...most limits are self imposed!
"To entice you we add a personal touch to each theme - along with a wealth of experience and knowledge, of course!"
Elisabeth Wolf, Founder
Artissimi crafts professionally tailored, bespoke tours and programmes exploring the cultural themes that made Vienna a cultural melting pot down the centuries in intimate, occasionally shocking, but always thrilling detail.
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography courtesy Jesuitenkirche

City Stroll with Elisabeth Wolf
Following the trail of tradition and traditional businesses, Christmas Markets and Austrian Customs
From Leschanz Chocolate to Horn Leather, "Maroni" Roasters, and Lederhosen, you'll encounter not only unique shops but also the Christkindlmarkt at Hof, Vienna's oldest Christmas market. You'll hear about old customs and love stories, about "Lösseln" and fig bread, and of course, how the Christmas tree found its way to Vienna.
Elisabeth Wolf, an enthusiastic Vienna shopper, will guide you on her newly designed "Christmas Shopping Tour" through Vienna. She's excited to share some of her secrets with you, so you too can surprise your loved ones with the most beautiful gifts or small treasures. After all, we know that luxury doesn't have to come with a hefty price tag!
Illustration: Viola Li

Combine a visit to a magical palace with one of Vienna's most charming Christmas markets - an amazing experience for everyone in the family, art lovers included!

All those romantics amongst you may well enjoy the highlight palace tour more, as you look forward to the Christkind arriving...

Schönbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has to be one of the highlights of any visit to Vienna, and offers endless possibilities. This must-see tour focuses on the history of Empress Maria Theresia and her family. Our favourites include the Chinese Cabinets, and of course the Great Gallery. The visit also includes a room entirely dedicated to Napoleon's son, Napoleon II Franz, as well as another to Karl, Austria's last Emperor. We promise the Little Amadeus, the vast golden bed and the Millions Room are experiences that will stay with you forever! 

A garden tour (or alternatively, a visit to Schönbrunn Zoo) could be another highlight... The Christmas Market is one of the buzziest in Vienna, and the perfect place to find some unique Christmas gifts (many of which will be handmade in Austria). And at the end of the day, you can enjoy some well-deserved hot punch and tasty Austrian treats to get you into the Christmas mood...

Travel: By public transport, taxi or private car
Minimum duration: 3 hours

Benefits to you: The must-see tour can only be booked through your guide, and means endless queuing isn't an issue - quite simply the best Christmas tour of Vienna you'll find!

The 2022 Schönbrunn Christmas Market can be enjoyed from mid November until January.
Click here for further details...

Photograph: Advent Calendar Schönbrunn Christmas Market, Fotofally

... and Not Quite so Obvious.

"Say hello to Vienna"
Artissimi's latest go-to Viennese experience let you strech your legs in a deliciously way, with a fascinating insider tour of the busy cobbled streets of the capital's historic Old Town district, the Altstadt.
On arrival, you will be welcomed by your guide Elisabeth Wolf, who will accompany you throughout your tour. As you begin to explore the district's medieval alleyways, Elisabeth's experienced eye will rapidly define your own personal interests and perspectives on the visits, and show you a selection of the hottest spots on her own list. These will include her favourite coffee houses and shops - from jaw-droppingly high-end to wickedly pop-up - genuinely classy souvenirs, and opportunities to visit and view Vienna's countless centres of design, music and the arts, old and new.

All along the way, of course, Elisabeth will share with you her unrivalled knowledge of some of the capital's best-kept secrets. You can include one museum or historic site in your wish-list to visit on your first day, combining your chosen site with the Altstadt's hidden delights, enabling you to orient yourself perfectly and tick off your personal to-do list with your very own guide.
You can include one museum or historic site in your wish list. These may include the Hofburg Palace, Imperial State Rooms and Sisi Museum, St. Stephens's Cathedral, the Austrian National Library, Treasury, Kunsthistorisches Museum and a host of other sites.

What you'll see: Vienna's historic city centre district, the Altstadt, bustling thoroughfares such as Kärntner Strasse, Kohlmarkt and Graben, togehter with the Hofburg Palace, Spanish Riding School, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Plague Column, State Opera and Albertina (all viewed exteranlly), and a host of hidden nooks and crannies. You'll also have the opportunity to visit one museum of your choice (entry included).
Guided tour minimum of 4 hours in duration, including one museum or historic site.
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography

2 - 4 hours
City Walk through Vienna's Second District: Leopoldstadt
Before the first Danube regulation, Leopoldstadt was situated amidst the sprawling Danube arms. Named after Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705), the name traces its origins back to Vienna's first Jewish ghetto. From the ghetto to the present day, Leopoldstadt remains the center of Jewish life in Vienna. Join us on an extraordinary city walk with expert Gerti Schmidt, who already achieved great success with our "Jewish Vienna" tour in the first district. Now, the long-awaited continuation has arrived.Learn about the theater scene, Arnold Schönberg, Arthur Schnitzler, Viktor Frankl, and see Theodor Herzl's residence on Praterstraße, as well as that of his neighbor, Johann Strauss. Discover the origins of the name "Mazzesinsel" and the connection between the Prater and Casablanca or King Kong... This tour will be made to measure according to your requests.Upon request: an exclusive visit to the "Sefardic Center" synagogue on Tempelgasse.
Here's a video to get you in the mood
Photograph: Tempelgasse, 1020 Wien, Artissimi

WALKING WITH KLIMT VIDEO

GUSTAV KLIMT (1862-1918) played a crucial role in the development of art in Austria. His work has a depth and power as mesmerising now as it was a century ago. By showing you who the person Gustav Klimt truly was, we offer a unique insight into why he inspires art-lovers worldwide to this day.
Our walks take in the Viennese spaces in which the genius worked, clashed with those who did not comprehend his art, flirted with scandal and IT-girls, loved to live and also passed away.
We visit the world’s greatest collection of Klimt oil paintings at the Upper Belvedere, the renowned Beethoven Frieze at the Secession and his final studio, recreated at the Klimt Villa in the residential district moments from Schönbrunn Palace.
We move on to the Museum of Applied Arts to view the drawings that became Klimt’s contribution to the mosaic frieze at the dining hall of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, and finally visit the XL mural of Klimt by Brazilian street artist Kobra.

Our bespoke private tours may take in the following sites:

• Belvedere, one of the world's largest Klimt collections
• Secession, The Beethoven Frieze
• Burgtheater, ceiling fresco, Main Staircase
• Kunsthistorisches Museum, ceiling fresco, Main Staircase
• MAK (Musem of Applied Arts)
• Klimt Villa, his final studio
• Wien Museum (currently closed): portrait of Emilie Flöge
• Theater Museum: Nuda Veritas
• Hietzing Cemetery: Klimt's final resting place
• Wiedner Hauptstrasse, XL mural of Klimt and his cat by street artist Kobra
• and so much more...

Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography courtesy Belvedere

2 - 4 hours
In the 19th century, Vienna stood as one of the largest cities in the world, complete with its own financial district. Architecturally, the 'Vienna Wall Street' remains uniquely distinctive to this day, bearing the imprint of great visionaries such as Ludwig Förster, Theophil Hansen, and of course, Otto Wagner. The Viennese financial world was significantly influenced by Jewish families like the Ephrussis and the Epsteins.
The tour may commence with an interior visit to the still-existing Agricultural Commodity Exchange on Taborstraße. From there, it leads to the first district, where former major banks, stock exchanges, and the Vienna Bank Association once thrived.
Accompany your Artissimi guide on a journey into the history of the Rothschild banking house, and listen to tales of cashier associations and national banks. Discover vaults hidden within supermarkets and enjoy a coffee in the cashier's hall of the former Escompte-Gesellschaft. Do you already know where that is? And if you're curious enough, Artissimi, as always, has plenty of visitation and reading recommendations.
Foto: Stiegenhaus K.k. priv. Österreichische Länderbank von Otto Wagner, Hohenstaufengasse 3, Artissimi

2 - 4 hours
This walk lets you stretch your legs in a deliciously different way, with a fascinating insider tour of the busy cobbled streets of the capital's historic Old Town district, the Altstadt.
Explore Vienna's medieval alleyways, adorable coffee houses, enchanting courtyards and even a natural monument! Hear ab out Vienna's first fitness center, how the coffee came to Vienna or how Wolfgang Amadé Mozart lost his job...
See St. Stephen's cathedral with its magic roof (outside) and maybe even a falcon flying over your heads...
Optional: inside visit of St. Stephen's cathedral
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography

2 - 4 hours
Even More Enchanting Courtyards City Stroll at the old town of Vienna
Finally, the premiere of the new and long-awaited tour, 'Even More Enchanting Courtyards,' through Vienna's city center is here. For one thing is certain: Vienna has many more enchanting places, fairytale passageways, and charming alleys to offer.
Your Artissimi guide takes you on a journey through Vienna's most beautiful alleys, past old city baths, salt cellars, and 'ghost letters,' up to bastions, into well-known and lesser-known courtyards, and to the oldest school in Vienna. Listen to how the streets got their names or where composers had their first performances, and discover accessible cellars from the Middle Ages and Roman times that still exist today.
Here's a video to set the mood.
If you enjoyed the 'Enchanting Courtyards' tour, this one is a MUST for you! 
Photograph: Courtyard in Tuchlauben, city center, Artissimi

This walk through the city takes you to former court suppliers. These outlets, where the glamour of the Austrian monarchy survives to this day, are still very much alive and kicking. One good example is the shop of former court purveyor, Wilhelm Jungmann & Neffe, whose beautiful textiles await your delectation now as they did the royal family centuries ago. Then there is the world-famous jeweller A. E. Köchert, which is managed and owned by the sixth consecutive generation of the Köchert family. Shoe manufacturer Scheer has a similarly glittering history, having been in business since 1816 and owned by the Scheer family for the past seven generations. One of our most exclusive tours: and because this is Artissimi, of course, we will even be invited inside for a look behind the scenes.
Photograph: Empress Sisi with "Sisi Stars", courtesy of A.E. Köchert

From Art Nouveau to Wien Modern
The period of artistic expression and change that exploded in Vienna from 1890 to 1910 is widely viewed as one of the most culturally influential and significant in the great city's history. In two short decades, such world-changing names as Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner rose to prominence in the field of architecture, Josef Hoffmann, Kolo Moser and the Wiener Werkstätte cooperative in design, Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele in painting, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schönberg in music, and last (but quite certainly not least), Sigmund Freud through psychoanalysis.
Depending on the weather and time available to us, we can organise a wonderful tour of Vienna, exploring this ground breaking period in intimate detail and taking in the following gems:

• The Otto Wagner houses on Wienzeile
• Secession, including the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt
• The Café Museum and Palmenhaus at the Hofburg
• Looshaus on Michaelerplatz
• Artaria Haus on Kohlmarkt
• The Engel Apotheke
• The Zacherlhaus on Tuchlauben
• Knize at Graben

Photograph: The Looshaus on Michaelerplatz, by Elisabeth Wolf

Jewish life in Vienna has been proved since the Middle Ages.
By the 19th century, Vienna was the biggest German speaking community with approx. 180.000 members.
More details will follow soon!
LINK TO MORE INFORMATION AND BROCHURE
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography

"I’d rather take a coffee than compliments just now" - Louisa May Alcott

The delicious tradition we know and love as ‟Viennese Coffee House Culture” has been listed as part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2011. Stefan Zweig once described the Viennese Coffee House as an ‟institution of a special kind”, and Peter Altenberg even had his mail delivered to his local café.
Palaces were equally important in the past, of course. When the Habsburg Empire was at its height, every noble family had to have one, ideally very close to the Emperor’s home. One might bump into the Emperor himself, by useful accident…

Join us on a guided tour of Vienna’s old town district, and hear about the literature and music inspired by the coffee house, Apfelstrudel and melange, the origins of the Schanigarten, Punschkrapfen and more. Take a walk along the beautiful Herrengasse, where palaces and coffee houses battle for much sought-after space to this day. As you go, learn about when a women was finally allowed to ‟be” at a coffee house, and how many newspapers Café Central had in the past.
And do you know why one notable café had to have an encyclopaedia as well as the daily papers? Join us to find out!

"I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless"
Napoleon Bonaparte
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography

In Artissimi's groundbreaking Upper Belvedere programme participants can rent a castle and enjoy a private tour in the highly exclusive company of Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka...
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography courtesy  Belvedere

Artissimi Atelier
Art opens spaces for new viewpoints and enables the observer to gain access to a changed conceptual world. Artissimi Atelier provides artists with a framework for bringing their world and their work closer to the public.
Christl Bubik took over Artissimi Atelier in 2020 and has since then opened doors and minds... It will be our pleasure to arrange visits at artist workshops in and around Vienna and connect you with important Austrian and resident artists.
Exclusive, private tours upon request.

"Art does not reproduce, what we see, rather, it makes us see."
Paul Klee
Photograph: Christl Bubik and Elisabeth Wolf at Hotel Andaz Vienna, Claudia Blake Photography

"SOMETHING IMPRACTICAL CANNOT BE BEAUTIFUL", Otto Wagner
By the end of the nineteenth century, Vienna was rapidly becoming the perfect backdrop to the innovative ideas of architect and urban planner Otto Wagner, born in the city in 1841. The functional and floral buildings Wagner brought to life in his projects continue to define the look and feel of Vienna to this day, and it is no exaggeration to describe the Austrian capital as a vast and timeless exhibition of the great man's achievements.
Photograph: Artissimi

From Vandalism to the White House
Walls across Vienna have been specially marked out by the city government for artists from across the world identifying them as spaces to create daring and groundbreaking street art in the Austrian Austrian capital. Elisabeth Wolf has been researching this area of art for many years now, has participated in tours in a range of different countries, and hosted a variety of workshops on street art As a result, Elisabeth now boast profound experience in the field, which has made this particular tour a huge success. This tour takes you to the most amazing walls in Vienna, to view work by local and international artists, as well as along the Donaukanal, a famous area for spraying. You will learn about the techniques, books and festivals involved, and hear the story of how the street art that made it from the streets of '80s New York to the White House then crossed the Atlantic to Europe, before returning, refreshed to North America. Taking pictures on this tour is an absolute must.
If you would like to get a feel for street art before viewing the real thing, then check out Thomas Grötschnig's highly accessible book and online guide to the subject, "Vienna Murals" or @viennamurals.
Photograph: Artissimi

Are you one of the millions of passionate fans of classical music around the world who has often wondered how and why Vienna became the unmatched world capital of great musical art over the centuries? Have you heard the story of the leading composer who was an equally talented artist? Or that several members of the Austrian imperial royal family were also highly-regarded composers?
If hearing these stories (and many others) told by friendly and knowledgeable expert guides, in the company of like-minded individuals from around the world, while making your way through the Austrian capital’s winding cobbled lanes, back alleys and quiet squares – the spaces where those sounds and techniques evolved down the centuries – sounds like a recipe for your perfect cultural and musical mix, then read on!

Our tour begins at the Vienna State Opera, one of the world’s truly great opera houses, with fascinating history (and perfect acoustics) oozing out of its every nook and cranny. The State Opera first opened its doors in 1869 with a performance of Mozart’s Don Juan(Don Giovanni). Musical sightseeing will be very much the order of the day, accompanied by myriad stories of famous (and less well-known) musicians including Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, Pietro Metastasio, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Johann Strauss and others – all of whom lived and worked in Vienna during their careers.

The Jesuit Church is widely viewed as one of the most beautiful churches in the Austrian capital. A true Baroque highlight, the building provides a breathtaking backdrop to a presentation by much-admired international organist Peter Frisée.
As anyone fortunate enough to have attended one of Artissimi’s beautifully designed high-end tours over the years will tell you, there is nothing we enjoy more than to show you sides of Vienna and its rich history the untrained eye would never see – the great city’s hidden treasures. With this founding principle in mind, we will be taking the church’s old stairs up to the Organ Loft, before sitting back, closing our eyes and allowing the exhilarating organ performance to wash over us. The organ itself is a fabulous French concert organ – one of the best in use anywhere in modern Vienna. More exciting still, we will be seated high up in the Baroque heavens. Finally, to bring the day to a fitting end, we shall have the rare opportunity to attend a private organ concert inside the church.

Jesuit Church, Vienna

The altar at the museum of the Scottish Abbey in Vienna shows the oldest view of the city in existence, one of the most impressive and valuable pieces of its time. The artist, who lived in the Middle Ages, is unknown to this day, and continues to guard his secrets well. One of the few things we do know is that he has had a huge influence on artists throughout the region and beyond. A walk through the surrounding area then enables participants to follow the trails of the Byzantine Princesses who brought art and music to Vienna during the Babenberg period. This walk is particularly enjoyable during the winter months, and can be booked as a unique Christmas treat.
Photograph: Museum Schottenstift, Vienna

Elisabeth Wolf, Owning Manager, Artissimi
The founder of Artissimi, Elisabeth has always been fascinated by the great city of Vienna and its beauty. She loves rediscovering new elements of her home city, and delights in creating unique programmes for her high-end clientele from all four corners of the world (as well as Austria and Vienna itself, of course). Elisabeth has many years’ experience of the international 5-star hotel scene, making her the perfect host for high-end luxury guests wishing to enjoy and discover the arts that speak to them in the company of like-minded professional lovers of the high arts. Elisabeth specialises in creating bespoke programmes, and speaks fluent English, Italian, French and German.
Photograph: Claudia Blake Photography courtesy Belvedere