Five-star Two MICHELIN Keys Kärntner Ring, Vienna
Hotel Imperial
A duke's town palace on the Ringstrasse, turned into a hotel for the World's Fair of 1873 and the state's guest house for visiting heads of state ever since.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- Two Keys, 2026
- Rooms
- 79 rooms and 59 suites
- Opened
- As a hotel, April 1873
- From the airport
- About 25 minutes from VIE
The hotel
From ducal palace to state guest house.
Duke Philipp of Württemberg built the palace on the new Ringstrasse in the 1860s as his town residence. The financier Horace Ritter von Landau bought it in 1872 and converted it in time for the World's Fair, and the Hotel Imperial opened on 28 April 1873. Under Franz Joseph it lodged the emperor's official guests; Richard Wagner stayed in 1875.
After 1945 the building housed the Soviet High Commission for a decade, then returned to the Republic and reopened after restoration. A marble staircase still leads to the royal suites on the first floor, with rooms alongside for staff and security. Chandeliers, period paintings and nineteenth-century furniture fill the floors above. Al Habtoor owns it, and Marriott runs it today under The Luxury Collection.
- The royal floor The first-floor suites sit at the top of the marble staircase, connected to rooms for an entourage. Every suite comes with a butler.
- Imperial Torte Café Imperial Wien serves the Imperial Torte, the house cake and one of the best-known desserts in Vienna.
- Terraces over the Ring Some rooms on the fifth floor open onto terraces looking along the Ringstrasse and over the old town.
Dining
A starred dining room and a Viennese café.
Venues as listed by the hotel; the star is from the MICHELIN Guide Austria 2026. Shown for information.
- OPUS One Michelin star Austrian, with international influences Nikolaus Platteter, chef de cuisine since 2025
- Café Imperial Wien Viennese café Home of the Imperial Torte
- Imperial Bar Wien Bar In the hotel
Recognition
Awards and listings.
- Two MICHELIN Keys 2026 selection
- One Michelin star for OPUS MICHELIN Guide Austria 2026
- Gault&Millau, four toques for OPUS 2026
- Condé Nast Traveler Gold List 2024
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children All ages welcome. Under-12s stay free in an existing or extra bed; older children pay a supplement.
- Pets Dogs accepted for a fee, one per room up to 36 kilograms. Not allowed in OPUS.
Getting there
Flying to Vienna.
Vienna International at Schwechat, about 18 kilometres south-east, takes scheduled flights and has a General Aviation Terminal for private jets. The drive to the Kärntner Ring takes about 25 minutes, our estimate.
- Geneva 1 h 25
- Nice 1 h 30
- Paris 1 h 40
- London 2 h 00
- Dubai 5 h 55
Questions
What guests ask first.
- How many MICHELIN Keys does the Hotel Imperial have?
- Two, in the 2026 selection for Austria.
- Is the restaurant at the Hotel Imperial starred?
- Yes. OPUS received one Michelin star in the MICHELIN Guide Austria 2026. Café Imperial Wien, also in the hotel, is known for the Imperial Torte.
- Does the Hotel Imperial accept dogs?
- Yes, one dog per room up to 36 kilograms, for a fee. Dogs are not allowed in the restaurant OPUS.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Vienna?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Vienna, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Vienna
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Hotel Sacher Wien Founded by Eduard Sacher in 1876 behind the State Opera, home of the original Sachertorte, and the only hotel in Vienna with three MICHELIN Keys.
- Anantara Palais Hansen Vienna Theophil Hansen designed the palais for the World's Fair of 1873; renovated and rebranded, it gained a second Key this year.
- Mandarin Oriental, Vienna The Art Nouveau former Commercial Court of 1908, opened as a hotel in December 2025.
- Park Hyatt Vienna The former headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian bank, with a fifteen-metre pool in the old vaults.
- Rosewood Vienna A bank building of the 1830s, opened as a hotel in 2022, with the façades of the old town at the windows.
- Hotel Sans Souci Wien A minute from the MuseumsQuartier, with original Roy Lichtenstein works in the suites and a long pool beneath chandeliers.
- The Amauris Vienna Sixty-two rooms in a Ringstrasse palace near the Opera, the old staircase and its original lift kept.
- Palais Coburg Thirty-six suites in a neoclassical palace built on the old city walls, whose six wine cellars hold more than 60,000 bottles.
Staying at Hotel Imperial?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Vienna, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.