WHY GO NOW?

As Mozart's 250th birthday celebrations draw to a close, the Austrian capital is going back to what it does best: winter. With Advent just having begun, its the perfect time to visit traditional Christmas Markets outside the ornate Rathaus (1) (town hall) and in the grounds of Schonbrunn Palace (2). With hand-made wooden toys for sale, as well as lebkuchen (Austrian gingerbread) and gluhwein, it's an enchanting destination for a weekend's shopping. The Austrian capital is an enigmatic and intriguing place, and the best time to see it is right now.

GET YOUR BEARINGS Vienna is easy to get to grips with thanks to Emperor Franz Josef, who created the Ring around three quarters of the city centre, along the route of the old city wall. The fourth side is marked by the Danube Canal.

Most tourists remain firmly within the Innere Stadt (inner city), defined by these boundaries. Yet, many of Vienna's more absorbing sights are a bit further afield. For nightlife, catch a U-Bahn to Wahringer or Nussdorfer Strasse on the Gurtel.

Beneath the railway arches on this outer ring road are some of Vienna's liveliest clubs and bars. The tourist information office (00 43 1 24 555; www. vienna. info) is in the centre, on the corner of Maysedergasse and Tegetthofstrasse (5).

CHECK IN Vienna's most established boutique hotel is Das Triest (6) at Wiedner Hauptstrasse 12 (00 43 1 589 180; www. dastriest. at); doubles from 258, including breakfast. Redesigned 10 years ago by Terence Conran, the style is understated chic. The Levante Parliament (7) at Auerspergstrasse 9 (00 43 1 228 280; www. thelevante. com) opened this summer.

Stark but elegant, the building dates to the last days of the Hapsburg Empire but it's been renovated in a striking contemporary style. Doubles from 260, including breakfast. There are plenty of good midrange hotels in or near the centre. The most unusual is the Pertschy Pension (8), in the 17th-century Cavriani Palace at Habsburgergasse 5 (00 43 1 534 490; www. pertschy. com). Grand rooms with high ceilings are arrayed around a courtyard. In November, the price for a double is a very reasonable 102, including breakfast.

TAKE A RIDE The Vienna Card . . . 16.90 from the tourist office or any public transport ticket office . . .buys you 72 hours on trams, tubes and buses, and reduced admission to most museums. One of the greatest pleasures is riding around the Ringstrasse on an oldfashioned tram.

Many of the city's finest buildings can be seen from tram 1 (clockwise) or 2 (anticlockwise), including the bombastic Opera (9) and the Hofburg (10) . . . the spectacular palace of the vanquished Hapsburg monarchy.

LUNCH ON THE RUN The best place to sample Vienna's multicultural heritage is the Naschmarkt.

Between Karlsplatz (11) and Kettenbruckengasse U-Bahn station (12), a row of antiquated wooden huts house everything from fruit and vegetable stalls to proper sit-down restaurants.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON Austria's most arresting modern artists, Klimt and Schiele, rub shoulders at the splendid Leopold Museum (13) on Museumsplatz (00 43 1 525 700; www. leopoldmuseum. org). For a more unusual display, head for KunstHausWein (14) on Untere Weissgerberstrasse, by the Danube Canal (00 43 1 712 0491;
www. kunsthauswien. com). Designed by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, this former factory is filled with his dream-like paintings and eccentric architectural plans. Hundertwasser may strike you as an old hippy but as you wander through this retrospective, you realise he spoke a lot of sense. His ecological philosophy was prophetic, and having lost 69 relatives in the Holocaust he had more reason than most to bang on about love and peace. The museum opens 10am-7pm, admission 9 . . . half-price on Mondays.

WINDOW SHOPPING As its name suggests, the MuseumsQuartier has more than its fair share of museums, but it's also a great place to go shopping. The Leopold Museum (13) and the Museum of Modern Art (15) both have their own shops, but there are also some super boutiques, all housed in the old stables of the Hapsburgs' imperial parade ground. Also, head to Wiedner Haupstrasse on the south side of Karlsplatz (11), where the Viennese go shopping.

AN APERITIF A Viennese cafe isn't just somewhere you go to drink a cup of coffee. It's more like a communal living room. You can play billiards or read the papers, and the waiters never try to hurry you out. The more famous (Sacher, Landtmann, Central, Mozart) are now more like posh restaurants, but there are plenty off the beaten track that still retain their old nonchalant elan. One favourite is Sperl (16), a fin de siecle hideaway at Gumpendorferstrasse 11 (00 43 1586 4158; www. cafesperl. at). It's the ideal retreat for kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake).

A WALK IN THE PARK Vienna's biggest public park is the Prater, which has its own U-Bahn station (19) and has been the city's playground since 1766.

You'd never guess this was where the SS made their desperate last stand against the invading Red Army. Today this former battlefield contains a football stadium, planetarium, miniature railway and a slightly seedy funfair, but British film buffs come here to ride the Reisenrad (20), that iconic Ferris wheel immortalised in The Third Man. A Sunday morning alternative is to wander through the Stadtpark.

As you walk across this pretty park, you'll pass the statues of Johann Strauss and Franz Schubert, which personify the spirit of this melancholy city.

OUT TO BRUNCH Cafe Berg (21)Berggasse 8 (00 43 1 319 5720; www. cafeberg. at) is the perfect spot for brunch, any time from 10am to 3pm. The Parisian breakfast ( 10) comes with a complimentary condom. It's on the same street as Sigmund Freud's old apartment at Berggasse 19 (22), where the founder of psychoanalysis lived for nearly 50 years . . .and which today is an atmospheric and fascinating museum (00 43 1 319 1596;

www. freud-museum. at). It opens 9am-6pm daily, admission 8.50.

TAKE A HIKE Author Brigitte Timmermann organises walking tours (00 43 1 774 8901; www.viennawalks. com) covering every aspect of the city. Her Third Man tour, exploring the locations from the classic movie, departs from Stadtpark U-Bahn station (23) at 4pm on Fridays and Mondays. It costs 16 and lasts 150 minutes. The Jewish Vienna tour sets off from Schwedenplatz (24) on Mondays at 1.30pm, price 12.

TOUCH DOWN Fly to Vienna's Schwechat airport from Dublin on Aer Lingus (Tel: 0818 365000 or log onto www. aerlingus. com) with flights daily. Return flights next week from 192.28, including taxes. Ryanair (Tel: 0818 30 30 or log onto www. ryanair. ie). Fly to Bratislava in Slovakia (50km from Vienna) with a fare quoted for next week of 59 departing on Tuesday, and returning Thursday for one cent; with a total flight cost, including taxes and charges, of 90.93. An airport shuttle service operates to the centre of Vienna, costing 70 in a car that takes four people.