Rosewood is renowned for taking storied buildings and making them feel vividly contemporary, connected to the city’s culture. Rosewood Vienna is one of the finest expressions of that approach. The hotel sits on Petersplatz, a compact square in the heart of the Old Town dominated by the Baroque splendour of the Peterskirche. Four neoclassical buildings have been brought together as one to create an elegant, ultra-luxury hotel. One building was formerly the headquarters of the Erste Group Bank, while another contained an apartment where Mozart lived and composed The Abduction from the Seraglio. The conversion was handled by BEHF Architects and A2K Architects, with London-based Alexander Waterworth designing the luminous interiors. It opened in 2022, the first luxury hotel to open in Vienna in a decade, and it immediately set the standard.
Vienna, Vienna, Innere Stadt
Rosewood Vienna
(5 stars)The Arrival
The ground floor lobby is set to become a coffee shop, a welcome addition that will bring the hotel further into the daily rhythm of the city. For now, the arrival space is dominated by striking, large-scale canvases by Hermann Nitsch, the legendary Austrian Actionist painter. They are bold, visceral and unapologetically confrontational. This feels like a contemporary statement that conveys Vienna is more than just imperial nostalgia.
Up one level, the elegant lobby is a series of intimate salons rather than a single reception space, with curved velvet sofas, sculptural light fixtures and shelves arranged with books and carefully chosen objets. The effect is residential, warm and quietly glamorous. Salon Aurelie, the lobby lounge, is the jewel. Hand-painted murals of palm fronds, tropical flowers and butterflies by Austrian artist Marie Hartig wrap the walls, an homage to Vienna’s magnificent Palmenhaus conservatory. Crystal chandeliers by Lobmeyr cast honeyed light onto Backhausen textiles. A ceramic vase installation offers an elegant nod to the Danube.
The Room
We stayed in a Deluxe Junior Suite on the fifth floor, a generous space up to 57 square metres with twin windows overlooking the Peterskirche. Swing them open and you hear the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages on the lane below and the bells ringing in the belfry next door. It is one of those wonderful sensory moments that immerses you into the fabric of a very old and very beautiful city.
The room was immaculately furnished, every element bespoke. Alexander Waterworth’s interiors blend Art Deco curves with mid-century warmth, with plush velvets and gilded touches set against a soft, muted palette. Above the bed hung contemporary art, while in the entrance, a handsome walnut-framed bar console offers a full cocktail setup with fine glassware, a cocktail recipe book and a trolley ready for serving. Even the Nespresso machine was custom-bound in leather from a Parisian atelier. On the coffee table, a Taschen volume on the Wiener Werkstätte, Vienna’s revolutionary early 20th-century design school. A plaster bust of Mozart sat under a small glass dome, beside a delicate lilac hydrangea bloom on the table.
The details kept revealing themselves. Like the art and design board games made exclusively for Rosewood Vienna, and our pillowcases embroidered with our initials. At turndown, my iPhone charger cable had been tidied with a bespoke leather cable tie, and left on the bed was a fun little nighttime story that cleverly inspired a city itinerary for the following day.
In the wardrobe thoughtful touches like wooden shoe trees, while in the bathroom there were sustainably sourced amenity items like bamboo combs and toothbrushes, a natural loofah for the shower, and Angeli di Firenze amenities in elegant porcelain dispensers.
No two rooms here are the same, and ours felt less like a hotel room and more like a beautifully curated private apartment in the grandest quarter of the city.
The Design
This is where Rosewood Vienna truly soars. The interiors are ravishing. Backhausen textiles, the firm that powered the Vienna Secession, appear throughout. The fabrics, curtains and upholstery are all bespoke, with patterns that reference the buildings’ own histories. Even the leather coasters and the grills on the air conditioning ducts are custom-made.
The art, curated by Atelier 27, is one of the hotel’s great pleasures. Historical etchings of Viennese architectural landmarks have been reimagined with bold contemporary colours, textural cross-stitch and mixed media. They are inventive, playful and unexpected.
Soft floral elements and murals reference regional Viennese history, including nods to Schönbrunn Palace. The Hoffmann House, the presidential suite, features a chandelier with hand-cut Swarovski crystals. At every turn, the design tells the story of the city, connecting you to its creative and architectural heritage while somehow also feeling contemporary and relevant.
THE1835 Bar and Neue Hoheit Restaurant
We started our evening at THE1835, the rooftop bar named after the year the building was constructed. You climb a few steps from the bar and emerge onto a terrace that stops you in your tracks. The copper-green dome of the Peterskirche fills the foreground. Beyond it, the spires, domes and gilded flourishes of Vienna’s extraordinary skyline reach to the Gothic silhouette of St. Stephen’s Cathedral spire.
Dinner was at Neue Hoheit Restaurant, which sits beneath sloping contemporary glass roof windows that frame the views beautifully. The menu takes an international approach alongside Viennese classics. We had the burrata salad, the veal schnitzel and a steak. The sommelier was knowledgeable and enthusiastic, steering us towards two Austrian wines, a Wieninger Wiener Gemischter Satz and a Nikolaihof Wachau Riesling. The signature Gugelhupf cake is the dessert to order. Service throughout was attentive. The dining was pleasant, though the menu plays it safe where a hotel of this calibre might, in my opinion, push harder.
Breakfast is served in the same room, morning light streaming through those generous angled windows. Service was à la carte and attentive, together with a small buffet of treats like handmade chocolate pralines, chia fruit bowls and a tempting spread of local cheeses and chutneys, including a delicious local spicy mustard jam.
Asaya Spa
Asaya Spa is on the hotel’s higher floors. It is said to be the first in Austria to partner with Augustinus Bader. We used the sauna and steam room rather than booking a treatment, but the spaces are beautifully composed. The relaxation room is particularly striking. Chaise longues sit beneath an emerald-hued ceiling that mirrors the colour of the Peterskirche dome across the square.
The Location
Petersplatz sits at the very centre of Vienna’s Old Town, and stepping outside the hotel puts you immediately into one of Europe’s most glamorous shopping districts. The Graben pedestrian boulevard and the Goldenes Quartier are steps away, with flagship boutiques from Louis Vuitton, Prada, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and more. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is five minutes on foot. The Albertina, the Hofburg and the vibrant Naschmarkt are all within easy reach. Vienna Airport is 30 minutes by car or CAT train.
Final Thought
Rosewood Vienna is a masterclass in what happens when a hotel brand truly understands its city. The bespoke design, the layered art, the residential warmth of the rooms, the thoughtful details like the Wiener Werkstätte book, the leather-bound espresso machines and the embroidered pillowcases. AS a guest, you feel connected to both Vienna’s creative heritage and the city’s vibrant modern scene. The dining could be sharper, but everything else operates at the very highest level.
