Innere Stadt and Ring
The1st district is the showcase of the Austrian capital. As a tourist and shopping center, you'll discover elegant boutiques, stroll along the Graben, the pedestrian shopping street lined with major national and international brands, visit heritage gems (the Hofburg complex, St. Stephen's Cathedral), stop off at the historic cafés for which Vienna is famous, dine at fine restaurants, and more. Don't miss the Ring, the elegant avenue that encircles the city center. Impeccably chic, the1st, or Innere Stadt, remains the heart of the city, especially during the day, when crowds flock to the stores on Graben or Kärntner Straße. It's also the place to go for the opera and countless museums.
From Mariahilf to Alsergrund
The districts to the west of the Old Town, between the Ring and the Gürtel (ring road), are the fruit of Vienna's prosperous development in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Paved with neoclassicism and Art Nouveau, they are criss-crossed by charming, intimate, colorful streets, full of little wonders. From the5th to the 9th arrondissements, you'll discover the intellectual Vienna of Freud and Schubert... Mariahilf is largely dominated by the long Mariahilfer Straße, one of the city's busiest shopping streets. Not far away, the famous Naschmarkt (permanent market), flanked by superb buildings designed by Otto Wagner, offers a stroll full of flavors and aromas. Neubau and Josefstadt are refined and bourgeois. The art scene, intense student life, stores, bars and trendy clubs are all there for the taking! Alsergrund is a more mixed neighborhood, popular and student-oriented but rather quiet. This is where Freud lived and developed his psychoanalytical theories. Last but not least, the Gürtel, with its aerial tramway running along the boulevard, marks the western boundary of these districts and attracts more and more night owls.
From Leopoldstadt to Margareten
On the other side of the Danube Canal, the2nd district, Leopoldstadt, is Vienna's historically Jewish and relatively bohemian district. It boasts a high quality of life and many green spaces. Here you'll find the Prater with its majestic Ferris wheel and the Augarten. In addition, small, charming hotels offer good value for money, while remaining close to the1st district. To the southeast, Landstraße (3rd district) is a varied district where Baroque buildings and working-class houses stand side by side, including the innovative apartment building by the artist and humanist Hundertwasser. The4th arrondissement, known as Wieden, is rather bourgeois: home to numerous embassies (including the French Embassy). Don't let its austere appearance fool you, there are plenty of nice places to go out. Finally, Margareten, the5th district, is simpler in architecture, but also boasts a number of pleasant boutiques and restaurants.
Vienna out of the belt
Vienna outside the walls is worth discovering, even for a short visit. The 11th district, Simmering, is one of the city's great working-class districts, with a major tourist and cultural attraction, the Zentralfriedhof, a sumptuous, green and melancholy cemetery with alleys and districts of different denominations, also home to the resting places of the city's illustrious children. The 10th district, Favoriten, is an extension of Simmering. It is home to the Wienerberg Park, with its baths and health resorts. Further west, Hiezting (13th district) is an affluent residential area featuring one of Vienna's must-sees, Schönbrunn Palace, the Habsburg Versailles, with its superb gardens and zoo. It's a must on any weekend in Vienna.
West of the Gürtel, the 14th (Penzing), 15th (Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus) and 16th (Ottakring) districts have a more urban feel and are a kind of extension of Neubau or Josefstadt. With their dense plan of perpendicular and parallel streets, they continue Vienna's typical urban atmosphere, in a popular version. They are home to many immigrants from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. These working-class neighborhoods are a magnet for bargain shoppers, with small, inexpensive eateries and interesting second-hand shops. Brunnenstrasse and its market offer a unique, half-Viennese, half-Oriental ambience. Tired of the "boboïsation" of the districts between the Ring and the Gürtel, and attracted by the low prices, more and more students and alternatives in search of authenticity are strolling through and even settling here. But with this in mind, boboization is not far off.
To the north-west, beyond the working-class district of Döbling, marked by the Karl-Marx-Hof era of red Vienna, comes the romantic green Vienna of the wine-growing hills and their Heuriger villages. A visit is a must, especially in autumn and when the weather is fine. The old villages of Grinzing, Siebering and Nussdorf have retained their picturesque charm despite the influx of Viennese weekend runners. Alleys of opulent houses and Baroque churches at the foot of the vineyards, with excellent wine tastings, are sure to entice. The Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg mountains, perched high above the Danube, are great places to take a stroll and enjoy a panoramic view of the capital.
Then there's the Danube, the king of European rivers, which rises in Germany and flows 2,875 km into the Black Sea, sealing Vienna's grandiose destiny! A route for navigation, transport, trade, territorial and cultural expansion, the "Blue Danube" has been one of the keys to the Austrian capital's historic success.
In the city, the river has undergone radical changes. One of its arms, along which the old town stretches, was canalised as early as the 16th century to become the Donaukanal. The Danube has always been a precious but dangerous source of flooding. In 1870, a flood bed was dug alongside the original, and in 1970, work was resumed to impound the area, creating the Neue Donau and the Danube Island. The latter is a highly attractive sports, leisure and recreation area. On its left bank stands the international city of curved skyscrapers, UNO-City, one of the four headquarters of the UN, crowned by the Donau City business district, Vienna's La Défense, and behind the pleasant Donau Park. To the east is the Alte Donau, a charming inlet of the Danube where you can go boating and swimming.
Finally, the Aspern Seestadt district (22nd), some 15 km from the center but within easy reach of the metro, is an innovative, environmentally-friendly district designed for citizens, with no cars, a large watering hole, green spaces and play areas for children and young people. A popular yet trendy district, with a bold wooden building housing an original eco-friendly hotel.
