"Vienna is proud of its environmental credentials and in addition to an annual climate conference organised by none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, there’s the Vienna Biennale that brings together art, design, activism and science to tackle the big problems. Two years ago, it dealt with AI and the rise of new technologies. This year’s topic is climate change and the city’s Museum of Applied Arts is hosting an engrossing exhibition that aims to convince visitors to behave more responsibly towards the environment."

"Hotel Daniel is unerringly cool. Cue smart modern suites, a bakery serving a rotating lunch menu and hammocks in several of the 116 rooms. The hotel is itself a landmark; it was built in 1962 by architect Georg Lippert, who also created the Daniel’s sibling hotel in Graz (this happy coincidence was only discovered by owner Florian Weitzer after the purchase)."

"Owner Peter Friese has headed this Viennese institution since 1977 but Kameel (as it’s affectionately known) has been around for almost four centuries. Kameel remains “one of the most egalitarian places in Vienna”, says Friese. “Here a president can sit next to a labourer.” The restaurant had a makeover in 1901 and today is a wonderful example of art nouveau décor, with its tiled walls, hanging half-moon lamps and wood panelling."

"Nina Ugrinovich, Andreas Hoeller and Florian Kaps (all pictured, Kaps on right) founded Supersense in 2008 as a workroom and playground for creative types. “It’s an analogue palace,” says Kaps. In this shop-cum-café, housed in a 19th-century Venetian-style palazzo, a range of analogue tools come together. You can print a poster or record your own vinyl track in the Flabbergasting Record Elevator before taking a break for a handsemmel mit beinschinken (ham roll). Let your imagination run wild."

"It was painter Gustav Klimt, one of the founders of the Vienna Secession movement, who quit the conservative Association of Austrian Artists to found a group that had more artistic freedom. Since its construction in 1898 the Secession building has remained not only an art-nouveau architectural wonder – note the golden-leaf orb atop – but also an avant-garde, artist-run exhibition venue."

"The Church of the Holy Trinity, popularly known as the Wotruba church, looks more like an ecstatic pile of blocks than a building. And no wonder: its creator is sculptor Fritz Wotruba, renowned for his spare, abstract images of the human form. This two-storey structure is made entirely out of reinforced concrete. There are 152 different pieces of it bolted together to frame plate-glass windows offering views from its hillside location in an outlying area close to the Vienna Woods."

"Conjure up a vision of a central European river paradise with water clean enough to drink, banks lined with old-growth trees and swans gliding through rustling reeds. Amazingly you can find this just seven subway stops from Vienna’s city centre. As the Alte Danube (Old Danube – a former arm of the great river, now more like a lake) gently curves around Donaustadt’s skyscrapers, it offers nearly 8km of watery respite for an estimated one million visitors every year. Well-kept public swimming areas, boat-rental outfits, a sailing school, waterfront restaurants and private cabanas line the shore. “When the weather’s good we come here,” says media consultant Ralf Strobl, who’s known to sleep in his cabana in a marina near the U1 stop. To really experience life like a Viennese, this is a must-visit."