The Kahlenberg terrace above the Grinzing vineyards

The Kahlenberg is the hill at the north-west corner of Vienna where the Vienna Woods end and the vineyards begin. Beside the little church of St Joseph and the hotel on the summit, a public terrace looks south-east over the Nussberg vines to the whole city: the Danube and its island, the spire of St Stephen's, the towers of the Danube City, and on a clear day the plain running to Bratislava. It is free, open all the time, and twenty-five minutes from Heiligenstadt station on the 38A bus, or a short drive up the Höhenstraße.

The view faces away from the setting sun, which is exactly right: in the last hour of the day the city is lit from behind you and the vineyards below turn warm, then the lights come on across the plain during the blue hour. Mornings are hazy and flat; midday is for the walk, not the frame.

The better pictures are often not on the terrace but on the way down. A marked path drops through the Nussberg vineyards to Nussdorf and Grinzing in about forty-five minutes, with vine rows, wayside crosses and the city as a backdrop the whole way; from late September to late October the leaves turn gold and the wine taverns at the bottom are in full swing.

In winter the vines are bare and the terrace is cold and windy, but the air is clearest, and snow on the Nussberg with the city beyond is a frame Vienna gives only a few days a year. The vineyards are private working land — stay on the paths, especially during the harvest.