Where to stay

25hours It falls under the loose umbrella of ‘design hotel’. The outpost of a Berlin chain, rooms have vivid dream-provoking interiors themed around a cabaret-style circus. The bar is adorned with drums and the music is anything but the usual hotel pap. Doubles from £95. Lerchenfelder Strasse 1-3, 00 43 1 521 510, 25hours-hotels.com Grand Ferdinand A new, quirky four-star hotel with a stuffed black horse in reception. The classic ground-floor brasserie and rooftop café serves up typically generous Viennese fare. You can hire one of a dozen Orient Express-style couchettes with a shared shower for £23 a night. Doubles from £157. Schubertring 10-12,

00 43 1 91 880 400, grandferdinand.com

Hotel Imperial The clue is in the name. It is a grand hotel. The reception is understated but everything else, from the architecture to the rooms (expect chandeliers in the bathrooms), is on a grand scale. Manfred, the sommelier in Michelin-starred Opus restaurant, knows all the secrets of Viennese wine. Doubles from £260.

Kärntner Ring 16, 00 43 1 501 100, imperialvienna.com

Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom A new high-rise in a low-slung cityscape, its location by the canal makes it a sensible stopover. Its USP is the panoramic rooftop bar and restaurant. The views alone are unique, the service very good and the prices affordable. Doubles from £173. Praterstrasse 1, 00 43 1 906 160, sofitel.com

Wiener Essig Vinegar guru Erwin Gegenbauer has a B&B above his artisan brewery in the 10th District. Rooms have an industrial chic design. The swimming pool and lounge ooze class and he shares breakfasts – arguably the best in Vienna – with guests at a communal table in what doubles as a showroom. Doubles from £110.

Waldgasse 3, 00 43 1 60 410 880, rooms@gegenbauer.at