Vienna International Airport (VIE): Approximate driving time is 30 minutes and distance is 10 miles (16 kilometers).

The airport bus connects with the city's underground system at Westbanhof train station. The bus ride is approximately 30 minutes. Taxis run from the airport to the city centre.

The U-Bahn underground system is augmented by buses and trams and connects the hotel with the rest of Vienna within 20 minutes. The Underground station closest to the hotel is Stadtpark. The hotel can order taxi cabs and limousines on request.

This hotel has 247 guestrooms, all of which have Biedemeyer furnishings. Rooms are decorated in either candy pinks and greens, or in pale greens and olives. Wooden headboards complement bedspreads in pink and green floral patterns or deep green with a grapevine motif. Two armchairs are pink with highlights of green wood or pale green satin stripes. Period desks have Internet access. Walls are hung with watercolors of 19th century Vienna. Bathrooms have a green marble sink, an adjustable-height showers over the tub and heated floors.

Le Si?e - With its views of the Stadtpark, this quiet, refined seafood restaurant offers ?a carte lunch and dinner and a four-course fixed business lunch. Red furnishings throughout include well-cushioned red banquettes.

Palais Caf?b> - Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks are served beneath the caf? glassed roof, in one of the hotel's inner courtyards. Dishes include Viennese and Asian specialties, served to guests surrounded by fig trees and sitting on curved banquettes upholstered in vine-covered fabric.

Amenity highlights: The hotel's extensive conference rooms are all faithful to the building's imperial history. Conventioneers meet below romantic ceiling frescoes, sit on period furniture and have their presentations lit by chandeliers. Fitness and relaxation facilities include central Europe's only salt-water flotation tank and an Ayurvedic massage service.

Insider tip: At the other end of Statdtpark from the hotel - about a 10 minute walk - the Museum f?ngewandte Kunst (more succinctly known as MAK) is home to Vienna's rich history of decorative arts. The Wiener Werkstatte was an extremely influential early 20th century art movement based in the city - among its gorgeous Art Deco output was furniture, household goods and graphic arts. Much of the Werkstatte's collection can be seen at MAK.

The hotel's John Harris fitness center includes cardio machines and free weights, with a trainer available by appointment. The fitness center opens to a roof-top sunbathing terrace. On the ground floor of the hotel, the Vendome flotarium has Europe's only salt-water flotation tank and an Ayurvedic massage service.