3 Best Sights in Vienna, Austria

The narrow passageway just to the right of St. Michael's leads into the Stallburggasse, an area dotted with antiques stores attracted by the presence of this famous Viennese auction house, which began as a state-controlled pawnshop in 1707. Merchandise coming up for auction is on display at Dorotheergasse 17. The showrooms—packed with everything from carpets and pianos to cameras, jewelry and postage stamps—are well worth a visit. On the second floor the goods are not for auction but for immediate sale; the same goes for the terrific, mainly late-19th- to early-20th-century glass, wood, and art objects in the glass-roofed court just opposite the reception area on the ground floor.

Vienna's leading central shopping street is much maligned—too commercial, too crowded, too many tasteless signs—but when the daytime tourist crowds dissolve, the Viennese arrive regularly for their evening promenade, and it is easy to see why. The street comes alive with outdoor cafés, wonderfully decorated shop windows, buskers, and well-dressed citizens walking their small, manicured dogs. Despite tourists, it has an energy that the more tasteful Graben and the impeccable Kohlmarkt lack.

Aside from its classic view of the domed entryway to the imperial palace complex of the Hofburg, the Kohlmarkt is best known as Vienna's most elegant shopping street, and fronts the area being refashioned the Goldenes Quartier (Golden Quarter). All the big brand names are represented here: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Chanel, and Armani, to name a few. The shops, not the buildings, are remarkable, although there is an entertaining odd-couple pairing: No. 11 (early 18th century) and No. 9 (early 20th century). The mixture of architectural styles is similar to that of the Graben, but the general atmosphere is low-key, as if the street were consciously deferring to the showstopper dome at the west end. The composers Haydn and Chopin lived in houses on the street.