36 Travel the lord of the ring roads in Vienna
Ring roads aren’t the first places you’d look for world-class art, culture and architecture, but Vienna’s Unesco-listed Ringstrasse isn’t any old ring road. Created in the mid-19th century on land where medieval fortifications once stood, this never-ending thoroughfare is possibly the grandest in Europe. Sigmund Freud used to compose his thoughts strolling the Ringstrasse, but if you’re pressed for time, compose your travel plans around the historic trams that loop about the capital. Blockbuster stops on the three-mile route include the Natural History Museum, the Austrian Parliament and the State Opera. The jewel in the crown is the 1891-built Kunsthistorisches Museum, with its Old Master-lined corridors and stairwells painted by Gustav Klimt.
• Guided tours on the historic Ring tram are £10, or use ordinary service trams 1 and 2;
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