mikejs11

My wife and I are visiting Vienna in 2020, and we are looking for a good luxury hotel to stay in. This will be our first trip to Vienna, so being close to the major tourist sites is ideal. Maybe even more important is being close to some nice restaurants and bars (wine bars would be ideal). If the hotel also has a great restaurant and bar, that would be great. We aren't really sure what would be the best (I know this is probably subjective) location, but I'd love some opinions. Here are the hotels that we are actively looking at:

Park Hyatt (seems like maybe the best location, but not sure - nice modern rooms)
DO & CO (only if we can get a suite - maybe 1A or 1B on location)
Palais Hansen Kempinski (familiar with the brand, very nice looking, Michelin restaurant and great bar - unsure on how good is location)
Hotel Imperial (people seem to love it, wife likes that suites have a butler, location looks good, unsure on bar/restaurant)

We've looked at a lot of other hotels (Sacher, San Souchi, Ritz, etc), but the above are the most appealing to us as of now. Any thoughts on these (or other) hotels?

DavidO

Park Hyatt is definitely my top choice. #2 would be the Sacher Vienna.

mikejs11

What would be your reasoning behind choosing those two? Have you stayed at any of the others that I listed?

LondonElite

Park Hyatt is nice. I like the Palais Hansen as well (location is fine). I've never stayed at the Imperial, and I find the Sacher has too many tourists in the lobby, at all hours. You may also wish to consider the Palais Coburg.

MSPeconomist

PH then Imperial, which is the city's traditional historic top hotel in a beautiful palace. It was renovated not long ago. There are a couple interesting modern upscale restaurants around the PH and a bunch of much more modest places. I'm not sure what would be very close to the Imperial other than its own restaurant(s) and bar.

Others may disagree, but whenever I walk past the Sacher, it seems to be mobbed with tour groups. Avoid......and get your sachertorte at the Imperial.

DavidO

Park Hyatt has the best room product and a great location.

Sacher is a family-owned hotel, and I liked its personality and ambiance.

Imperial is good if you want ornate Viennese decor.

I understand that the Bristol has been bought by the Sachers, mostly to keep FS from acquiring it.

Ritz-Carlton? Sometimes the best pricing of the group, but I’d only recommend it for the value proposition. Odd mixture of minimalistic contemporary interiors in a beautiful traditional building.

mikejs11

Has anybody stayed at the DO & CO? Do all of the hotels have a good selection of restaurants and bars nearby?

MSPeconomist

I've stayed recently at the Bristol as a top tier elite. It would not be considered true luxury as understood in this forum.

It's not the same class as the Imperial and PH, even though both Imperial and Bristol have been (significantly different category) LCs under both Starwood/SPG and Marriott/Bonvoy. Both were renovated fairly recently.

However, Bristol has an excellent location on the ringstrasse (like the Imperial, but it's farther away from stuff of interest, sort of across from a park and a suburban train station under a newish shaping mall that seems to have nonstop rail service to VIE) but the Bristol is right across from the famous opera house and rooms on the major side street (which leads to the very center of Vienna) have views of the opera house (as does the hotel's business center, so hotel guests can go there to peak at the view from what seems like the attic of the Bristol).

Bristol also has a recognized restaurant (which I would describe as modern and primarily Austrian cuisine) and very good bar, so it might be a less expensive but overall very good compromise property for the OP.

However, it it's been sold to the folks running the Sacher, this is a sad development that would cause me to stay away. It's always been a somewhat elegant traditional hotel, not (yet) a tourist trap. [BTW, OT but IIRC I noticed a newish Sacher hotel in Salzburg, across the river from the old town but in a pretty good location. Maybe they're trying to build a chain of hotels in Asutria or German-speaking Europe.]

livefromtuscany

Sorry to ruin your Sacher conspiracy theory but the Sacher Salzburg has been around forever. The hotel was built in 1866 and used to be called Österreichischer Hof until around 2000. The current owners of the Sacher hotels bought it in 1988.

livefromtuscany

It’s a boutique/design hotel with 43 rooms on St. Stephen’s square, the noisiest and busiest area of Vienna - the Times Square of Vienna. The hotel is decent, but I would not rate it in the same league as the PH which, as others said, is the best overall option, great location in an area with good restaurants/wine bars, great F&B and the best rooms in Vienna. That being said, I also like RC for location/value for money. I hated the Kempinski - worn-down rooms, mediocre F&B, hotel full of Russians.

mikejs11

Well, it looks like the Kempinski is out. A group just came in and booked the entire hotel. Based on the comment above on the DO & CO, it might be between Hotel Imperial and the Park Hyatt now.

LondonElite

You can't really go wrong with the PH. Shame it is so hard to get a seat in the bar.

mikejs11

So, it sounds like the Park Hyatt has the superior location. If we take décor out of it, is there anything the Imperial has over the Park Hyatt?

DavidO

Total agree on that advice (except it's called an Imperial Torte at the Imperial).

Here's my somewhat tongue in cheek report with a photo of both tortes on one plate

krispy84

If you do end up going into the Sacher ‘just to say you’ve been there’ etc. They did (do?) have a nice little cosy bar somewhere in the middle of the hotel, off one of the Kaffee und Kuchen rooms.

It’s been 12 years so who knows if it is still there. I was in my early 20s and staying somewhere several magnitudes cheaper, but very pleasantly spent my last couple of hours in Vienna with a cocktail or 3.

Get your Sacher Torte at Cafe Central or Demel.