Although I love Paris, there’s Vienna--a gilt-edged...

Although I love Paris, there’s Vienna--a gilt-edged wedding cake almost too rich to digest. Crowded with the ghosts of never-to-be-forgotten composers: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss. Vienna has known the sweetness of success, the bitterness of tragedy. Mozart wrote his own Requiem while dying in Vienna. During World War II, the city was bombed repeatedly. For nearly a dozen years after the armistice, occupation troops remained in Vienna. Coffeehouses were patronized by James Bond types. Vienna was spy-ridden and terribly exciting. Czech spies and Hungarian spies, Russian spies, American spies, as well as agents of Britain and France. There were more trench coats on the streets of Vienna than umbrellas in a London rainstorm. Estimates placed the number of paid agents at 10,000.

Occupation troops were billeted in historic homes and palaces of the Hapsburg emperors. They set up headquarters in Vienna’s great hotels. The Imperial housed the Russians. During the war, Hitler and Mussolini met at the Imperial. Afterward, Khrushchev had a rendezvous there with JFK. The Imperial is costly--prices starting at about $175 a night.

Opposite the State Opera House, the venerable Sacher is the setting of both novels and films, a living museum that contains more than 1,500 paintings, sculptures by Donatello and the famous tablecloth on which Madame Sacher embroidered the autographs of more than 450 guests, among them Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria. Archdukes who disdained publicity met with their courtesans in small, intimate dining rooms at the Sacher. These snug rooms are still occupied by couples during the dinner hour. Crystal chandeliers glitter overhead. Candles flicker at the table. If your love doesn’t sense romance here, even Mozart couldn’t help. For guests staying the night at the Sacher, the cheapest single goes for $125.

Tourists seeking a palace rather than a hotel should check into Hotel Palais Schwarzenberg. Built in the 17th Century, the Schwarzenberg provides a night’s lodging starting at $150 per guest, double occupancy.

To be young again in Vienna: a bittersweet dream, the thought of returning to its coffeehouses and picnicking in the Vienna woods . . . joining the crowds at the opera. One night I attended the opera with a friend who dozed off during the performance. Worse, the friend snored. The audience was furious. To the Viennese, opera is a religion. Anyone with a ticket steals away to the ornate palace, and those short of cash pay to stand.

Vienna remains an enigma. One night I took a table at the city’s oldest restaurant, the 400-year-old Griechenbeisl--and what do you suppose the gent at the piano was playing? “Hello, Dolly.”

For information on Vienna’s deluxe/budget hotels, restaurants, etc., contact the Austrian National Tourist Office, 11601 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2480, Los Angeles 90025-1760, (213) 477-3332.

Europe Through the Back Door: Writer Rick Steves is high on Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula. Recommends Kathleen Farrell’s Corner House B&B;, Dygate Lane, Dingle, County Kerry. Says Steves: “A cozy bed, a huge breakfast and lots of tea shouldn’t cost you more than $18.” Cheaper still is Paddy Fenton’s hostel-like Ballintaggert Hotel. (Shelter for about $8.) Paddy will meet your bus at the Tralee-Dingle stop, deliver you to the hotel. Rick Steves authors travel books, leads tours of Europe. Among his books, his best seller is “Europe Through the Back Door.” Travelers on Steves’ tours bed down in “an antique pension near the Rialto Bridge in Venice,” visit Munich’s beer halls, cruise the Rhine, prowl Paris’ Latin Quarter. Besides Europe’s capitals, they take in out-of-the-way hamlets, including traffic-free villages in the Swiss Alps/Italian Riviera.

Steves seeks out hotels that are “cozy, quaint, rustic, full of personality.” Some, he admits, “are downright shabby.” Says Steves: “You’ll see the Venice and Harlem hotels (where we stay) in 500-year-old paintings.” He cautions that “our European style of travel is ideal for some.” But for the traveler looking to be pampered “please, choose another company.”

Steves’ 22-day tours ($2,200) are limited to 26 travelers. These are “no-smoking, carry-your-own-bags” trips. Ages 18 to 65. A mix of students, retirees. Guides do the laundry (“It’s crazy for 26 travelers to spend several of their precious hours in a Rome Laundromat”). This summer, Steves is leading a special tour to Scandinavia, steering a minibus limited to eight passengers.

An ex-piano teacher, 36-year-old Steves has traveled to Europe for the past 20 summers. Everything he’s learned he’s packed into his 11 books. His “Europe Through the Back Door” (448 pages) is available at bookstores ($16.95). Among his others: “22 Days in France,” “22 Days in Britain,” “22 Days in Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” “22 Days in Spain/Portugal,” “22 Days in Scandinavia.” Price: $9.95 each. Besides leading tours and writing books, Steves conducts classes in “how to travel,” produces films for PBS television.

For a free copy of Steves’ 64-page newsletter/catalogue (published four times a year), write to Europe Through the Back Door, P.O. Box C-2009, Edmonds, Wash. 98020. If you’re in a rush, dial (206) 771-8303.

Hotel Discounts: Here are details on another hotel discount program. Join Hotel Express and get a 50% discount on accommodations in 400 cities in the United States, Canada, Mexico. Your card is valid at more than 1,000 select Holiday Inns, Best Westerns, Hiltons, Days Inns, Howard Johnsons, Sheratons, Marriotts, Ramada Inns. Other discounts on air fares, cruises, car rentals. To date, more than 1 million Hotel Express cards have been issued to leisure/business travelers. The 50% offer is good whether you book a room for one night or several. Be sure to call ahead for reservations. Members select hotels from a directory containing the names, addresses, telephone numbers of participating businesses.

Other details from the U.S. Information Bureau, (800) 338-3388, Ext. U-1000.

Potpourri: For a travel accessory catalogue listing money belts, adapter plugs, converter kits, hair dryers, raincoats, pocket locks, clothes steamers and fold-up bags, write to California Map Center, 3211 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 90405 . . . Virgin Atlantic Airways is paying passport fees ($55) for passengers on all its London-bound flights through May 31. Virgin Atlantic flies out of LAX, New York, Boston and Miami. Call (800) 862-8621 . . . Skiers obtaining cars from Budget Rent-A-Car get one-day lift tickets at Breckenridge (Colo.), Sandia Crest (N.M.), Snowbird (Utah) and Diamond Peak (Nev.). Details by calling (800) 527-0700 . . . Nonsmoking voyages in British Columbia are being offered again this year by CEBU Cruises, 1017 168th St. S.E., Bellevue, Wash. 98008-6043, (206) 746-3414 (no alcoholic beverages permitted on board) . . . Alaska is recruiting volunteers to work/live in Alaska this summer. Contact Volunteer Coordinator, Alaska State Parks, P.O. Box 107001, Anchorage, Alaska 99510-7001 . . . New Hampshire’s triple-diamond (from the AAA) Silver Street Inn, 103 Silver St., Dover, N.H. 03820, is offering a $50 reduced rate for rooms through May 15.

Reader Recommendations

California--Merle Hilliard, Century City: “Rachel’s Inn, P.O. Box 134, Mendocino 95460. Rooms are spacious, clean and the breakfast is sumptuous. Rates: $85/$145 weekdays, $96/$165 weekends.”

California--James D. Lia, Seal Beach: “Savoy Hotel, 580 Geary St., San Francisco 94102. Rates, including a continental breakfast/parking, port wine/tea: $79/$99.”

U.S. Virgin Islands--Jan West, Los Angeles: “Write to Jim Carroza, Yacht Cinderella, c/o Flagship, Inc., St. Thomas, USVI 00802, for details on chartering a crewed sloop in the U.S./British Virgin Islands.”

Italy--Andreas G. Kostelas, San Pedro: “Hotel Tramonto D’Oro, 84010 Praiano, on the Amalfi Coast. Rates: $73 double. The best buy in all of Europe.”

England--Daniel S. Latter, Los Angeles: “Pages Hard House B&B;, Church Street, Chiswick, London W4 2PA, is a pastoral oasis in the Turnham Green section of the city. Rates: about $70 per person per night.”