Vienna

Kitchen am Steinhof — a beautiful example of architect Otto Wagner’s work and one not often seen because of its location on the edge of town. There are tours, I believe on weekends only, but they are only in German.

The sausages in Vienna are superb.

Kitchen am Steinhof

It is "Kirche am Steinhof" - Steinhof Church.

http://www.wienkav.at/kav/ows//ZeigeText.asp?ID=33923

Although the Danube river is far from unknown, I doubt most other tourists have rented a bike and gone for a ride. Just pedal on the river path until you get to that perfect picture spot . . . Or maybe more than one, but all perfect!

If you have a clear day (or evening) go up to Leopoldsberg to see the church and the fantastic views of Vienna and the Danube.

Thank you everyone!

Food:
1. A pork stelze at the Schweizerhaus in the Prater
2. Schnitzel at the Gasthaus Seidl
3. The baked goods from Hofer grocery store

Sights:
1. Brunnenmarkt/Yppenplatz on a Saturday morning
2. The view from the 25 Hours Hotel
3. The Botanical Garden

The flak towers in the Augarten. Amazing.

Most people here consider them ugly and an eyesore as well as a bad reminder.

Re flak towers - I am not saying they aren’t an ugly reminder of a tragic time in history. But coming from Australia we have no visible signs of WWII and so no real understanding of the monumental scale of it. What we liked was that the towers were just there, not a tourist site and a reminder that war touched Austria very closely. Sorry if you thought I was praising them.

Pizza at Pizza Bizi and just down from that - gelato from Zanoni and Zanoni - all was good but the amaretto was divine. All right in the center.

And not far from those - a spot that wasn't exactly on my radar - Jesuitenkirche - the Jesuit Church - over the top gorgeous.

Pizza Bizi? Really? There are so many other so much better pizza places in Vienna. That place is full of nothing but tourists...
Tha's Amore, PIzzeria Pozzuoli and my personal favorite, Il Sestante in a beautiful square.

Zanoni and Zanoni is also good (I prefer their lemon) but many better much less touristy places to get ice cream...
Gelateria La Romana is exquisite, Tuchlauben has the best chocolate, Tichy is iconic.

OK - this is offbeat. But if you are a fan of American football and you are there during the season, go see a Vienna Dacia Vikings football game at Hohe Warte Stadium. You will most likely be the only tourist there, see a spectacle unlike what you find in America (introducing players and referees with flamethrowers!) and meet a ton of friendly locals. Tickets, food and drink are very affordable as well.

I've thought of another favorite:

Renting a small motorboat from Marina Hofbauer just at the U1 Alte Donau station and taking the boat all through the Alte Donau to look at the cute little cottages and beaches fronting this extinct arm of the Danube. Not a tourist in sight.

I really, really like the Augarten -- not so much for the Flakturm as for the atmosphere. It's a great place for a late afternoon/early evening walk. Kids playing; adults hanging out; people gardening. All sorts of normal park things happening (which I enjoy) and all sorts of people to watch.

I love ALL the ideas. Thank you all so much. Keep coming with more if you have them. Any suggestions on maybe a cooking class? My daughter and I have both done them. Learning to make paella in Barcelona has been a highlight! Do you know of any say free outdoor concerts? Things like that?

For concert suggestions, it would be helpful to have your dates.

I’m not aware of any cooking classes here. Not really a thing for tourists, with the exception of the strudel show at Schönbrunn, which is hardly undiscovered.

You could look into airbnb experiences - we used them for an off the beaten path walk in Vienna and were quite pleased - I recall seeing some cooking classes but they seemed a little expensive to me. (We also used airbnb exp in Prague - it was so nice being in a small group of under 10 - especially when we'd see the huge tour groups walking by with headsets and 50 people. Our group in Vienna was 7 I believe).

I found this website that has a lot of small museums and odd places to visit worldwide.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/destinations
It should help anyone looking for something different anywhere.

Maybe this book will give you some more ideas:
https://www.amazon.com/Places-Vienna-That-Shouldnt-Miss/dp/3954512068/

Been to Vienna many times for work and pleasure and I never miss the Gösser Bierklinik http://www.goesser-bierklinik.at/en/

I was introduced to the existence of the flak towers in Vienna, when I first stayed in Wombats Hostel in 2010 where a brochure telling of them was available, never knew of their existence, still have yet to see the flak towers , but several other military "sites" are located in Vienna if one wants to track them down, such as the Deutschmeisterplatz, the tank garden (Panzergarten) at the Army Museum (HGM), etc.

Very hard to pin point the top three finds....certainly the Staatsoper is one of them.

If you are at all interested in globes - check out the globe museum!

https://www.onb.ac.at/en/museums/globe-museum/

Also , in the Augarten , is The Augarten Porcelain manufactory and museum . After Meissen , in Dresden , this is the second oldest such factory in Europe . The place also boasts a lovely café , and the beautiful porcelain , or " white gold " creations that will make you drool . Also , an easy day trip just north of the city is Klosterneuburg Abbey , with its famous Verdun Altarpiece . links here - https://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/museums-exhibitions/porcelain-museum-augarten and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klosterneuburg

We visited J. & L. Lobmeyr and probably spent an hour in there. It's a high end glassware company that's one of the original stores along Kärntner Str. Now, it almost seems out of place with all the clothing stores and modern "stuff" they sell in the area. Lobmeyr is truly a gem! A very kind employee in the store gave us a tour and explained a lot about the various pieces, how they're created, even how to properly clean a chandelier. They have a museum on the top floor. Check them out online and see how many famous pieces they've created and shipped all over the world!

We really like a charming little area called Spittelberg with pedestrian streets and restaurants on Gutenberg and Spittelberg off Burggasse. We had a great dinner at Boheme with outstanding creamy chocolate mousse for dessert and opera music playing in the background. (Cash only there). La Gondola Trattoria and Pizzeria on Gutenberg was also very good. The Volksgarten rose garden is a pleasant place to rest and see the floral treble clef design by the Mozart statue. We also liked walking on the Upper and Lower gardens at the Belvedere Palace. The grounds are free to enjoy.

The Volksgarten rose garden is a pleasant place to rest and see the
floral treble clef design by the Mozart statue.

The Mozart statue is in the Burggarten, not the Volksgarten.

perfect picture spot

Responses will likely vary considerably based on the time of year you intend to visit. Schonbrunn Palace gardens will be a spot to consider during the warmer months but perhaps a skip during the autumn / early spring time.
You can take pictures inside the incredibly beautiful State Hall - Prunksaal building.

The "Justizpalast" is worth to see. The prater for having fun. In case you travel during christmas, then i recommend visiting a Christkindlmarkt.