When Vienna demolished its city walls, it replaced them with a 5-kilometer boulevard planted with four rows of trees — lindens, planes, and horse chestnuts flanking both sidewalks. A century and a half later the Ring is a continuous shade corridor connecting the Opera, the museums, Parliament, the Rathaus, and the university, with the tram running down the middle for the days you give up.
These picks run the Ring’s best segments and dip into the Innere Stadt’s lane grid where the buildings take over. The Volksgarten rose beds are the detour worth taking.