Welcome to this week’s weekend conversation.
After a busy week in the North West of England—and with an equally packed schedule ahead, including business trips to Ireland and Switzerland before we head off for a break—I’ve been reflecting on just how much travel has changed over the last thirty years.
It hit home recently when I was thinking about the early days of short breaks. Today, a long weekend in Europe is second nature for a growing number of people in our circle. The same goes for business travel; so many clients spend their working lives importing and exporting materials across the globe, with regular trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or China treated as routine.
My thoughts drifted back to when Sharon and I first met. We were both divorced with young families, and holidays in those days were strictly bounded by company allowances—usually four weeks. I had recently started a new company, so holidays were even more restricted, with several days forced over Christmas, Easter, or set school holiday blocks.
We hadn’t been seeing each other long. I was doing particularly well financially at the time and, if I’m honest, I was keen to show off a little. Having just returned from a work trip to Germany, I spontaneously booked four nights in Vienna without telling her. Surprises are a great idea, right?
Communication was a bit different back in the late nineties. We had mobile phones, but we weren’t tethered to them the way we are now. Landlines were still the primary connection, and messages had a habit of getting lost or mangled in transit.
What started as a grand romantic gesture quickly turned into a logistical test:
- The School Run & Family Logistics: It was early December and strictly term time. Dropping the news that we were heading off from Friday to Tuesday raised plenty of eyebrows. “What do you mean you’re leaving Friday? It’s not holiday time! You had yours in August and you’ve got a week off at Christmas—what’s going on?”
Eventually, childcare was sorted, but I was already starting to wonder if my “spontaneous surprise” was a terrible mistake. When I drove from Southampton to Camden to pick Sharon up, I was greeted by the single largest suitcase I had ever seen.
“You do realise we’re only staying four nights?” I asked.
“I know,” she replied. “It feels like a bit of a waste of time—it’s freezing over there! Couldn’t we have saved our money and gone somewhere warm in August with all the kids?”
Tired after driving from Southampton to London and then on to Gatwick, I kept asking myself if the effort was going to be worth it.
It was.
Vienna was spectacular. From our hotel—which felt impossibly modern at the time—to the breathtaking contrast of the city’s historical architecture, it turned into a weekend of dreams. We skated on the outdoor ice rink, ducked into tiny local pubs with live music spilling into the streets, took a horse-drawn carriage tour through the historic centre, and soaked in the culture.
It was magnificent. Even with the inevitable changes every city undergoes over the decades, Vienna remains my absolute favourite European city to this day—and a reminder that sometimes, the hardest trips to organise yield the best memories.
Vienna Then and Now
Over the years since that first visit, Vienna has undergone a massive transformation. Since 1998, it has morphed from a somewhat strangely beautiful, ageing post-Cold War city into a vibrant, booming, “modern European city”.
While it has proudly maintained its iconic imperial charm, classical music heritage, and strict coffeehouse culture, the physical and cultural landscape of the city has changed dramatically.
What Has Changed
Architecture, regeneration, transport, dining and the increasingly international feel of the city have all changed considerably.
Vienna has changed considerably since our first visit. At the start of 2026, the city had just over two million residents, continuing the growth that has transformed the feel of the city since the late 1990s.
Vienna was still shaking off its post-Iron Curtain identity. For decades, like a lot of European cities, it had an ageing, shrinking population with a reputation for being slightly grey, traditional, and resistant to change.
The city now has a much more youthful and culturally diverse feel.
The city’s famous MuseumsQuartier (MQ) was just beginning its transformation. Entire swathes of the city—like the old southern train stations and the areas along the Danube—were underutilised brownfield sites.
High-rises were nearly non-existent; the Andromeda-Tower was only just being completed in 1998.
Vienna’s skyline has since shot upward with hyper-modern architectural marvels like the ultra-slim DC Tower. The massive MuseumsQuartier opened in 2001 and is now one of the largest art and culture zones in the world.
Cars still heavily dominated major shopping thoroughfares and neighbourhood centres. Cycling was mostly recreational rather than a primary mode of commuting.
There are now extensive cycle routes, while the city’s subways and trams are modern and efficient.
Dining out was very traditional, restaurants were formal, strictly indoor, and often filled with cigarette smoke.
Thanks to smoking bans and rising global temperatures, Vienna’s food scene has spilled outdoors. Sidewalk cafes, pop-up bars along the Danube Canal, and trendy international restaurants line the city.
The historic centre, coffeehouse culture, architecture, music and the character that keeps bringing visitors back. Vienna’s coffeehouse culture remains officially recognised as intangible cultural heritage, and the city’s own tourism material still describes the coffeehouse as a place to meet, read, talk and simply spend time.
FAQs
Is Vienna a good destination for a European city break?
Vienna works particularly well for a short European break because its historic centre, museums, cafés, restaurants and major sights can be explored without needing a long itinerary.
What is Vienna famous for?
Vienna is particularly known for its imperial architecture, classical music, museums, traditional coffeehouses and distinctive food culture.
Is Vienna suitable for travellers over 60?
Vienna can work particularly well for older travellers who enjoy combining sightseeing, culture, good food and relaxed time in cafés, with an extensive public transport network making it possible to explore the city without relying entirely on walking.
Some Cities Stay With You
I suppose that is why Vienna has stayed with me for nearly thirty years.
It isn’t simply because it is beautiful, or because it has wonderful food, fascinating history and some of the best architecture in Europe. It is because of what that first trip represented.
Sharon and I were still relatively new to each other. We had young families, busy lives and plenty of complications to work around. We weren’t travelling like we do now, where you can jump on a plane for a few days almost as casually as taking the car somewhere for the weekend.
That first trip was a bit of a gamble.
Looking back, I probably made it more complicated than it needed to be. I booked it without properly thinking through the childcare, the school arrangements, the timing, the travelling and, apparently, the amount of luggage required for four nights in December!
But we went.
And nearly thirty years later, I can still remember the excitement of arriving, the cold, the lights, the architecture, the little places we found and the feeling that we had somehow escaped normal life for a few days.
Perhaps that is what I like most about travelling.
Not necessarily ticking places off a list, but creating memories with someone that stay with you long after the hotel has been forgotten.
Vienna has changed enormously since that first visit, and so have we. Yet every time I return, there is still something familiar about it. Maybe that is why it remains my favourite European city.
And it has got me thinking about other cities we’ve returned to over the years. Milan and Dubrovnik are two more that immediately spring to mind, and both have their own stories.
I’ll probably share those another time.
For now, I’d love to know:
Is there a city or place you’ve visited that has stayed with you for years?
Perhaps somewhere you first visited when you were younger, returned to much later, and suddenly saw through completely different eyes.
Sometimes the places that matter most aren’t necessarily the ones on somebody else’s list of must-see destinations.
They’re the ones that became part of your story.
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