Accompanied by music – mostly on the piano – your apple strudel and ring cake will taste even better. Live music is the crowning touch of a coffee house visit. Here is a selection of concert cafés that offer a regular program of music (subject to changes):

Cafés on the Ringstrasse

Café Schwarzenberg opened in around 1860, making it the oldest café on the Vienna Ringstrasse. Piano concerts are played here in the vicinity of Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus and Ronacher (Sa from 18:30; Su from 10:00).

Also on the Ringstrasse, opposite the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, is Café Prückel. Its interior from the 1950s inspires fans of coffee houses and design. Piano concerts on the Bösendorfer are as much a part of the Prückel as newspapers and coffee (Mo, We, Fr 19:00-22:00).

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Before the evening performance

The Weimar concert café near the Volksoper has been around since 1900 – and remains a popular meeting place for audiences and artists alike. There is live piano in the historic ambience, with operettas, swing and jazz evergreens (Fr, Sa, Su 16:00-20:00).

At Café Sperl, which opened in 1880, Thonet chairs, marble tables and crystal chandeliers create a timelessly elegant ambience that opera lovers appreciate as a way to get in the mood for a performance at the nearby Theater an der Wien. Piano music entertains guests on Sunday starting at 15:30.

In the center

The former regular café of Thomas Bernhard, Café Bräunerhof, is located in the heart of the Old City antiques district between the Imperial Palace and Graben. The Bräunerhof Trio (violin, cello, piano) plays potpourris of Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán, Robert Stolz and the "Strausses” on Sunday afternoons during the cooler season.

On Karlsplatz – near the Vienna State Opera, Musikverein, Golden Hall, Secession and Naschmarkt – the Café Museum is waiting to be discovered. Shortly after it was founded in 1899, it evolved into a meeting place for Viennese artists with cult status. Geniuses such as Gustav Klimt and Adolf Loos were already guests here – A place of inspiration underscored by live piano music from Friday to Sunday (16:00-19:30).

Café Central, a no less legendary meeting place for literary figures founded in 1876, was almost a second home for the poets Peter Altenberg and Stefan Zweig around 1900 – nowadays music is offered here nearly every day (We-Mo 15:30-20:30).

The highly traditional Café-Restaurant Diglas is not far from St. Stephen's Cathedral, on Vienna’s Wollzeile. Piano concerts are held here regularly on Wednesdays (starting at 18:30).

The most musical cafés

More on the outskirts of town, Konzert-Café Schmid Hansl often hosts live programs. Viennese song, jazz, blues, musicals and operetta, folk and brass music, whether national or international, classical or modern – everything finds a stage here.

Only five minutes away on foot, near the Vienna Volksoper, is the Café Schopenhauer – it also features a select small music program with Viennese song (usually with a modern touch), some world music or jazz tunes. Children are delighted by puppet theater plays and participatory concerts. The cultural program also includes readings and book presentations – because the Schopenhauer is a popular bookstore as well.

On a shopping break

Mariahilfer Strasse is Vienna’s largest and liveliest shopping street. To take a break at a stylish classic Viennese coffee house, visit Café Ritter – where guests are pampered with piano music on Thursdays and Fridays 14:30-17:30).

VIDEO: Adia at Café Schwarzenberg

Adia takes us on a visit to Café Schwarzenberg, dives into Viennese Kaffeehaus culture and reveals what goes into the famous Viennese melange.