How would you suggest we take a whirl around Vienna?

Q We are flying to Vienna this coming Thursday for the winter markets. We have never been there before. Do you have any recommendations on what to do?

Lauren K

A Austria’s sumptuous capital is a particular treat during Advent: you will be able to punctuate your stay with visits to Vienna’s seven distinct Christmas markets.

One of the city’s key strengths is the cafe culture. A December visit will doubtless involve several pauses to warm up with coffee or hot chocolate and probably consume some cake; the average daily high in Vienna during December is only 2C. I am a particular fan of the Café Central, on the corner of Herrengasse and Strauchgasse, which has been attracting notables such as Sigmund Freud and Leon Trotsky since 1876.

I also like the Café Prückel on the southeastern flank of Ringstrasse; it is more of a locals’ location, with specialities such as Eiernockerl – buttery pasta into which egg, spring onions and chives have been whisked – all at friendly prices.

The Ringstrasse itself, which wraps around the heart of the city along the line of the original city wall, is worth touring by tram: 1 and 2 will complete the journey. For art, the Schloss Belvedere Museum delivers The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, while the Albertina Art Museum and MAK – the applied arts museum – are also worth visiting. The National Library has a beautiful interior.

Time it right and you might catch a free concert at St Peter’s Church. The greatest place of worship, though, is St Stephen’s Cathedral. To explore the magnificent interior, be aware of slightly restricted opening hours: only 9am to 11.30am from Monday to Saturday, plus 1pm to 4.30pm every day of the week.

Finally, the Spanish Riding School – “the high school of classical horsemanship” – is an equestrian treat, but you will need to book in advance, and at this stage few tickets remain.

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Q You have written about the new “red tape” for visitors to Spain. So, as well as your usual passport details you will give a contact number, address and email. Not exactly the Spanish Inquisition, is it? How much additional inconvenience will this actually cause UK travellers to Spain?

Name supplied

A From Monday 2 December, tourists face added red tape when checking in to their accommodation or renting a car. A new Spanish law, aimed at improving security, requires accommodation providers and car rental firms to collect personal information from holidaymakers and pass it on to the authorities.

The Secretaría de Estado de Seguridad (State Secretariat for Security) says this is to counter “attacks on public safety” from terrorists and organised crime – which both have “a marked transnational character”. The government wants to keep tabs on who’s staying where and to cross-check personal details against security databases.

As you say, the average traveller from the UK staying in a hotel will not need to provide much additional information: until Monday, most holidaymakers had been registered with their name, nationality, passport details and gender, with data passed on to the local police.

The new law increases the amount of information demanded to include home address, email address and phone number. The authorities also want to know how the traveller paid. For most people on package holidays, that will be described as “a voucher” – the tour operator pays the hotelier. But if you have paid directly with a credit card or bank transfer, those account details will also be passed on.

The new law also extends the requirement to cover many other forms of accommodation, for example, apartments rented on platforms such as Airbnb. Last time I stayed in one, the owner knew nothing about me – now, she or he must obtain all those personal details. All the data is passed on to central government in Madrid.

In addition, people renting cars will find their personal data – and those credit card details – passed on to the Spanish authorities for the first time.

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Q We’re flying down under next Monday from Glasgow via Frankfurt. Unfortunately we have a long, boring six-hour wait at Frankfurt airport. Would you just sit tight and enjoy all that the airport offers – or take a wee trip out and about to see the city? I would hate to be back late and miss our big flight.

Philip G

A I presume you found a more favourable fare on some combination of Lufthansa and (I surmise) Singapore Airlines than on Emirates, which would have been the obvious choice from Glasgow with a one-stop connection in Dubai to all the big Australian cities. However, I suggest you treat the routeing you have chosen as a bonus – because you should certainly leave the airport and explore a small slice of Germany along the way. (That’s assuming your passport is compliant with European Union post-Brexit rules, no older than 10 years on the day of arrival in the EU and with at least three months remaining.)

To avoid putting your onward flight in jeopardy, plan to get back to Frankfurt’s big and confusing airport at least two hours before departure. You will need to pass through passport control on your way out, and go through security again – but thankfully you can leave your checked baggage to be transferred at Frankfurt, and travel light for a few hours.

Frankfurt’s Hauptbahnhof is just 13 minutes away by S-Bahn (suburban train) from the airport’s own station. Make sure you don’t go to the airport’s big intercity station. It is further away and more expensive. From the terminus in the city, walk east for about half an hour, through the Innenstadt (central core) to the main shopping street, the Zeil. The Christmas market will be in full flow here, and you will find plenty of options for lunch or an afternoon snack.

One more possibility if you prefer not to tackle a big city: take S-Bahn line S8 or a Regional Express train in the opposite direction from the airport, to the fine and ancient city of Mainz. It takes 26 minutes, but is a more manageable proposition than Frankfurt.

Back at the airport, I’m afraid you will find precious little of interest to fill the remaining time before your onward flight. Amsterdam Schiphol is so much better at providing engaging entertainment.

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