The best bistros and brasseries Vienna

Timetable

With the Covid-19 health crisis, opening hours have often been turned upside down, particularly for night-time establishments. Where cocktail bars used to be open until 4 or 5am, they are now often scheduled to close at 1am. Otherwise, you can enjoy a hearty late breakfast in many cafés, or even a brunch lunch at weekends. Patisseries generally follow the same opening hours as other stores, except for the most popular chains in tourist areas, where ice-cream parlors often stay open until midnight.

Budget & Tips

Take advantage of the many happy hours on the bar terraces in summer, until 8pm, or in the cocktail bars until 10pm.

Don't forget to leave a 10% tip for service.

Age restrictions

To buy or consume alcohol, unless you appear to be an adult, you'll need to show your identity card proving that you're over 16, as the purchase and consumption of alcohol is forbidden by law in public places.

What's very local

Having an aperitif as early as 6pm, or even 5pm, in cafés or on terraces is usual. Taking a break at any time of the day for a coffee, to be chosen from a varied list, with a pastry a great classic. Have a late breakfast too. Don't miss the Bermuda Triangle, the Bermudadreieck, in the Innere Stadt, a district with small alleys full of good and festive addresses. You can spend happy nights there! The Heurigers, winegrowers' inns, are also very typical. And of course the Viennese cafés where you can enjoy the atmosphere all day long. Enjoy the beer of the local breweries, order your coffee with precision, accompanied by a sachertorte or other Viennese pastries or a spritzer, a glass of white wine with sparkling water, a great classic around which one rediscovers the world...

Kids

Not all cafés offer high chairs and play areas for children. Some sites are well-adapted, for example the cafés in the MuseumsQuartier, where children can let off steam in the huge inner courtyard without risk.

Smokers

Smokers have to make do with terraces and parks, as the law prohibits them from smoking in enclosed spaces such as cafés, cocktail bars and even nightclubs.

Tourist traps

No worries in Vienna, even in the dead of night, it's rare to be accosted for a scam. However, you'll need to be vigilant, depending on the area you're in and the kind of people you frequent...