Right inside the heart of Vienna’s inner city there’s a calm hidden spot, perfect for having a short break between two sightseeing checks on your Vienna-to-do list, just waiting for you. Despite of its central position this place remains a peaceful one and I’d highly recommend you stop by here for having an urban picnic or just to round up your Albertina visit with some moments of admiring the city panorama from the inside.

Also if you’re just about to end a classy evening in Vienna’s opera house this place represents a good destination of a short late night stroll, as when it’s dark already, you can see the opera building itself in its, in my opinion, most beautiful appearance: illuminated by dozens of dimmed lights.

The way to get there is also kind of interesting: instead of taking the elevator or escalator that leads you right up to the place itself you shouldn’t be too lazy to climb up the big steps leading to the museum. Changing from time to time, their design is dedicated to one of the exhibition’s artists, so maybe you’ll happen to walk upon one of many artists’ masterpieces such as Magritte, Kandinsky or Monet…but don’t step on the water lilies!

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Albertina Terrace | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Albertina | Old city/center
24 hours daily

Vienna has many public swimming pools; in the summer many of them also offer an outdoor area for enjoying the sun and sunbathing! Kongressbad, an outdoor swimming pool in the 16th district can be enjoyed only in warmer months – it opens between May and September!

The pool was built on the 20′s, although some things have changed (for example the original pool was 100 meters long and nowadays it is divided in 2 pools!). Still the beautiful main building with red and white stripes was kept and is nowadays considered a monument!

You have the choice between two swimming pools, (there is even a third one a little bit further hidden by the trees but is mainly for kids). For those who like and can swim long distances then the main pool is just perfect! The other pool has several water attractions, a fun slide, currents and bubbles; this one does not have much depth. On a hot summer day a flair of seaside resort is in the air, even though the it is surrounded by big grey housing blocks.

The large green area around the pools is awesome for relaxing or getting tanned in the city! Unfortunately the sunbathing area on the meadow sometimes has too many people. But there are also other nice spots half shadowed by the trees for reading a book! You can play beach volleyball and when you get hungry there is as well a restaurant where you get warm food or just French fries!

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Kongressbad | Relaxing | Entrance adults € 4.70
Julius-Meinl-Gasse 7a | Outer districts | +4314861163
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 20:00, Sat – Sun 08:00 – 20:00

When I first came along this square, I really was surprised. Somehow I did not expect such a cosy and neat little square in a big city like Vienna.

Servitenplatz resembles the centre of a small Austrian village. So what do you need for such a square? An old church, some benches, huge trees which give shade, a café, a pub, nice stores in the surrounding streets and local people who enjoy it- both old and young. This is what you get here! And that’s why I like this spot.

There is the Servite church from 1677, there is a coffeeshop without a name (where you get homemade ice in summer!), there is a pub besides a hairdresser, and there are these nice simple benches where you can watch couples, the old folk chatting or children playing football.

In winter time it’s quiet here, but in summer it’s pretty much the center of that quarter. I think every time of the year it’s worth a visit. The sad history of the Servitengasse, leading to the square, is quite touching. Decades ago it used to be a street where many Jews were living (half of the population of the ninth district in 1938 were Jews, like Sigmund Freud who lived pretty much around the corner), but with the Nazi regime they had to leave their flats and homes. A little memorial with all symbolic keys shows the names of the displaced persons. Some sad history for a neat little square.

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Servitenplatz | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping | Free
Servitengasse | Inner districts
24 hours daily

This little green oasis in the second district indeed offers a weird mixture. As you pass the old walls surrounding the pretty baroque park, you’ll soon notice one of the two so called “Flaktürme” – huge towering bunkers.

These towers were military defense towers in the 40′s and as they can’t be destroyed, they are still some bleak (but important) reminders of the second world war. Nowadays the park is used by joggers, couples, families and dog owners in need for a walk.

Everybody who wants to relax, do some exercise or get some fresh air, will be happy here. And this is already possible since 1775!! The garden is baroque, so there are plenty of cut bushes, trees and hedges which come along with carefully decorated flowerbeds. That’s the reason why there were times when it was neither for men or animals allowed to step on the lawn. But as you will notice: the need for green space and relaxation is stronger, so in summer time you see picnickers, hammocks strung up between the trees and football players.

There is even more to be found in the park: the boarding school of the famous Wiener Sängerknaben, the Porzellanmanufaktur, the art gallery Augarten Contemporary and also a nice cafe called Augarten Atelier. Check the Belvedere website for more info. 

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Augarten | Art & culture, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Free
Obere Augartenstrasse | Danube Canal Area
06:30 – 17:30 daily

The Mozart lovers, who know the true story, the very neighbors in the third district and the gloomy city tourists may know about this spot. But even some of my Viennese friends have never seen or heard about this attraction.

Vienna is known as a place for morbid melancholy, so what else should be more than suitable as to visit a very small and hidden Biedermeier cemetery which was a burial site for about 90 years until 1874.

St. Marx Cemetery is the place where once poor Mozart was thrown into a mass grave (so it’s said) as there was no money for to pay a proper funeral. But you are not here to visit the vanished mass graves of former times but this neat and peaceful park-like place, with small paths, trees and shrubbery.

The cemetery has amazing weather-beaten tombstones, sculptures fallen to bits and pieces, epigrams worn off by the ravages of time.

If you can read German you will realize that on such a bourgeois cemetery it was a very important thing to show the profession of the deceased on the tombstone – a brewer, a landlord, a cigarette shop owner, etc..

This is a beautiful, quiet spot for a stroll (though the setting with a highway overpass very close is a bit weird), especially in snowy winter times. In autumn all trees turn gold and red, and now in April and May beautiful lilac blossoms all over the place.

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St. Marx Cemetery | Art & culture, Relaxing
Leberstrasse 6 | Inner districts | +43140008042
Nov – Apr 07:00 till dawn, May – Sep 07:00 – 18:00, Apr & Oct 07:00 – 17:00,Jun – Aug 07:00 – 19:00

Want to leave the city and go for a walk, combined with a little thrill? Lainzer Tiergarten, a huge forest, part of the Wiener Wald, on the outskirts of Vienna might be the right thing.

Here you can walk for hours and – depending on which gate you take to enter the park – on weekdays sometimes you won’t meet any human beings, but: wild pigs! Chances are big when you go for a longer walk in this forest that you will see a few of the around 800 wild pigs living here. Boars are social animals, but only when thinking about their own group… We human beings should keep a respectful distance, especially when there are young boars and their caring “mothers”.

But even if you don’t encounter any game, the forest is worth visiting at any time of the year. And if you are fond of empress “Sissi”, then you should visit the beautiful Hermes Villa. Even the empress Elisabeth of Austria preferred quite often the countryside to downtown Vienna and had a little villa out here. A guided tour is really recommended as you will learn many details about the empress and her strange lifestyle and marriage. And there is a cafe as well to treat yourself after a walk or a tour.  

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Lainzer Tiergarten | Relaxing | Free
Ober Sankt Veit | Outer districts
Dec – Jan 09:00 – 17:00 daily, Feb – Nov from 09:00 daily

A perfect place for a stroll! Situated on a forested hill, overlooking huge psychiatric hospital grounds (with pretty buildings from last century), this place impresses by its ethereal beauty. Built between 1904 to 1907 by drafts of famous Otto Wagner, the church did not suit anybody’s taste in the old days, but I’m sure that today no one can help oneself but fall in love with the golden dome, the graceful golden-winged angels.

For EUR 8.00 it is possible to get a guided tour on Saturday at 15:00, but rather check out the website.  But even if you just have a look from the outside on a sunny day, it’s worth the ride out of town. There is also a nice path to a recreation area called Steinhofgründe, where locals like to go for a walk with kids, dogs etc and enjoy the warm rays of sunlight in spring and summer. Here you’ll find small ponds, old barns, places for picnicking in summer time and a grand view of Vienna, spread out beneath you. Gates are open from around 06:00 – 19:00 daily.

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Kirche am Steinhof | Art & culture, Relaxing
Baumgartner Höhe, 1140 | Outer districts
Sat 16:00 – 17:00, Sun 12:00 – 16:00

Want to leave the hustle and the bustle of the city? Then why not go to heaven?! Just a short car or underground/bus ride from downtown will take you to forests, vineyards and green meadows on the slopes of the hills, the city lying below your feet.

If you come by public transport, after switching from underground station Heiligenstadt to the bus, you should stop at the impressive Karl Marx Hof, which was built in the 20′s. The longest connected building of the world is a “Gemeindebau”, some kind of government housing – a very typical and special thing in Vienna.

Once you have arrived at the top of the hill, you will notice the octagon-shaped building. That’s the café “Am Himmel”. Either you take a rest and a hot or cold drink before a walk – or you reward yourself with a piece of cake after some exercise.

The café itself is a very nice place with its huge windows from top to bottom and they do good cakes and warm dishes. In winter it’s great to warm yourself up in the café, as it can be icy and windy up there. In summer you have a grand view over the city while having a breakfast or cake outside.

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Am Himmel | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Restaurants (Intern.) | Cappucino € 2.80
Höhenstrasse/Himmelstrasse | Outer districts | +4314065938
Thu – Fri 12:00 – 22:00, Sat – Sun 11:00 – 22:00

Now it’s finally open again – until October you can enjoy climbing the wall on the flak tower at Esterházypark. This might not be the most interesting spot in Vienna for eclectic rock climbing but it is definitely the one with the best view once you get to the higher parts of the routes – even more incentive to finish instead of giving up halfway. You can rent equipment there. Also there are days when you can try out climbing with an instructor for € 6.00, the next one’s on the 8th of May. Since the climbing wall is all outdoors, it’s closed in case of “stormy wind” & “liquid sunshine”!

If you are with someone who’s not too much into climbing they can hang out in the park and watch you or other future ‘rockstars’ on the wall; or alternatively there’s the Apollo movie theater right across the street, architecturally interesting because of its many hallways which sometimes make you feel like in a labyrinth. No excuses: get high!

And if afterwards you feel like having some delicious falafel at my favorite place Maschu (check the Maschu Maschu article) just walk up Neubaugasse for three minutes.

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Climbing on Flakturm | Relaxing | From € 4.50
Esterhazypark | Inner districts | +4315854748
Mon & Wed & Fri – Sun 14:00 – 22:00, Tue & Thu 12:00 – 22:00

High above Vienna and somewhere in the forest you can find a little magical restaurant.

I like this place rather due to the atmosphere. Besides the extraordinary location this little hut has its own style. The whole house is designed in a kind of retro modern look. Each room has its own design and the waitresses are dressed in a kind of fantasy dirndl which imitates the traditional clothing from Austria.

In the garden there is also a bar! You can sit outside all year round, also in the Winter as blankets, hot wine and little heaters are provided to keep you warm! From time to time a little market takes place in the garden around the house where you can buy different home-made products like jam, cakes or even mustard.

One of the dishes they serve is “Flammkuchen” which is prepared in a nice old wooden stove. “Flammkuchen” is similar to pizza but comes originally from Alsace.

This place is good to visit when you are on the Kahlenberg (a 10 min walk from the bus stop) or when you have a short hike through the Wienderwald.

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Hütte am weg | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Restaurants (Austrian)
Josefsdorf 47 | Outer districts | +4313203975
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 22:00, Sun 10:00 – 19:00