Travel in city Vienna

The table is set with a crisp white tablecloth, there’s a soft glow from a tablelamp and outside the window, snow-dusted trees are whizzing past at 120 kilometres per hour.

It’s Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket competition of 2024. Marriott Bonvoy is offering members of its loyalty scheme the chance to see Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. And you don’t have to work out ways to get enough Bonvoy points to be the highest bidder; it’s a sweepstake which means anyone can win. Winners will be picked at random - a good thing. Less great is that the odds against you winning are huge.

In a bid to win over a younger audience to its hotel chains, Marriott International is adding Taylor Swift's Eras tour to its loyalty program.

Marriott International's Bonvoy rewards program is tapping into the Taylor Swift frenzy, granting Bonvoy members the chance to experience Swift's Eras Tour through either a sweepstakes or the Marriott Bonvoy Moments platform, where members can trade in hotel-stay points for experiences, concerts and sporting events.

When they debut in 2025, Riviera River Cruises’ two newest ships will sail the Danube and Douro rivers in Europe.

At its best, a visit to a destination spa or wellness retreat can be life-changing. Of course, that is often the hope, especially when there are deep-seated goals you want to work toward. Too much of the time, however, the reality doesn’t quite match up. But under the guidance of award-winning Italian spa and wellness visionary Patrizia Bortolin, the transformational wellness retreats at Preidlhof Luxury DolceVita Resort, in the Italian Alps near the Austrian border, not only meet expectations, they exceed them.

Get your friendship bracelets ready, because Marriott Bonvoy wants to send you to not one, not two, but three separate Taylor Swift concerts around the world. 

The Emirates A380 has returned to Vienna again after a break of nearly four years and carrying more than 400 passengers to the Austrian capital. Emirates has become the only air carrier to operate the double-decker at Vienna International Airport, a significant milestone in the history of the partnership between the two entities.

Renowned for its spectacular architecture and high concentration of ornate churches, the Austrian city of Vienna draws tourists in droves with each passing year—but there’s far more to this stunning city than simply its gorgeous buildings. All throughout each district, visitors can discover a thriving dining scene that seamlessly blends old and new, with time-honored bistros and cutting-edge wine bars scattered all across the city. Whether you’re hoping to dine on elegant seven-course tasting menus or just dine on classic Wiener schnitzel with a beer in hand, Vienna is certain to provide you with a truly unforgettable dining experience.

Had I ever seen so much bare flesh in one room? Naked in a mixed-gender Austrian sauna, I sat opposite two dozen other nude people on wooden benches. Even after more than a year of living in Europe, as an American, I still felt a little uncomfortable sitting there in nothing but my own skin.

A sleeper train renaissance is underway in Europe and night services are set to be one of the most popular ways to travel in 2024. New routes are connecting the continent’s buzziest cities with improved comforts like WiFi, coffee and breakfast included in the ticket price. The new night trains are also boosting the no-fly movement by offering a more sustainable alternative with a lower carbon footprint than car journeys and flights.

Wyndham is the world’s largest hotel franchisor, and we found a handful of noteworthy details in its annual 10-K filing.

Ferlach, Austria, is a hamlet of some 7,000 souls nestled in the Karawanken mountains to the south. It’s a land rich in forests, beauty, and gun-making traditions. Because of those traditions, Ferlach has become a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage community. Firearm manufacturing here dates to the 16th century when emperor Ferdinand of Austria had a vision to create a firearm production center in the region known as the Valley of Roses.

A new transatlantic route is coming to New England this summer thanks to Austrian Airlines.  

The 20th century was unkind to Vienna. The capital of the Habsburg empire until 1918, it was, by early 1989, a bleak and battered outpost within touching distance of the iron curtain. Now that the city has undeniably recaptured its glory of old (symbolically, its population grew to two million last year, its pre-first world war imperial population), it might seem counterintuitive to visit it for its modernist architecture. But this is a highly rewarding endeavour, especially if one wishes to avoid an overdose of Sachertorte (chocolate cake), horse-drawn carriages, flamboyant churches and palaces, and imperial tat.

Austria has come up with a ‘bold’ new plan to expand its rail network over the next 16 years.

In the tucked away Black Forest town of Donaueschingen, the mighty River Danube begins. It rises as a clear, three metre-deep wellspring in the town centre, encircled by a stone basin sculpted with zodiac symbols. From there, the Danube – Donau in German – flows full tilt onwards for 1,771 miles to its mouth on the Black Sea, passing through the great cities of Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade.

From air traffic control strikes to extreme weather, last year saw millions of passengers face flight delays across Europe.

Train lovers and travelers concerned about their carbon footprint have a lot to choose from this year — especially in Europe. While some European governments are mulling short-haul flight bans, many passengers are already opting for rail, where new connections are numerous.

In cities from New York to Vienna, new short-term-rental restrictions — designed to improve housing availability for residents — are poised to boost the bottom lines at hotels. In New York in November, shortly after Airbnb and the like were limited to stays of 30 days or longer, hotel occupancy was up 6 percent and rates were up 8 percent, according to the commercial real estate firm CoStar.

If you’ve rambled along La Rambla in Barcelona, climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris and checked out Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, it’s tempting to tick Europe’s major cities off the list. But even in the most well-visited cities, there’s often a new and surprising angle to discover. We’d love to hear about the unexpected discoveries that made you see a European city in a new light, whether it be modernist architecture in Vienna, street food in Amsterdam or contemporary art in Rome.