3 Best Hotels in Linz, Day Trips from Vienna

Around the corner from Ars Electronica Center and just across the river from the Old Town, this avant-garde boutique hotel offers stylish and spacious bedrooms with quirky light fixtures and tailor-made artworks by local creatives. In fact, the whole hotel is unapologetically modern; a refreshing alternative in a city full of heritage accommodations. The superior rooms feature wooden floors, brightly-colored feature walls, open bathrooms with showers, and Segafredo coffee machines. Other hotel amenities include a small fitness center with a sauna and an appealing lobby and bar (although, considering the location, you're more likely to go out for a drink).

The birthplace of the renowned Mozart tenor Richard Tauber (1891–1948), the "Black Bear" is a traditional house filled with memorabilia on a side street in the center of the Old Town, a block from the pedestrian zone. The floors and walls are of gleaming wood, sprightly drapes decorate the windows, and the low, modern beds have fluffy white comforters. Rooms differ considerably in size, and some of the more modern ones contain imaginative bathrooms with freestanding brick-and-gray-tile tubs. The hotel's Rooftop 7 bar and restaurant offers tasty food with lovely views of the Neuer Dom and Pöstlingberg.

Set within a 500-year-old former nunnery, the centrally located Wolfinger has been a hostelry since the late 1700s, and that gives the interior some real charm. A few rooms feature vaulted ceilings and antique headboards; others are furnished with a mixture of kitsch and modern pieces. Those in the front on the busy square are less quiet but offer a view of city activities. The breakfast room entices with flowing curtains and Baroque-style chandeliers—a lovely way to greet the day.