If you have a passion for music, put a classical music recital at the top of your list of things to do in Vienna. Composers Beethoven and Haydn lived in the city, and their scores are still played here with peerless skill. Book long in advance for the most esteemed venue – the State Opera House – but you’ll find classical concerts from the formal to the more intimate throughout the city.

If there’s another great icon of Vienna beyond classical music, it’s Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. Freud’s former home and consulting rooms on Berggasse from 1891 to 1938 are now a fascinating museum, telling the story of his life and work.

The Jewish Museum is one of the most worthwhile things to do in Vienna. At the centre of an engrossing collection at its Judenplatz branch is an excavated medieval synagogue, with engaging animations about the lives of Viennese Jews in the 14th century. A new permanent exhibition in the Dorotheergasse branch of the Jewish Museum emphasises the postwar rebirth of Vienna’s Jewish community.

Take a trip to Vienna’s Clock Museum, where 700 timepieces tell the artistic, scientific and social history of horology from the 15th century on. Exhibits within the Clock Museum range from a miniature clock that fits under a thimble to its big brother from St Stephen’s Cathedral, weighing just shy of a tonne. From sundials to the modern wrist watch, the Vienna Clock Museum is a fascinating experience for all.

The Natural History Museum also deserves a place among the best things to do in Vienna – especially for family travellers. Its collection of 25 million historic objects includes huge dinosaur skeletons, a bouquet of precious stones belonging to the only Habsburg queen, and the museum’s most coveted item – the tiny Venus of Willendorf statue, estimated to be at least 27,000 years old.

Find out more about on Vienna’s top culture attractions here.