted from walking through the whole city while traveling, but you also don’t want to go back to the hotel, the Viennese cafés offer the perfect place to recharge batteries. While in other cities you might step into a café for a coffee and then go, the coffeehouses in Vienna are made to welcome people to stay the whole day. It can be said that these cafés are experts in coziness.
Always welcome
While cafés in Europe are usually only open during the day/early evening and specialize in hot drinks & some sweets, Vienna’s cafés are designed to always welcome guests no matter the mood. You could go to a café for breakfast, or for a coffee & cake, or even for some heavy dishes like schnitzel & potato salad and some beers. They are open from early in the morning to the early hours of the morning, some even let you stay all night if you want! You don’t have to feel like buying one drink after the other or leaving because the whole concept is to lounge all you want…but you probably won’t be able to order only one thing after seeing the menu.
Newspaper Culture
When you enter the cafés, you’ll see an area especially designed for all the newspapers they offer. That’s right, you don’t even have to worry about bringing your own newspaper! The cafés usually have a stand or carrousel with all the newspapers in German, and even a few in foreign languages. The newspapers are clipped to a wooden frame so that they’re easier to hold while you drink your coffee and they don’t get all crinkled while you try to fold them back. Just grab and borrow a newspaper and place it back before you leave.
The menus make you drool
Not only are the interiors of many of the Vienna cafés elegant and lavish, but the menus reflect this same spirit with dozens of choices for coffee mixes, dozens of teas, dozens of beautifully made cakes & pastries & in addition also some traditional Viennese savoury meals, snacks and drinks. A personal recommendation is the warm apfelstrudel (apple strudel) with vanilla sauce; typically Viennese. The sheer variety of options is enough to keep you there for half a day.
To learn more about how coffee houses developed into a staple of Vienna’s social & intellectual life (incl. some café recommendations), please read the upcoming post More history: The Vienna Coffee Houses.
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