The Guesthouse Vienna

The Guesthouse Vienna has occupied Führichgasse 10 since 2013, directly opposite the Albertina and two minutes on foot from the State Opera. Conran and Partners designed the interiors, with Sir Terence Conran overseeing the work himself. The 39 rooms and suites have large grey marble bathrooms and Bang and Olufsen equipment, and the Deluxe rooms add a deep window seat for watching the street below.

The room rate covers more than usual. The minibar holds two white and two red Austrian wines, beer, soft drinks, water and snacks, and a Jura machine makes coffee from house-roasted beans; all of it is included, and you may take a bottle of the wine down to the brasserie. That brasserie fills the ground floor and is open to guests and Viennese regulars every day from half past six in the morning until eleven at night. Bread and pastries arrive daily from the organic bakery Öfferl, while cakes and sweets come from the hotel's own patisserie.

Dogs stay without any fee and find a bed, a bowl and treats waiting in the room; the hotel suggests a Superior room facing the inner courtyard for nervous animals. Airport transfers with a driver holding a name board can be booked through the hotel at a fixed price. Kärntner Straße, the Burggarten and St Stephen's Cathedral are all within five minutes' walk, which makes this a house for exploring the old centre on foot.