Vienna is one of the world’s best livable and safest cities. It is highly recommended for tourists to explore Vienna’s city center by foot. In this way, you can take your time as you marvel at the city’s famous attractions.
The Ringstrasse area is a good start. Based on its name, this area is a wide and circular boulevard established between 1850 and 1900 and here you will see many of the city’s important buildings. Among them are the city hall, the imperial theater called Burgtheater, the parliament building, museums, the opera house, the Postal Savings Banks and the Hofburg palace.
In the past, most of the buildings here were made as residences of the middle class with the ground levels made as commercial spaces. Although originally built as simple structures, the buildings eventually were constructed in different architectural styles such as the Italian Renaissance for the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Natural History and the Vienna Opera House while the parliament building features the Greek classicism style. The town hall features a Flemish-gothic style while the Ringturm has the modern 1950s style.
Apart from the unique buildings you will find here, Ringstrasse also has great parks that boast of greenery where you can sit down and relax before heading off to your next destination.
The establishment of the four-kilometer long Ringstrasse in 1857 on orders of Emperor Franz Joseph I signified Vienna’s liberalization and development. It is now part of the city’s 1st district and is not open to traffic which means the only way to go around it is by walking.
