Opera

Vienna is a world capital for opera, and a quick walk down Kärntner Strasse from Stephansplatz to the Staatsoper will turn up more Mozart lookalikes than you can poke a baton at. The two main performance spaces are the Staatsoper, which closes in July and August, and Theater an der Wien (Click here), which remains open during these months.

STAATSOPER TICKETS

The availability of tickets and how far in advance you need to book depends entirely on the popularity of a performance. To be sure of getting a seating ticket, book up to eight weeks in advance. For some performances, one month or a few weeks in advance is sufficient – book by phone, online or in person at the Bundestheaterkassen. The Bundestheaterkassen is an exclusive outlet for Staatsoper tickets, although you will see scalpers outside illegally offering tickets. Tickets for the Volksoper, Akademietheater and Burgtheater can also be bought here. For many performances, however, booking in person even a couple of days in advance is sufficient, if not for the best seats. The chances of getting seats on the day at the Abendkasse or in the foyer of the opera are quite low for most performances. The best alternative in that case is a standing room ticket.

If you need to pick up a purchased ticket at the Abendkasse , expect to queue for about 10 minutes. Depending on the popularity of a performance, the standing room queue will begin forming five hours or more before the performance begins, or you can get in almost immediately.

If you are in Vienna and don’t have a ticket, it’s best simply to drop by the Bundestheaterkassen. You can buy a ticket on the spot or staff can explain the best way to get one for the day you want.

The Bundestheaterkassen ( 514 44-7880; www.bundestheater.at; 01, Operngasse 2; 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat & Sun; Stephansplatz) office is located on Operngasse, on the west side of the Staatsoper. Tickets are available here for the Staatsoper two months prior to performance dates. Credit-card purchases can be made online or by telephone. For online bookings go to the Bundestheaterkassen website and click on the desired venue. The Info unter den Arkaden (Herbert von Karajan-Platz 1; 9am-1hr before performance begins Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat) branch is located on the Kärntner Strasse side of the Staatsoper.

Staatsoper Telephone Bookings Call +43 (1) 513 1 513 to reach the Bundestheaterkassen from outside Austria. From inside Austria, leave out the prefixes. Open 10am to 9pm daily.

Collecting Tickets Pick up tickets from the Bundestheaterkassen office using your ticket code. If you don’t do this, the tickets must be collected at the Abendkasse (evening sales desk), which opens one hour before the performance. If you use the ‘print at home’ option on the internet, you’ll be a given a certain time period during which you must print your ticket.

Abendkasse Located inside the Staatsoper, it opens one hour prior to performance and sells the leftover contingent. Expect to queue for about 10 minutes here.

Staatsoper Foyer Sells tickets from 9am to two hours before performance Monday to Friday and 9am to noon Saturday.

Email Send email to kartenvertrieb@wiener-staatsoper.at.

Standing Room Stehplätze (room for 567 people) tickets are sold from an entrance on Operngasse, beginning 80 minutes before the performance. Downstairs/upstairs tickets cost €3/4.

Cost Seating costs from €10 to €197. About €45 is usual for an unimpeded view.

Classical Music

Opportunities to listen to classical music in Vienna abound. Churches are a hub for recitals of Bach and Händel especially, but also great venues for all sorts of classical music recitals. Vienna’s Philharmonic Orchestra is based in the Musikverein (Click here).

Standing Room Costs €5.

Seating Cheapest is directly above the stage, with good views of the hall but not the orchestra. Everything up to €49 has partially obscured views, above €49 is with unimpeded views (ask when booking).

Return Tickets Although tickets are sold out years ahead, tickets of those who are unable to attend a particular performance are returned and sold for between €15 and €101. Depending on whether the Musikverein or the Wiener Philharmoniker has organised the concert, returned tickets can be bought from the Musikverein itself (seven weeks or less before the concert) or from the Wiener Philharmoniker Karten- und Ballbüro (Click here) on the Monday before the performance or, for standing room tickets, go to the ticket booking office one hour before the performance.

Rock & Jazz

Vienna’s rock and jazz scene is lively, with a strong local scene as well as international acts playing from the smallest bars to the largest arenas. See Falter (www.falter.at) for bands, venues and dates. The biggest bashes are the Donauinselfest (https://donauinselfest.at) and Jazz Fest Wien ( 408 60 30; www.viennajazz.org).

Theatre

The Burgtheater (Click here), Volkstheater (Click here), Theater in der Josefstadt (Click here) and Akademietheater (03, Lisztstrasse 1; 4A, Stadtpark) are Vienna’s prime theatre addresses in an innovative and lively scene. Sadly, options for non-German speakers are generally limited to Vienna’s English Theatre (Click here).

Cinema

Both independent art-house films and Hollywood blockbusters are popular in Vienna. The website www.film.at, Falter (www.falter.at) and daily Der Standard (http://derstandard.at) newspapers are the best sources for listings. OF or OV following a film title means it will screen in the original language; OmU indicates the film is in the original language with German subtitles; and OmenglU and OmeU signify that it’s in the original language with English subtitles.

THE VIENNALE

Vienna’s annual international film festival, the ‘fringe-like’ Viennale ( 526 59 47; www.viennale.at), is the highlight of the city’s celluloid calendar. For two weeks from mid- October cinemas screen works ranging from documentaries to short and feature films.

Ticket sales commence on the Saturday before the festival begins. You can book by credit card, online or via a special hotline number that is published on the website once sales begin. Tickets can be picked up at any of the booths set up around town, such as the Viennale main booth (MuseumsQuartier, cnr Mariahilfer Strasse; 10am-8pm; Museumsquartier).

OPEN-AIR CINEMA

Open-air cinema is popular in Vienna. The city hosts numerous such cinemas across town, the biggest of which is the Musikfilm Festival (01, Rathausplatz). Kino Unter Sternen (Cinema Under Stars; Map p; 0800-664 040; www.kinountersternen.at; 5A, Karlsplatz, 2 Schwartzenbergstrasse) , a highly popular outdoor cinema on Karlsplatz, hosts films from late June to mid-July. Arena (www.arena.co.at; 03, Baumgasse 80; Erdberg, Gasometer) has open-air screenings over three weeks in August, and Kino wie noch nie (www.kinowienochnie.at; 02, Augarten; Taborstrasse) has open-air screenings in July and August.