Dreams come true in Vienna

A fairytale landscape enhances the Christmas market outside Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace.

Vienna at Christmas is just as the imagination says it should be, with traditional decorations, festive markets a fairytale snow-covered landscape to adorn the city's rich heritage. And there's the chance of enjoying such outstanding performers as Vienna Boys' Choir, the Vienna Philharmonic, or seeing the magnificent prancing stallions of the Spanish Riding School.

Reality doesn't always match the ideal - last Christmas the Austrian capital basked in a mild and snow-free 9C. But in most respects the Viennese do Christmas extremely well.

The main day of celebration is Christmas Eve, and it is marked by a meal that puts the excess of the traditional New Zealand Christmas dinner to shame.

The Viennese like to get dressed up to the nines and dine at the city's plushest hotels.

A six-course dinner, with turkey as the main course, is the customary fare.

They also congregate at the colourful festive markets that dot the city. These serve not only as a source of Christmas gifts - toy bears are a standout - but as the meeting place for a convivial tot of gluhwein. The most impressive market is in front of the impressive town hall but, conveniently for visitors, there is also a sizeable market at Schonbrunn Palace, a must-see on the tourist map.

This summer residence of the Hapsburg dynasty, on the outskirts of the city, bears testimony to the grandeur and wealth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at its 18th-century peak, to rococo excess. Exquisite frescoes, porcelain and tapestries make this a royal residence as the imagination says it should be. As do the magnificent gardens, even if they are not at their best in midwinter.

Schonbrunn's vast size is a reflection of the ambition of the most famous of the Hapsburg dynasty, the Empress Maria Theresa, who ruled from 1740 to 1780. The palace swelled in size - as she did, to something like 140kg - and as her number of children grew to 16.

The major treasures of the empire are found in the centre of the city at the treasury of the Hofburg, the former imperial palace. It boasts a stunning collection of crowns, jewellery and the paraphernalia of royalty.

Also well worth a visit is the Belvedere Palace, once home to Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination at Sarajevo led to World War I and the downfall of the empire.

The palace has outstanding frescoes and an art collection that includes works by Monet, Rodin Manet and Van Gogh.

Vienna's past embraces the world's richest musical heritage. This is the city of Mozart, Strauss, Brahms, Schubert, Haydn and Beethoven. Strauss is celebrated by a notable golden statue in the Stadtplatz, while Mozart stands in the garden of the imperial palace. Vienna plays happily on this history. The visitor will be assailed with tickets to concerts featuring, in particular, the work of Mozart and Strauss.

Such concerts are difficult to resist, even if musicians in period costume give a strong clue to the element of kitsch on display.

By far the better course is to take go to the real thing at Vienna's imposing Opera House. At the very least take a guided tour of what, on the international scale of such establishments, is reckoned to be second only to Milan's La Scala. The Opera House is a combination of grand staircases and marble foyers and the mundane, the mundanity the result of repairing World War II damage during tight financial times.

Almost all tickets to the nightly ballet and opera performances are pre-sold, but a standing area is reserved for those willing to queue for a couple of hours before the concert. If you do that, the cost to watch performances of the highest quality, supported by the Vienna Philharmonic, is 2 or 3.50 ($3.90 to $6.80).

Those wanting to know more of Vienna's musical heritage should head for the Haus der Musik, a superb museum that devotes a room of copious information and displays to each of the city's great composers, from Haydn to Schoenberg.

For instance, when it comes to Beethoven, all of the peripatetic composer's 60 residences during his 35 years in Vienna are laid out on a giant street map.

Other interactive displays allow you to compose your own symphony through the throwing of a set of dice, or, more stressfully, to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. If you are useless at that, members of the orchestra are quick to call you a klutz - or something in German that sounds suspiciously like that.

The Haus der Musik has the added advantage of being one of the few museums to open over the Christmas break. Opening times for the plethora of other museums can be obtained from the Austrian tourism office near the Opera House.

Another venue well worth a visit is the Museum of Applied Arts, with its displays of furniture, cups, glasses and needlework through the centuries.

Two of the city's biggest attractions - the Vienna Boys' Choir and the Spanish Riding School - continue to perform over the Christmas period, although the large number of visitors makes early booking essential.

The choir is more heard than seen because the choristers are on a balcony behind the congregation during the service at the Hofburg Palace. But later the boys are happy to pose for tourist snaps.

The Spanish Riding School features the white Lipizzaner stallions - which originally came from Spain but are now reared in Slovenia - and their resplendent riders. In the striking setting of the Hof Palace, man and beast rarely stray from perfect har mony, notably in ballet-like sequences set to the music for which Vienna is famous.

There's much else for those for whom Christmas stretches into the New Year. Of interest to New Zealanders are Friedrich Hundertwasser houses - although, because they are occupied, can be studied in all their weird and wonderful detail only from the roadside.

There are tours devoted to Hundertwasser's architectural work for those who want to know what he was up to when not living in Northland.

Then there is the Prater, the fine park on the outskirts of the city, which features the giant ferris wheel made famous in the film The Third Man. After World War II, Vienna was a city of spies and intrigue until the Soviets departed, leaving behind a much-reviled but still impressive war memorial in Schwarzenberg Platz.

Vienna is not cheap. There are no bargains to be found on the Kartner Strasse, the elegant mall that runs from the Opera House to the Gothic grandeur of St Stephen's Cathedral, or in the exclusive shops on the neighbouring Kohlmarkt and Graben. It's less expensive to follow the Viennese to the more workaday Mariahilfe Strasse.

Some of Vienna's expense is offset by the city's compactness, with most of the main sights only a stroll apart. And there is a very efficient underground system.

Vienna is a magnet for tourists throughout the year, but never more so than at Christmas. Then, the delight and decoration which the Viennese bring to the festive season justify its place at the top of the destination tree - even when nature is not playing its part.

* Kevin Hart's Christmas in Vienna was organised by House of Travel with the support of Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa.

Getting There

Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa have daily services to Vienna.

Accommodation

Two-night packages at the Graben Hotel start from $211 a person, share-twin. It's a boutique hotel close to St Stephen's Cathedral.

Tours

Until September, House of Travel can offer a daily Grand Danube River Cruise that takes in the most impressive sights of the city. From $28 each. There is also a daily Historical City Tour from $67.

Getting around

A Vienna Card, about $32, gives unlimited free travel by underground, bus and tram for 72 hours plus discounts on museums, shopping and restaurants. Buy a card at hotels or the Tourist Information Centre on Albertinaplatz, and at all Vienna Transportation System outlets.

Further Information

House of Travel on 0800 838 747 or follow link below.