Vienna has hosted the Habsburg court over centuries, first as the imperial see of the Holy Roman Empire, then the capital of the Austrian Empire and later of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This has had a tremendous impact on the culture that exists there today.

    Like Munich, its residents are formal, but with small doses of courtliness, polite forms of address and formal dress attire, the residents of Vienna tend to be equally modern and old-fashioned. Waiters address their customers with honorifics; a man who bumps into someone on the street is more than likely to implore his or her pardon with a small bow; tourists are treated as if they were a long-lost member of the royal family returning home. This luxurious treatment is one of the reasons that many people enjoy visiting Vienna.

    The traditional Vienna is but one of the many façades of this city. Vienna is also a dynamic, young city, famous for its (electronic) music scene with independent labels, cult-status underground record stores, a vibrant club scene, and a government that seems overly obsessed with complicated paperwork. However, people are willing to go out of their way or bend the rules a little if they feel they can do someone a favor.

    Vienna is also famous for its coffee culture. "Let's have a coffee" is a very common phrase to hear, because despite incursions by Starbucks and Italian-style espresso bars, the Kaffeehaus is still the traditional place to drink a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, meet friends or fall in love.

    If you come to Vienna and don't try some coffee you've missed one of the great reasons to come here. Vienna has a reputation for having an excellent coffee culture and you should at least visit one of the countless traditional coffee houses where you can sit down, relax, and have some coffee.

    Sidewalk Cafés line a pedestrians-only street in central Vienna's Graben district. Cafés and coffee houses are an Austrian tradition, and it is customary to take an afternoon break for a strong cup of coffee. The coffee ritual is incomplete without a delicious pastry or a slice of chocolate cake.

    One Viennese admitted to me that being in a coffee house is like leaving the real world. "You close the doors and all the troubles you have are forgotten. You leave them behind. You read the newspaper, you play the billiards, you play chess, you talk to your friends while you drink your coffee or beer and everything has become peaceful."

    維也納最初是神圣羅馬帝國的領地，接著成為奧地利帝國的首都，后來又成為奧匈帝國的首都，哈布斯堡王朝在維也納雄踞達數個世界之久。這段歷史對于維也納現在的文化產生了重大影響。

    和慕尼黑一樣，維也納的居民也很講禮節，不過加上他們稍許的謙恭、禮貌的言辭和正式的著裝，他們往往顯得既現代又傳統。侍者們用敬語招呼顧客；維也納人在街上撞到人時往往會微微鞠躬致歉；受到款待的游客會覺得自己就像失散已久、如今歸來的皇室成員一般。這種奢華的款待是很多人喜愛到維也納觀光的原因之一。

    傳統的維也納只是這個“多面城市”的一面而已。維也納也是一座動感、年輕的城市，它以獨立唱片公司構成的（電子）音樂界、擁有一大批狂熱樂迷的地下唱片店、活躍的俱樂部圈子和似乎過于重視繁文縟節的政府而聞名。不過，如果人們覺得自己能夠幫上別人的忙，他們也樂意稍微通融一下。

    維也納的咖啡文化同樣聞名天下。“我們去喝杯咖啡吧”是最常聽到的一句話，因為盡管受到星巴克和意式濃縮咖啡吧的入侵，咖啡館仍然是喝杯咖啡、看看報紙、會會朋友或墜入情網的傳統之地。

    在維也納品嘗咖啡是你來這里旅游時不容錯過的事情。維也納絕妙的咖啡文化享譽世界，這里有著不計其數的傳統咖啡館，你怎么也得去一家，坐一坐，放松一下，喝杯咖啡。

    在維也納市中心格拉本區的步行街，沿路都是路邊咖啡吧。咖啡吧和咖啡館是奧地利人的一項傳統，他們習慣在下午休息的時候，去喝上一杯濃咖啡。美味的油酥點心或一塊巧克力蛋糕在喝咖啡時也是必不可少的。

    一個維也納人對我坦陳，身處咖啡館中就像脫離了現實世界：“你避開塵世，忘記了所有的煩惱，它們都被拋在了腦后。你看看報紙、打打臺球、下盤國際象棋、邊喝咖啡或啤酒邊和朋友聊天，一切都變得那么安寧祥和。”