Viennese drag queen Ryta Tale moved from the Austrian countryside to Vienna about 15 years ago, to pursue a career in musical theatre. Though a show-tunes lover might be tempted to reach for some comparison to Maria in The Sound of Music, Tale describes herself as “the Hannah Montana of the Viennese drag scene, being at home in both worlds, musical theatre and drag.”
Tale has been featured in videos looking fabulous in some of the Austrian capital’s most opulent locations. And Vienna, a city of about two million, has opulence to spare. The stomping ground of composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss (and 1980s pop star Falco), it’s also a destination that knows how to put on—and appreciate—a magnificent performance.
With Tale already dispensing recommendations on her favourite spots in her adopted hometown, we had to track her down for more advice on how to do queer Vienna right.
Before we get into some of your favourite things about Vienna, I wanted to ask you about you. How did you get into the drag scene?
It was mostly RuPaul’s Drag Race. Since I have a performing background, I always wanted to do drag, but I never had the time because I was in productions, between productions or in rehearsals. I mean, you can throw on a wig and some makeup and call it a day, but I wanted to take a professional approach to it. Then during COVID, I had nothing to do and needed a creative outlet.
Metamorkid [an Austrian performer who was on the first season of Drag Race Germany] started a queer open stage night here in Vienna called Drag Lab (Spektakel Wien, Hamburgerstr. 14, Vienna), which is going on to this day. That is where I had my first performance. Drag Lab has turned into this Viennese queer cultural phenomenon—everybody wants to perform there. Since it began, the drag scene in Vienna has exploded. There must be a minimum of 40 working drag artists as we speak. The scene is so cool and underestimated. Even in Germany, they’re like, “Oh, really?” Not even Berlin can keep up with what we’re putting on. Even in straight mediums—TV, radio, magazines—we’re able to push for what we stand for outside of our bubble, to reach as many people as possible.
Vienna seems like such a postcard city, like it’s not quite real. What’s it like to live there?
As a queer person, it is amazing. I’ve seen a lot of other places and there is no city I’d rather live in than Vienna. Even though people here are sometimes a little grumpy—we’re not known for being the best hosts. Maybe because I’m Austrian, I find that kind of charming. I can only laugh when the waiter is like, “Here’s your bill, whatever.” But when I walk around the city, sometimes I have to pinch myself looking at all these beautiful buildings. You’re walking through a fairy tale. Every time you turn the corner, you see a different church or castle.
When you have friends visiting from out of town, where do you send them?
We have incredible sites like Schönbrunn Palace (Schönbrunner Schloßstraße 47, Vienna), which is where Empress Sissi lived. It has this huge yard with nothing in front of it—the view is stunning. The Innere Stadt, or First District, is the heart of Vienna, which was the entire city until 1850. It’s so beautiful. Every building has a historic background, like the Kaiserliche Schatzkammer (Schweizerhof, Hofburg, Vienna), Die Weiner Staatsoper (Opernring 2, Vienna), Spanische Hofreitschule (Michaelerplatz 1, Vienna) and Stephansdom (Stephansplatz 3, Vienna), which is the huge cathedral right in the middle of the district.
Where can I go to get away from other tourists?
Vienna is not the biggest city. What might not be on everyone’s list is the Kahlenberg area, our little mountain area, with all the heuriger, or wine taverns, where you can sit outside and have a drink if the weather is nice. We have this thing called weinwanderung, which translates to wine hiking. It’s not really hiking because the hill is not too hard to climb, but you take a walk, grab a bottle of wine, and then sit and drink your wine in the grass of the vineyards. There are gorgeous views.
And if I need a break from all that touring?
I’m known in my friend circle as the person to ask where to go for brunch.
Of course, there’s my own drag brunch, which I host with my friend Grazia Patricia. It’s called Drag Portraits and we do it on select Sundays at Mirage (Prater 75, Vienna), which is in this amusement park area. We have a storyline to it. We’re both trained theatre people. We have three guests who we bring to life, like maybe Gustav Klimt painting a picture.
But really, literally every restaurant in the 7th district is doing brunch. Right now I would say that Das Vivet (Westbahnstraße 21, Vienna) serves amazing classic Viennese food from the classic Viennese—just a roll and some jam—to avocado toast and French toast. Whatever you want for brunch, this is the spot. It’s cozy with lots of pillows on the benches.
And for dinner?
I’m thinking of Salonplafond im MAK (Stubenring 5, Vienna), which is very elegant. They do French modern with an international twist, as well as Viennese cuisine. It’s located in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst. If you want something casual, Café Europa (Zollergasse 8, Vienna) serves very late. It feels like the kitchen is never closed. You can go on a Tuesday at midnight and order a burger. It’s where a lot of artists, actors and filmmakers go, a lot of younger people. The interior is very random. Next door, Liebling (Zollergasse 6, Vienna) serves brunch until 4 p.m. every day, snacks in the evening.
Where can I shop for something queer?
I can recommend the queer bookstore Buchhandlung Löwenherz (Berggasse 8, Vienna). They have so much knowledge about queer literature, I always love going there.
Where do you suggest that people stay?
We have a very queer-friendly hostel where I host a weekly karaoke night every Wednesday. It’s called JO&JOE Wien (Europaplatz 1/6, Vienna) and it’s inside the IKEA, a huge building at the Westbahnhof train station. It’s relatively new and a good place to stay on a budget. It has a designer vibe to it. You have a rooftop terrace where you can bring your own food and drinks, and you have an amazing view of the city. Plus you’re inside an IKEA.
If you have a bigger budget, I recommend Hotel Am Konzerthaus MGallery (Am Heumarkt 35/37, Vienna). It has this business vibe, but again, it’s very chic—it’s not trying to be something it’s not. The restaurant has a Michelin star.
I’ve heard that the Naschmarkt area, which is between the 4th and the 6th districts of the city, is essentially Vienna’s gay village.
There are a lot of bars in that area. There’s one, Café Savoy (Linke Wienzeile 36, Vienna), that, well, I didn’t get it at first, but it’s since grown on me. The phenomenon is that it’s a very straight place throughout the day—everybody goes there. Then, in the evening, it turns into this old-school magical queer bar. They have a high ceiling and a huge antique mirror. It’s very Viennese, like an empress is about to join us. Felixx (Gumpendorfer Str. 5, Vienna) is more on the modern side. They have a little club room in the basement where they sometimes have DJs and throw parties. It’s very cozy, open and friendly.
There’s another club, Why Not (Tiefer Graben 22, Vienna), which has been around for a long time. It’s a cultural reset for the queer community. There’s dancing, drag.
I have to say that all of these bars are mostly gay-men driven. But we have cool queer parties happening every now and then at Camera Club (Neubaugasse 2, Vienna). The best ones are Astronaughty and Ken.
I can really recommend the queer party Titti Titti Bang Bang (The Loft, Lerchenfelder Gürtel 37, Vienna), which is an all-gender party, very queer, very lesbian. There’s always a drag show and they do free shots. The club has three different floors and every floor looks completely different. The basement floor is clubby, then you have the living room floor, which feels like an actual living room with old carpets on the floor, then the top floor is like an Irish pub.
Another very queer club night happens every second Saturday. It’s called Rhinoplasty (Club-U, Karlsplatz Künstlerhauspassage Objekt U26, Vienna), and it’s free, everyone’s welcome. The music depends on the DJ because the DJs don’t get paid, they only get drink vouchers. The owner has said he’d stop doing it the second he had to get people to pay an entry fee. When they started 17 years ago, it was the alternative queers that went there, but nowadays it’s a home for everyone.
What’s a nice little day trip out of the city?
Graz is a two-hour train ride from Vienna. It’s beautiful, very charming.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
