Vienna is Austria's most populous city, with about 2 million inhabitants (2.6 million within the metropolitan area, nearly one third of the country's population), and its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 6th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union.

Vienna's ancestral roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city. It is well known for having played a pivotal role as a leading European music center, from the age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic center of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks. Vienna lies in the northeastern corner of Austria, between the foothills of the Alps and the Carpathians, where the Danube (German: Donau), Europe’s second longest river, has cut its course through the mountains. The city is situated alongside the river, most of it on the right bank. The Vienna basin was a nodal point of ancient trade and military routes. It linked north and south along the “amber route” that ran southward from the Baltic and linked east and west along the Danube. Strategically, Vienna commands the surrounding regions, which include sections of Austria’s border with Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Lying east of the Alps, Vienna is protected from their climatic influences by a range of hills, the Vienna Woods (Wiener Wald). The city’s weather comes both from the north, the winds bringing cool summers and warm winters, and from the southeast, bringing heat in summer and cold in winter. The result, despite some summer fog and heat and winter snow and ice, is a generally temperate and agreeable climate. Throughout the year the temperature averages above 50 °F (10 °C). The characteristic Lüfterl (“Vienna air”), a light breeze blowing from the northwest and west, provides relief on hot summer evenings. Rainfall is fairly low, averaging 26 inches (66 cm) per year, the greater part of it coming in summer downpours.