Three of Vienna's best-known buildings stand on one line through the old town: the university on the Ringstrasse, St Stephen's Cathedral in the middle, and the State Opera at the southern edge. Each tells a different side of the city's story, from medieval faith to 19th-century ambition, and all three are stops on our Vienna scavenger hunt. Between them lies an easy walk through the pedestrian streets of the Innere Stadt, the historic first district.
St Stephen's Cathedral
Vienna's cathedral, the Stephansdom, grew over several centuries on the site of a Romanesque church consecrated in 1147. Its west front, with the Giant's Door and the two Heathen Towers, survives from that early period. The Gothic rebuilding was pushed forward by Duke Rudolf IV in the 14th century, and the south tower, which locals call the Steffl, was completed in 1433. The north tower was never finished and was given a Renaissance cap in the 16th century. The church only became a cathedral in 1469, when Vienna got its own bishop.
In April 1945, in the last days of the war in Vienna, fire spread to the cathedral and destroyed the roof and the old great bell. It was rebuilt with donations from across Austria, and the new Pummerin bell, cast in 1951, now hangs in the north tower and rings on special occasions such as New Year. Mozart married Constanze Weber here in 1782. The south tower can be climbed by 343 steps to a watchroom with a view over the roofs of the old town. The cathedral is a stop on our scavenger hunt.
- The steep roof covered with about 230,000 glazed tiles, showing the double-headed eagle on the south side and the coats of arms of Vienna and Austria on the north side.
- Two iron bars set into the wall to the left of the Giant's Door, old Viennese standard measures for cloth.
- The carving O5 by the main entrance, the sign of the Austrian resistance against Nazi rule.
University of Vienna
Duke Rudolf IV, the same ruler who drove the Gothic cathedral forward, founded the university in 1365. It is the oldest university in the German-speaking world that still exists. For centuries it was based in the old town near the Jesuit church; its present main building on the Ringstrasse was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel in the style of the Italian Renaissance and opened in 1884. Its students have included Sigmund Freud, who studied medicine here, and the physicist Erwin Schrödinger.
Inside, the arcaded courtyard is lined with busts and memorials of famous scholars. For a long time they were almost all men, and in 2016 an art installation drew attention to the missing women; memorials to women scholars have since been added. Gustav Klimt painted three large ceiling pictures for the university's Great Hall, which caused a scandal; the originals were destroyed by fire in 1945, and reproductions have been installed in the hall's ceiling. The main building is the first stop of our scavenger hunt.
- The main facade on the Universitätsring, the section of the Ringstrasse renamed in 2012.
- The arcaded courtyard with its busts and the Castalia Fountain in the middle.
- The grand staircases and the ceremonial hall, which you can see from the corridors when the building is open to the public.
Vienna State Opera
The State Opera was the first major public building on the new Ringstrasse. Designed by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, it opened on 25 May 1869 with Mozart's Don Giovanni. The building was harshly criticised while it was going up, and neither architect lived to see the opening: van der Nüll took his own life in 1868 and Sicardsburg died a few weeks later. Gustav Mahler was its director from 1897 to 1907. Today it plays one of the largest repertoires of any opera house, with dozens of different operas and ballets each season.
On 12 March 1945 an air raid set the opera on fire; the stage and the auditorium were destroyed, but the front with its loggia, the grand staircase and the tea salon survived. The house reopened on 5 November 1955 with Beethoven's Fidelio, a few months after Austria regained full independence. Once a year, on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, the auditorium is turned into a ballroom for the Opera Ball. The opera is a stop on our scavenger hunt.
- The loggia on the front facing the Ring, with frescoes by Moritz von Schwind showing scenes from Mozart's Magic Flute.
- The large screen on the side of the building, where many performances are shown live outdoors during the season.
- The grand staircase and the Schwind Foyer, which survived the 1945 fire and can be seen on a guided tour.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the University of Vienna's main building on the Ring and look into the arcaded courtyard. Walk into the old town via the Freyung and Herrengasse, then turn along the Graben to Stephansplatz and the cathedral. Inside, look for the Gothic stone pulpit, where a carved man peers out of a window beneath the stairs; he is traditionally said to be the sculptor himself. From there, Kärntner Strasse, the pedestrian shopping street, leads south straight to the State Opera. If you have time, finish with the Albertina just behind the opera.
See Vienna with World City Trail
Our Vienna scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the University of Vienna to the Johann Strauss monument, and the university, St Stephen's Cathedral and the State Opera are all stops on it, along with the Ankeruhr clock, St Peter's Church and the Mozart Monument. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Vienna, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Vienna scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Vienna →
Play the outdoor escape game in Vienna →
Facts checked in October 2026.