Vienna A Cafe Trail In The World's Most Liveable City

Vienna's café culture is so inextricably linked to what it means to be a Viennese that UNESCO inscribed it on Austria's list of intangible cultural assets. The legacy of Viennese café culture is distinguished by a unique atmosphere. Small marble-topped tables on which coffee is served, Thonet chairs, alcoves, newspaper tables, and Historicism-style interior design accents are typical of a Viennese café. The coffeehouse is "where time and space are consumed, but only coffee is listed on the bill."

Many great personalities from the worlds of literature and arts were working from cafes in Vienna long before it became a 21st-century phenomenon, discussing, arguing, and exchanging opinions and news. The term "Kaffeehausliteratur" (coffee house literature) even refers to the innumerable literature written in or inspired by Vienna's cafes. Here are five classic Vienna coffeehouses that have inspired writers, poets, and intellectuals.

Cafe Central

Started in 1876, Vienna's iconic Kaffeehaus has seen some of the greatest poets, philosophers, and writers (think Leon Trotsky, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Polgar) spend hours having intense conversations over cups of coffee. The menu features a wide range of classic Viennese dishes, traditional coffee specialities, and sweet treats from the in-house patisserie. One of the most popular coffee varieties here is the melange, a Viennese take on a cappuccino.

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Café Frauenhuber

This cafe, which is said to be the oldest in Vienna, will soon turn 200 and is housed in a building almost 300 years old. It is well-known for having W.A. Mozart and L. van Beethoven perform table music for the café's guests on several occasions between 1782 and 1791. The food is as traditional as it gets, with items such as Kaiserschmarrn, apple strudel, Schnitzel, sausages, and Serviettenkn&oumldel on the menu.

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Café Hawelka

"If I'm not at home, then I'm in Hawelka. And if I'm not in Hawelka, then I'm on my way to Hawelka." - Alfred Schmeller (1920&ndash1990), a renowned art critic, is credited as saying that about this café which was known to be a hub for creative people who made it a second home, especially during the early 60s.Located in Vienna's 1st district, this is considered one of the last great Central European literary and artistic coffee houses in keeping with tradition. The Hawelka family continues to run it, much as Leopold Hawelka and his wife Josefine did when they opened cafes eighty years ago.

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Café Landtmann

The Querfeld family has run Café Landtmann for over 40 years, and they have preserved the original decor well. Sit in one of the original Thonet chairs from the imperial age or in one of the snug heritage-protected booths and have a tafelspitz with freshly made coffee, cakes, and strudels. The historical inlay work on the walls and the mirrors are from the Golden 1920s. It is well known that this was Freud's favourite coffeehouse in Vienna. Paul McCartney, Hillary Clinton, and Marlene Dietrich have all visited the café.

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Café Schwarzenberg

One of the most opulent coffee shops in the city, Café Schwarzenberg boasts a marble and wood-panelled interior and is reputed to be the oldest café on the Ringstrasse. Josef Hoffmann, a co-founder of the Wiener Werkst&aumltte (a manufacturing community for visual artists), one of Europe's most prominent and inventive architects, frequented this cafe. It was refurbished in 1979 after being severely damaged by the Soviets during the post-World War II allied occupation of Vienna. The cafe's glass chandeliers, tiled ceiling, and oak panelling lines give it an especially cosy vibe. For the warmer months, there is seating in the outdoor area. The hot chocolate 'Alt Wiener Art', served with cinnamon, vanilla, and whipped cream, is among the most well-liked dishes here.

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Cover photo credit&nbspCafe Central Giannis Papanikos/Shutterstock.com

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