Vienna, home of Johann Strauss, whose 200th birthday is being celebrated in 2025, serenaded the Canadian trade with news from the Austrian capital on Tuesday in Toronto. Accompanied by a classical music duo, and colourful montage artist, the city tourist board’s market manager for Canada Elke Bachner said Canadian visits to the city are surging, not least due to ample lift from Air Canada’s courtesy of its year-round direct flights from Toronto and Montreal.
Bachner sang the praises of a city known for its imperial heritage and historic architecture, and its status as a “powerhouse of the arts” – especially music, which she observed is centred on classical and opera, of course, but also ranges from jazz to pop/rock and rave, and which manifests itself in “a concert nearly every night of the year.”
Lesser in known is Vienna’s surrounding vineyards, making the city the only one in the world with vineyards in its city limits.
Not to be overlooked, she added is Vienna’s “unique and special” holiday season, with the city’s famed Christmas market coming alive in mid December and providing a magical atmosphere through the holidays with music in the air, gingerbread cookies, and mulled wine.
Taken together, and with nearly a thousand city parks, there’s something for everyone in Vienna, Bachner enthused, adding the best way to experience it is with a Vienna City Card that can be used on the city’s efficient public transit system, and which also gives discounts at over 200 partners.
And while Vienna Airport’s Eszter Almasi espoused the virtues of Europe’s fourth most efficient airport, and ease of connections to the city, she also noted that Vienna (VIE) is a great gateway to central European capitals such as Budapest and Prague within a few hours by train, or other cities and countries further afield accessible through Austrian Airways connections.
The Swift effect
While Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna in August being cancelled due to a terrorism plot was a blow, Bachner noted the “circumstances beyond anyone’s control,” also put the city in the international spotlight in a positive way as many concert-goers and residents bonded, singing Swift songs in streets, restaurants offering free meals to those with concert tickets, and Vienna Swarkovski offering crystal necklaces as a gift to disappointed fans in exchange for their unused tickets.
Travel advisors
The tourist board offers the free “Vienna Experts Club International” specialist program, which provides education, sales and planning tools, as well as the possibility for members to receive special hotel rates and other discounts, plus FAM trip and training event opportunities.
Meanwhile, some upcoming highlights from the city include:
200th Birthday of Johann Strauss II
Born in the Austrian capital in 1825, the city of Vienna is celebrating what would have been the 200th birthday of not only one of the country’s greatest composers, but one of the most prolific in the world in a big way. Known as “The King of Waltz,” Strauss has had a major impact on classical music worldwide, which has ultimately led to innovation and evolution into today’s modern music scene.
Beginning in late 2024, a variety of concerts, exhibitions, and performances across genres and mediums including but not limited to:
- From Oct. 4 to June 23, 2025, the Theatermuseum will welcome visitors to a special exhibition, highlighting Strauss’s life and works, including original manuscripts and personal items.
- Fledermaus Day, named for Die Fledermaus, Strauss’s most iconic operetta, will be celebrated on April 5, 2025, the 151st anniversary of its premier performance, with performances and activations in the MuseumsQuartier.
- In collaboration with Ars Electronica, a brand new Walzersymphonie or “Waltz Symphony” will be composed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and is set to premiere in Summer 2025.
New exhibits at The Belvedere
The Belvedere, one of Vienna’s most prolific cultural museums, is set for a program of exhibits and collections in 2024-25. This will include ‘Amoako Boafo: Proper Love’ from Oct. 25 to the end of February 2025 at the Lower Belvedere, and ‘Kazuko Miyamoto Retrospective’ from Sept. 12 to March 2, 2025 at the Belvedere 21. A new exhibit dedicated to further research and analysis of famed Viennese painter Gustav Klimt entitled ‘Pixel & Pigment’ will explore his process and artistic practice, running from Feb. 20 to Sept. 7, 2025, at the Lower Belvedere.
The Vienna Actionism Museum
Opened in March, the Vienna Actionism Museum (WAM) is dedicated to Viennese Actionism, an influential post-war art movement that started in the city. Home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of works from the art genre, the curated program highlights the life and artistic contributions of Günter Brus (1938-2024), Otto Muehl (1925-2013), Hermann Nitsch (1938-2022) and Rudolf Schwarzkogler (1940-1969) from 1957-1973.