flickr/swampaThe Wiener Rathaus isn’t a place where visitors can eat wieners, though a notable restaurant serving Vietnamese delicacies is located on the premises. Rather, it serves as Vienna’s town hall, as well as the seat of government for the State of Vienna. The Gothic-style building, constructed in the 1880s, features the Rathausmann that sits on top of the tower and is a symbol of Vienna. The Wiener Rathaus is currently undergoing an extensive renovation that is expected to be completed in 2023.
wikipedia/sparreThe Spanish Riding School is a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses that offers public performances in the Winter Riding School in the Hofburg. The Riding School calls these performances classical dressage, but most viewers would call it magic. The school has been training horses like this for more than four centuries. The 68 stallions – their ancestors came from Spain – have trained and performed at the Winter Riding School since about 1735. Horses and riders both undergo special training that lasts for many years.
flickr/Pentcheff & WetzerGraben is one of the most famous streets in central Vienna. The word Graben means “trench” in German, and dates back to an old Roman encampment in the Austrian capital. Back in those days, Vienna was surrounded by a city wall, with a trench alongside of it. The trench was later filled in and became one of the first residential streets in Vienna. Craftsmen originally lived in wooden houses on the Graben, but it gradually evolved into a market place and later residences for the city’s elite. Today it is an up-scale shopping promenade, with many local specialties such as Wien Porzellan.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral, also known as Stephansdom, had humble beginnings as a parish church in the 12th century. Today, it is the home church for the Catholic archbishop in Vienna. The church was destroyed in World War II but was rebuilt in seven years, with worship services still held daily. The cathedral, one of the city’s most important landmarks, reaches high into the Viennese skyline. Its impressive roof is covered by 230,000 glazed tiles. The cathedral has more than 18 altars, all built at different times, and contains precious works of art as well.
wikipedia/HubertlThe Burggarten is a once-royal garden that is a bit of England in Vienna, as it is patterned after English gardens. The Burggarten was the court garden for the Hapsburg rulers. One Austrian ruler, Kaiser Franz II used to work in the garden, which is now a place where people can enjoy outdoor lunches on pleasant days. A memorial to that great Austrian composer, Mozart, can be found in one corner of the garden, while the Palmenhaus, a magnificent glass palm house, is located in the northern part. The left part of the Palmenhaus houses the Schmettlerlinghaus where visitors can see tropical butterflies and even bats.
flickr/La Citta VitaThe Ringstrasse is a road, slightly more than 5 km (3 miles) long, that circles Vienna’s inner city. Ordered built by Emperor Franz Joseph in the mid-19th century, many of the most important buildings in Vienna line both sides of the street: palaces, museums and stately homes. Buildings along the road include the State Opera, the Natural History Museum, City Hall and the Vienna Stock Exchange. The buildings represent various architectural styles, and are all considered architectural masterpieces. Construction of the Ringstrasse started in 1857, with the street opening in 1865.
flickr/Will ClaytonThe Belvedere is an integral part of Vienna’s historic scene, consisting of several palaces and an orangery that dates back to the late 17th century. It consists of the Baroque palaces, the Lower and Upper Belvedere; palace stables and the Orangery, all set in a Baroque-style park. Prince Eugene of Savoy had the complex built for this summer home. During the French Revolution, the palaces served as home to French royalty fleeing their country. The Belvedere is stunning to look at during the night when it is all lit up, and well as provides great views of Vienna.
flickr/Manfred MorgnerThe Hundertwasserhaus is a colorful apartment building near Vienna’s center in the Landstraße district. It is named after Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser who developed the concept in the 20th century, with noted architect Krawina doing the building’s design. Each of the 52 apartments is a different color; some just out from the building proper, with several trees covering the roofs, while more trees grow inside other units, their limbs sticking out windows. Construction on the innovative apartment building ended in 1985; today, it is an intrinsic part of Vienna’s cultural heritage.
The Hofburg Imperial Palace has played an integral part of the Austrian government scene since it was built in the 13th century. It has been home to some of Europe’s most powerful royalty over the centuries, including the Hapsburgs and rulers of the Holy Roman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Today it is a museum and home to the president of Austria. The palace has numerous wings and halls built by various royalty over the centuries, but only three parts are open to the public today: the Imperial Apartments; the Sisi Museum, dedicated to Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, and the Silver Collection, a collection of Imperial household objects.
The 1,441 room Schönbrunn Palace, comparable in grandeur to Versailles, is one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace was built between 1696 and 1712 at the request of Emperor Leopold I and turned into the imperial summer palace by Maria Theresa. The Palace Park offers a lot of attractions, such as the Privy Garden, the oldest zoo in the world, a maze and labyrinth, and the Gloriette, a marble summerhouse, situated on top of a 60 meter (0 feet) high hill.
10 Top Tourist Attractions in Vienna10 Top Tourist Attractions in Vienna
flickr/mksystemIf construction costs are a traveler’s bag, then they’ll delight in seeing the Marina Bay Sands, a resort that cost US$5.7 billion to build, making it the world’s most expensive building when it opened in 2010. The Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort that has it all: a luxury hotel, restaurants, an endless collection of shops, a convention center that is one of the largest in Asia, theater, an ArtScience Museum and other entertainment centers. It also has an indoor skating rink made with synthetic ice.
flickr/chooyutshingThe Singapore Flyer is a giant Ferris wheel, only with benefits, that only start with the stunning views below. Cars hold up to 28 people as they circle above the city. When it opened in 08, it was the highest Ferris wheel in the world, reaching 165 meters (541 feet) up into the Singaporean sky. With advance notice, the Flyer can accommodate disabled guests in wheelchairs. Located on Marina Bay, the Flyer’s terminal has three floors of restaurants, shops and other services.
The Chinese build temples to a lot of gods and other things, but the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is one of the more unusual. In the late 1980s when a Buddhist temple was first proposed for Singapore’s Chinatown, it was supposed to become a more traditional temple. Somewhere along the line it became the Tooth Relic Temple, a home for a tooth relic from Buddha. The temple, located in central Chinatown, also features other arts and culture of Singaporean Buddhists.
flickr/Allie_CaulfieldTravelers who enjoy nightlife but are tired of the club scene should head over to Night Safari where nocturnal, not party, animals are on display. Since it opened in 1984, it is one of Singapore’s top attractions, with more than one million people annually enjoying a tram ride through seven of the world’s geographic regions. Visitors also can take a trail walk to learn more about animal habits while another section features a show on the organization’s work to preserve threatened species through captive breeding programs. Three restaurants features menus and entertainment that reflect life in the jungle or rainforest.
flickr/edwin.11Travelers on a budget will appreciate the Singapore Botanic Gardens as most of the gardens are free; there is only a charge for the National Orchid Garden, the most visited section of the garden. The garden contains more than 60,000 species of plants and animals, and is home to the world’s first children’s garden. Past visitors rave about the tropical greenery of the gardens.
flickr/Allie_CaulfieldGardens by the Bay is a recent addition to Singapore’s tourist attractions, but is one that gardeners won’t want to miss visiting. Open less than a decade, Gardens by the Bay is built on reclaimed land in central Singapore. It consists of three gardens: Bay Central, a garden with a waterfront walk that will eventually connect the other two gardens; Bay East, which is opening in phases as sections are completed, and Bay South, the largest garden, which showcases tropical horticulture and includes tree-like structures up to 50 meters (0 feet) high that dominate the Gardens’ landscape.
flickr/David Blackwell.Raffles Hotel, with its graceful colonial style, is the face of Singapore. Since it opened in 1887, it quickly became THE place to stay in Singapore, with writers Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Ernest Hemingway, among others, adding to its fame. This epitome of luxury boasts 15 restaurants and bars, including the Long Bar where the cocktail Singapore Sling was invented. The Raffles Hotel is legendary the world over, down to the uniformed Sikh doormen who introduce guests to this bit of Southeast Asian history. The lobby of the main building is open to the public while the hotel museum is hidden away on the 3rd floor.
flickr/erwinsooClarke Quay is another part of Singapore’s past that is still a happening place today. One of the key tourist attractions in Singapore, the quay, at the mouth of the Singapore River, was the city’s hub of commerce in the late 19th century. It still hustles and bustles today, but with a different kind of commerce: trendy restaurants, unique boutiques, pushcart vendors and more, all of which blend Asian and European influences. Once a market, always a market, except at night when Clarke Quay teems with chic nightspots.
Resorts World Sentosa is a Singaporean destination unto itself. Located on an island off Singapore’s south coast, the property features hotels, restaurants, a casino, theme parks – in short, something for everyone no matter how old they are. With this location, attractions obviously center around the sea: Marine Life Park, Dolphin Island, a water park and an aquarium. Other attractions include Universal Studios Singapore and nightly entertainment. The casino offers a variety of table games sand 2,400 slot machines; be forewarned, it does enforce a dress code. The resort offers more than 60 dining options for hungry guests.
flickr/schaazzzOrchard Road is the main shopping street of Singapore, regularly frequented by the locals as well as foreign tourists. Named after the fruit orchards that the road led to, Orchard Road is flanked by malls, numerous upmarket restaurants, coffee chains, cafés, nightclubs and hotels. It is also the site of the official residence of the President of Singapore, the Istana. The Christmas decorations along Orchard are famous and entirely over the top, with reindeers cavorting through palm trees and gingerbread houses topped with fake snow.
10 Top Tourist Attractions in Singapore10 Top Tourist Attractions in Singapore
flickr/Roger SchultzSleek buildings line the Rio de la Plata waterfront at Puerto Madero, the largest urban development project in the capital. Puerto Madero served as the main port of Buenos Aires during the late 19th century, but larger cargo ships soon made it obsolete. The port fell into decay until 1989 when it was decided to turn the aging warehouses into something grander: buildings that could be used as residences, restaurants, shops and other businesses. To give the project a bit of flair, all streets in the district were named after women. Strolling through the Puerto Madero is a great way to spend a pleasant afternoon.
flickr/Ministerio de Cultura de la NaThe Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts), located in the Recoleta district, earns high praise from visitors, some of whom have compared it to a mini-Louvre because of its outstanding collection of European and Argentine artists. There are not too many places where people can see this art and for free, to boot. The museum opened in 1895 and moved to its present location – a renovated drainage pump station – in 1933. Its collection of fine art, the largest in Argentina, ranges from art in the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
flickr/Gobierno de la CdBAOpened in 108 with a performance of Verdi’s “Aïda,” the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires was designed by a succession of architects, which may explain the structure’s eclectic style. With nearly 2,500 seats and standing room for 1,000 people, the Teatro Colón stood as the world’s largest opera house until the completion of the Sydney Opera House in 1973. It remains one of the top tourist attractions in Buenos Aires.
flickr/wallygromCarlos Thays was a French landscape artist who came to Buenos Aires when he was 40 years old, and proceeded to change the face of the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Under his supervision, a number of parks were developed and existing ones renovated. But the botanical garden was his pet project. Located in the Palermo district near the zoo, the botanical garden is home to more than 5,000 species of plants, many in organized displays and others not. Past visitors say the park is a great way to escape the capital’s hustle and bustle whether strolling winding paths or just sitting on a bench reading.
flickr/Mike DisharoonEl Obelisco is a much-loved attraction that stands 68 meters (223 feet) high over the city. It was built in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city, naming the city as the national capital and as the site where the Argentinean flag first flew. The flag actually first flew in 1812 at the church of St. Nicholas de Bari, which was demolished to build the obelisk. It reaches proudly into the sky where 9 de Julio Avenue intersects with Corrientes Avenue. Said to be the widest street in the world, 9 de Julio Avenue is named after the 1816 date on which Argentina declared its independence from Spain.
flickr/ObliotTravelers who collect dining experiences may want to visit Café Tortoni, Argentina’s oldest and most famous café. Started by a Frenchman in 1858 who modeled it after a Parisian café, the Tortoni remains a popular place to enjoy coffee or snacks with friends as well as hobnob with writers, painters and other artists. It’s also a good place to see the tango performed on stage by professional dancers. Located on Avenida de Mayo, the Cafe Tortoni entices the hungry with sandwiches, steaks and desserts that look too good to eat.
flickr/barbuttiTravelers who are in Buenos Aires on a Sunday won’t want to miss the market at Plaza Dorrego, especially if they’re in the market for antiques and curios. The Plaza Dorrego is one of the oldest public squares in Buenos Aires, getting its start as a market in the 18th century when farmers filled wagons with produce to sell to locals on Sundays. The present antiques market started in the early 1970s; visitors who can’t make the Sunday market might enjoy the plaza’s surrounding area, as San Telmo is the capital’s antique district. Tired shoppers can rest at an outdoor café and watch tango dancers perform or even take a few lessons themselves.
flickr/Nico KaiserCaminito, which translates as “little street,” wasn’t always a street. It was originally a stream; when the water dried up, railroad tracks were built on the dry bed. When the tracks were removed, it became a landfill. Today it is considered one of Buenos Aires’ most colorful streets. Located in the neighborhood of La Boca, the street is a good place to watch artists at work and view their completed works. It’s also known for inspiring Juan de Dios Filiberto to write his famous tango, “Caminito.” Several museums also are located along the street.
flickr/wallygromRecoleta Cemetery isn’t just an ordinary cemetery. It’s where the elite of Buenos Aires and Argentina are buried, including the country’s former presidents, Eva Peron and even one of Napoleon’s granddaughters. Established in 1822, it contains more than 4,500 above-ground vaults, of which 94 have been declared national historical monuments. The cemetery is a good place to view fantastic marble mausoleums and best statuary, sculpted by notable artists. The BBC called it one of the best cemeteries in the world while CNN ranked it among the world’s 10 prettiest cemeteries.
flickr/David StanleyStarting from the 1810 revolution that led to independence, the Plaza de Mayo has been a focal point of political life in Argentina. Several of the city’s major landmarks are located around the Plaza including the Cabildo; the city council during the colonial era. Located in the center of the Plaza de Mayo is The May Pyramid, the oldest national monument in Buenos Aires. The plaza is also the square where the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo have congregated with signs and pictures of desaparecidos, their children, who were subject to forced disappearance by the military junta in the 1970s.
10 Top Tourist Attractions in Buenos Aires10 Top Tourist Attractions in Buenos Aires