Vienna

Vienna is a city measured on foot rather than on a map. The Habsburgs ruled it for six centuries and left behind two imperial palaces, a treasury of crowns and an opera house that performs almost every night — all inside a single ring you can walk around in an hour. But the palaces are not what sets it apart. Vienna can be visited on a small budget without losing anything: its finest gardens are free, its parliament opens without a ticket, its city museum has made entry free, and the opera sells standing places for less than a coffee. Add to that the coffee houses, where sitting for hours over a single cup is a protected local custom rather than a favour. In our guide every sight is documented in detail: what you actually see, what it costs, which day it closes — which matters enormously in Vienna, where each museum shuts on a different one — and how to reach it by metro. Give the city three days at minimum, four if you want to sit in it rather than run through it.