Careful what you wish for.
As announced, Vienna, best city in the world. Apologies for the length, I've tried to format it so that it makes sense. Hope it's useful either way. I'll post it here since Raoul said he might also visit the city this year. If you have any questions about specific areas/topics, feel free to ask.
For even more detail I’ll refer you to the
guide created by the Wien subreddit, even though the link to their restaurant guide seems to be broken. Rest should be fine though.
In general:
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Vienna’s split into 23 districts, we usually call them either by their names or their number. They’re basically split into three zones:
- 1st District: Old Town (called Innere Stadt, “Inner City”) - surrounded by the “Ring”, a circular avenue along which you’ll find a good number of the main tourist sights
- Districts 2-9: Inner districts surrounding the old town starting with the 2nd to the Northeast and going clockwise until the 9th in the Northwest. For most of those the outer border is the “Gürtel” (=belt), the somewhat grimier counterpart of the Ring – no stately buildings along the Gürtel, lots of bars though in certain areas
- Districts 10-23: Outer districts - odds are, you won’t be spending much time here, except if you visit Palace Schönbrunn and/or the vineyards. If you’re here in summer it’s going to be brutally hot, so you might want to go to the Alte Donau (old Danube) for a swim if the pool at your condo is not enough.
I’d say the stereotypes depicted in this map basically hold true (the middle bits of the postal code numbers are the districs, so 1230 = district 23) :
You’ll be based in the bit that says “canal” next to 1030
.
First thing you should do is get a 7-day-ticket for public transport. It’s only 17.10€ and you can basically get everywhere. Most important for you will be metro line U3, but in the centre you’ll also use U1 and U4.
Two caveats
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compared to Budapest:
- Vienna is not quite as scenic to look at, meaning it’s not as nicely positioned in the landscape when you’re looking at it from higher vantage points. The big reason is, Budapest has the Danube running through more or less the middle, while in Vienna the Danube is, comparatively, an afterthought. While there’s (allegedly) people going to the eastern side of the river, there’s only a few reasons why tourists should. You’ll mostly be spending your time on the western side.
- The nightlife is, so I’m told, better in Prague and Budapest, but I think there have been improvements in the last years. More on that further down.
Some areas to spend some time in
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(I’ve whipped up some crude maps with a walking route app, but it’s more to suggest areas of interest than concrete routes):
- Close to you, in the third district
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if you’re coming from
Erdberg, a nice walk would be: take metro line
U3 to either
Kardinal-Nagl-Platz or
Rochusgasse, walk to
Arenbergpark to see the gargantuan air defense towers the Nazis constructed (there’s more of those in two other areas of the city), then continue down Landstraßer Hauptstraße towards the centre. You can visit
Rochusmarkt and browse the stalls, plus you’re in an area with great food, especially breakfast. Go either to
Lingenhel (specializing in cheese),
Öfferl (some of the best bread, but pricy) or
Ströck Feierabend for great breakfast. From there continue down Landstraßer Hauptstraße past Wien Mitte station towards the city center. Here you’ll pass the
Stadtpark to your left, which has a famous statue of composer Johann Strauß (waltz etc.) in it, but there’s more impressive parks in the city. When you’re at the Ring you can either just continue straight down
Wollzeile until you hit the very center of Old Town (as below on the map, you’ll come out slightly northeast of
Stephansplatz, which is basically
the main square) or walk westwards down the Ring and take in the sights there. Just beware that the Ring = cars. I find it more relaxing to take side streets, but the views of all the imperial-era buildings are usually best from the Ring.
- west of the old town
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Neubau, (district 7), is hipster central in Vienna, so you’ll find lots of specialty coffee, beer and shops there. The southern border of the district is
Mariahilfer Straße, probably the main shopping street in town. It’s a nice walk but it’s mostly chain stores and the like, so I’d recommend the adjacent streets, especially
Neubaugasse,
Westbahnstraße and
Siebensterngasse. You can either start or end the excursion at
Museumsquartier (bottom right of the highlighted path below), which has, you guessed it, lots of museums and often some open air events going on or at least stalls with cocktails.
- The 2nd district (north-east of the centre)
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Leopoldstadt, also has lots of things to see/do, most prominently the
Prater, one of the biggest green spaces here, that also has an amusement park in it (called
Wurstelprater but mostly also just referred to as the Prater) – sort of Vienna’s Coney Island.
Besides that I’d recommend the lower
Praterstraße/Karmeliterviertel for a stroll. You can get there from metro U1 stop
Nestroyplatz. Especially the corner where the Zirkusgasse meets the Praterstraße, lots of good gastronomy here:
Café Ansari (mediterranean/Georgian),
Ramasuri (regional),
Goldener Papagei (transplant from Belgrade, but content-wise just a nice café) and
Mochi (great Japanese, but book ahead). Close by are the
Karmelitermarkt as well as the
Augarten, the latter of which I’d recommend for a visit; it’s a baroque palace garden-turned-park with two massive, horribly ugly Nazi air defence towers in it. Perfect symbol for Vienna/Austria as a whole. You best sit on the terrace of
Sperling to take it in while having a beer or wine. From there I’d suggest dinner at
Am Nordpol 3 which has fantastic (and heavy!) Bohemian/Austrian cuisine – try the dessert called “Liwanzen”, a sort of yeast pancake with plum mousse.
The whole area is also close to the
Donaukanal, a side arm of the Danube that's much more central to Vienna, geographically speaking, than the main river. The area mostly comes to life in the evening; lots of bars/food carts/restaurants especially between metro stops
Schottenring and
Schwedenplatz, but most people just bring some beer and relax close to the water.
- Within the centre itself
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it’s hard to recommend one area. I’d suggest crossing the entire area from either metro
Karlsplatz in the south or
Schottentor in the North as start/endpoint along Kärntner Straße -> Stephansplatz -> Graben, then either Kohlmarkt -> Herrengasse -> Schottengasse or Bognergasse -> Am Hof -> Freyung -> Schottengasse and then just improvise through Old Town. I’d also suggest a visit to Judenplatz, where the medieval synagogue was.
Also a tourist favorite is the cobblestone area
Blutgassenviertel to the east of St. Stephen’s square, from there you can go to
Franziskanerplatz, which provides a nice, quiet little side of downtown Vienna. You can also integrate this into the walk suggested in the beginning, as you’ll pass by there anyway
Other stuff and clichés:
Coffee:
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I’m not sure how much of this percolates (har!) up to the UK or if you care, but almost all tourists I’ve had here want to go see famous Viennese coffee houses at some point. And I get it, they have their own sort of charm, but beware: the coffee itself is mostly average to shit, while the cakes are usually good. It’s mainly about the style, atmosphere and being able to sit around, read/work for possibly hours in a public space without being constantly pestered to consume more.
The big one lots of guides recommend is
Café Central (favorite with fin de siècle celebrity-intellectuals like Freud back in the day) but nowadays there’s always lots of lines out the door, and it’s expensive as fuck, so I’d recommend just walking by and peeking inside, since it does look quite nice. Same goes for
Café Hawelka, it’s really expensive and probably full of tourists
- My recommendations would be
- Old Town: Café Prückel, Kaffee Alt Wien (both of them in the inner city close to U3 stops)
- Inner districts: Café Sperl, Café Jelinek, Café Hummel
- Apparently Eiles and Ritter are also nice, but I’ve never been
- If you’re interested in good-tasting coffee instead of the coffee house feel, this list (and map) is mostly up to date. Since you’re probably going to spend a lot of time in the centre, I’ll add KAFFEIN homebase, both for quality and cosiness. Somewhat close to Erdberg where you’re staying (two metro stops) is Brass Monkey at Laendyard.
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I’m a vegetarian, so I can’t give personal recommendations, but I’m told they make excellent Schnitzel at Café Anzengruber , Pürstner and Gmoa Keller, the latter of which is close to the metro line U3 and features a cosy old-timey Viennese style. The portions at Schnitzelwirt are enormous but I think it’s become quite popular with tourists, so book ahead. Same goes for Figlmüller.
Vineyards:
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As mentioned elsewhere, set aside an afternoon for mooching about in the vineyards in the outer districts. There’s two kinds of traditional institutions there, first there’s the
Heurigen, taverns close to the vineyards where the winemakers offer their wines of the season as well as food -> I’d recommend the cold cuts/cheese plates, since warm food is not the rule (or focus) there and often not the best choice. Also there’s the
Buschenschanken, associated with the Heurigen but usually just huts/stands literally within the vineyards/hills overlooking the city, also serving wine and a smaller food selection.
The most prominent region for this would be
Grinzing. Take
tram 38 from the main university (stop Schottentor) to the end, and there you have lots of Heurigen. Lots of them are very touristy, but most of them are fine. You can go to
Feuerwehr Wagner, for instance, or
Buschenschank in Residence, which is a bit more modern. I’d recommend using that area as a starting point though to walk into the hills and visit the Buschenschanken there, like
Wiesinger am Nussberg, Buschenschank Obermann, or the (for my taste a bit too massive)
Mayer am Nussberg.
That’s just one region though, you can also go to the outskirts of the 21st district (
Stammersdorf, very quaint but you go through ugly areas to get there) in the North with tram 31, and there’s also Heurigen in the West of the 16th district or the South, like the outer areas of the 10th or 23rd district. Basically wherever you see hills in the distance in Vienna, there’s wine bars there. There’s a collection of hiking paths running through the city (“
Stadtwanderwege”) and almost all of them lead through wine regions.
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My personal preference are historical museums,
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so I like the Roman Museum in old town, the World Museum and the Globe Museum (rather niche-y and your kid might kill you) at the Hofburg (=Imperial Palace); the Imperial Crypt is also worth visiting for the massively decorated sarcophagi, also it’s small, so you’re out fast. The opposite would be the Schatzkammer (=Imperial Treasury), which has lots of exhibits and therefore takes lots of time. Worth it, in my opinion, but only if you’re interested in historical artefacts. There’s also the Military History Museum, which is close to the Hauptbahnhof (Vienna Main Station) – I think it’s alright, but be prepared for exhibitions of… varying quality in terms of state-of-the art displays and texts. I haven’t been to the recently renovated Wien Museum (metro U1/U4 Karlsplatz) yet, but I’ve heard lots of good things (and the main exhibition is free!). Then there’s the big one, Palace Schönbrunn (on line U4), sort of our mini-Versailles. It’s definitely interesting to go there, and it has its own "Children’s Museum", but if grand palaces don’t do it for you, just skip it or just look at it from the outside and explore the park around it. Personally, I’m more a fan of the adjacent zoo (oldest zoo in Europe apparently), probably nice for the whole family.
For art
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I’d pick the Kunsthistorisches Museum for sheer vastness – pick an era to focus on, you’ll never make it through the whole thing – or the Leopold Museum in Museumsquartier for modern stuff (Klimt, Schiele, the like). Plenty others though, like the Albertina, the Belvedere (also a massive palace that’s nice to visit) or the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts). Best check out ahead what exhibitions you’re into. Very family-friendly are the House of Music (in the very centre) and the Technical Museum ( bit futher out, close to Schönbrunn) with lots of interactive exhibits.
There’s also smaller and weird ones,
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like the Museum of Abortion and Contraception or the Pathological-anatomical collection in the “Narrenturm” (first psychiatric hospital of Europe), which, I’m told, is best visited with a guide you book ahead. I’ve never been, but the university campus around it, which is the old general hospital (“altes AKH”), is worth a visit, sometimes there’s street festivals and such hosted there.
Nightlife:
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I’ve never been one for clubs, and if you’re here with family this might be entirely irrelevant, but if not: your best bet is probably
Grelle Forelle and
das Werk at metro U4/U6 Spittelau for techno, or
Flucc at Prater. General areas beside the already mentioned Donaukanal would be the adjacent
Schwedenplatz area, also called Bermuda triangle (bit trashy, but traditionally where you end up at 3-4AM to have a final kebab), or the part of the Gürtel roughly from U6 stop
Thaliastraße up to
Nussdorfer Straße. Lots of bars in the viaduct that carries the non-subterranean sections of the metro line U6.
For nightlife I’d also refer you to the
nightlife section of the subreddit guide. I’ll also recommend
this blog that always adds an entry on Thursday for upcoming events/activities the following weekend.
Originally Posted by Serj
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