Some places are difficult to fit into the usual travel categories. They may be overlooked buildings with unexpected second lives, unusual museums, architectural curiosities, small local discoveries or places whose stories are far more interesting than their fame would suggest.

Hidden Gems is where we collect those discoveries. We are not simply looking for attractions with fewer visitors. A place belongs here because there is something genuinely unusual about it — an unexpected history, an imaginative use of space, a surprising collection or a detail that makes us stop and look twice.

Unexpected Places, Remarkable Stories

Our first Hidden Gem is a perfect example. In Vienna, a massive Second World War flak tower has been transformed into Haus des Meeres, an extraordinary vertical zoo and aquarium. Sharks, tropical habitats and educational exhibits now occupy a concrete structure originally built for war, while the building itself still preserves evidence of its difficult past.

It is precisely this kind of transformation that we want to explore: places where architecture, history, culture and everyday city life intersect in unexpected ways.

Future discoveries may take us inside unconventional museums, repurposed industrial or military buildings, unusual public spaces, hidden courtyards, surprising viewpoints and other places that rarely become the headline attraction of a destination. Some will be genuinely obscure. Others may be familiar to local residents but largely overlooked by visitors.

What matters is not how secret they are. What matters is that there is a story worth discovering.