Image by Wolfgang Körbitz

For the ones who appreciate healthy food I suggest a bio restaurant located on a side street just a minute away from the Votiv church.

They offer a wide selection of dishes for a healthy lifestyle as well also 2 daily menus (a fish/meat and a vegetarian). Menus include also a base soup and a delicious salad from the buffet (beetroot, chickpeas, lentils or even millet are some of the many salad ingredients)! There is also a student menu version- a little smaller and cheaper. You can also taste there yummy home-made desserts! Menus are just in German language but friendly staff will help you out! The food there is really tasty. I love the vegetarian and vegan dishes. The food is fresh … no frozen stuff or microwaves

To complete this home flavour, the interior is very cosy. It’s a small place in the “basement” of a house – its windows are tiny, wooden furniture in old style gives a character to the place! There isn’t one eating room but a divided space in 2 levels! It’s a calm and relaxed place where besides eating you can also find some books on a shelf and read just like in your living room!

In the same street a few meters away there is a shop from the same owner selling ayurvedish and bio products. You find there from food stuff to hygienic products (also cosmetics). And also a bar with some food and snacks!

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Regenbogen Stube | Shopping, Restaurants (Vegetarian) | Menu € 7.80
Schwarzspanierstraße 18 | Inner districts | +439617168
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 21:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Sabrina Grohsebner

As the title implicates you’ll find several places within this spot, true to the maxim “Why be satisfied with just running a pub when you can have some many things at one time?”.

Pickwick’s is, above all, a real nice and relaxed Irish pub providing its guests with all kinds of beverages, snacks and music. What I personally love about the spot is that it really gives you a little bit of the feeling of being at home. Creating a great atmosphere, the place is furnished with some cosy armchairs, old fashioned sofas and big shelves filled with loads of books inviting you to stay a little bit longer and delve into English literature masterpieces.

And here’s the kicker: if you feel like exploring the place a little bit further, you should go and see the basement. Down there you’ll be amazed to see that Pickwick’s also houses Vienna’s biggest English video and DVD store, open way longer than all the other stores in town.

And just to make completely sure that guests are kept entertained, there are also weekly happenings such as Quiz Nights, Karaoke and similar..what more could you possibly wish for?

Pickwick’s offers you so many great and interesting things to spend your evenings with, and what’s best about it: every single one of them is worth a visit.

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Pickwick’s | Bars, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks | Beer € 3.00
Marc Aurel Straße 16 | Danube Canal Area | +4315330182
Mon – Thu 11:00 – 00:00, Fri – Sat 11:00 – 02:00, Sun 12:00 – 00:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

A spot of the superlatives: 60.000 m² (!) for art, architecture, design, dance, theatre, fashion, restaurants, café’s and space for relaxation. It’s a world in a world and if you are into art, it’s not difficult to spend a whole day in this impressive area.

A combination of old buildings (once the royal stables from the 18th century) and gorgeous modern architecture – like the MUMOK museum – sheltering a huge square.

In summer time you can enjoy the colored “Enzos”, huge kind of plastic sofas for hanging around. They former Enzis used to change their color every year, the result of an annual Internet-Voting. Many events take place here, like the famous Wiener Festwochen. It’s getting cold: so check out “Winter im MQ” and be surprised!

My favourite spots in this area are definitely the MUMOK, here you find great exhibitions of modern art, the book store Walther König and the “Kantine” in Quartier 21. And maybe you wanna check out the store “Musiktank” – the first On Demand Music Store for any kind of Austrian music.

By the way, if you are younger than 19 or a student under 27 there is free entrance for example in MUMOK. There are combination tickets if you want to visit more than one museum. The website is worth checking out, they provide all information – in seven languages! You see, it’s not a hidden spot, but one place a lot of Viennese love to go to, just like the tourists.

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Museumsquartier | Art & culture, Bars, Music, Shopping, Theaters
Museumsplatz 1-5 | Inner districts | +4315235881
Daily

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Image by Linda Nepicks

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

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

In search for fresh vegetables, slow instead of fast food and a colourful market amidst nice old buildings? Then this is the right place to visit! In comparison to the famous Naschmarkt (check the Naschmarkt article), the Karmelitermarkt is much smaller and has a less exotic variety of fruits and vegetables, but here you will find the local people of the second district go shopping.

Especially on a sunny Saturday it’s very lively and after or before getting your bags filled, why not enjoy a coffee or a decent meal. Some of the small market stalls consist of just one or two rooms which function now as a restaurant or café like Marktachterl or like Madiani, a great place for Georgian food.

On a Saturday morning you can find a lot of food and herbs from organic farms of the nearby region on the Karmelitermarket but the earlier you come the better – though the official opening times are till afternoon. In the surrounding streets there are even more food stores or snack bars like Wulfisch or nice small shops like Kabine.

The history of this very old market and the district itself is quite interesting: apart from the Nazi-time the Karmeliterquarter had always been a multi-ethnic place with a huge jewish community. Nowadays you find shops for kosher food beside Turkish or Serbian stores and Georgian restaurants.

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Karmelitermarkt | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks
Leopoldgasse | Danube Canal Area
Mon – Sat from 06:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

A place to chat, for people from different countries. A colourful street market with fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese. A long alley with plenty of stalls with cheap clothes, shoes and fabrics. A stuffed alley with loads of groceries, turkish restaurants, shops, bakeries etc. An alley ending in a big market square, used both by bohemian society and local residents. A market with a shop for the best jam in the world (apart from home-made one) called Staud’s. A market square with cafe’s, restaurants and bars or just benches to sit and relax.

Check it out, I think it’s a very different part from Vienna, which most tourists will not see (who just know the Naschmarkt). And worth to see! Not to forget that fruits and veggies are way cheaper than on any other market in Vienna…

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Brunnenmarkt Yppenplatz | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants
Yppenplatz | Inner districts
Mon – Sat til 18:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

It’s simple, it’s true, it’s crystal clear: if you are a true admirer of good Austrian wine, there is hardly any other such extraordinary shop to buy wine than here! This is no place for posh wine shopping, there are no detached, presumed experts, but an owner who loves to sell great wine from just one region:

The Weinviertel (literally: wine district. a beautiful area north of Vienna, close to the Czech republic)

Prices are as favourable as if you buy the stuff straight from the winemaker at the vineyard!

Some nice, no-frills atmosphere with a funky outdoor area, an unusual indoor area for wine tasting and a great selection of wine from superb wine growers like Prechtl,Ebner-Ebenauer, Seher to name but a few. Not to forget the great liquor-range!

If you need to sober up a little: try some very tasty, simple food in the bar shabu next door round the corner (same owner) – or be tempted to stay a little longer in this urban wine bar. But be aware and smooth: this smoky, cosy bar with interior showing wear and tear, is really a place for regulars of that neighbourhood (like me). So you better not ask for french fries or spanish wine. But you may be surprised about the good beer and wine, some yum yum cheese bred, the nice music and the mixed crowd who tends to stay out late.

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Weinviertel Wienverteiler | Bars, Shopping, Snacks | Bottle of wine € 4.00
Glockengasse 6 | Danube Canal Area | +436505445939
Wed – Fri 15:00 – 20:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

“In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play” (Friedrich Nietzsche)! That’s what comes across the mind when passing by the huge window, giving sight to a magical chocolate kitchen. And this saying does not count for men alone, you will note that women stop at the window too! You see them wondering if they can play as well, if they can take part in producing some of these little dreams, made of chocolate.

Yes, you can take part! Learn how to do chocolate desserts, produce your own fruit chocolate with the help of the confectioner or proudly put your self-made finest pralinés in a box after a workshop of around 4 hours.

Check out the website as these workshops are done regularly but often booked out in advance. Otherwise just have a look and a taste in the shop – and watch the confectioner play magic by producing those eatable goodies we have loved since our childhood days…

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Xocolat Manufactory | Shopping, Snacks | Workshop € 95.00
Servitengasse 5 | Inner districts | +4313100020
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

Imagine you are a bon vivant, imagine you adore good food, imagine you win 1.000 EUR in a lottery, imagine you would like to spend this on the most gorgeous selection of fruits, wine, fish, antipasti, cheese, spices, bread and whatever else you can think of (when thinking about food…). If this thing might happen to me one day and I end up with lots of cash in my bag, I will take the next subway bringing me straight to this market!

Naschmarkt probably is one of the best known markets and it’s worth its fame. It all started about 200 years ago with a small market, mainly for dairy products – nowadays there are roughly about 150 vendors, most of them in fixed food stalls and stores.

You will notice that one line of shops is focused on selling fruits, vegetables and so on. Here you find mangoes, you have last seen on a market in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur (though the prices differ…) and the fruits of the Tamarind tree you remember from Tanzania. Let alone Sicilian octopus, Norwegian cheese or Indian spices.

The other row of shops is focused on preparing food – so sit down in one of the Austrian, Vietnamese or Israeli small restaurants. On a Saturday you can spend the rest of your money on a flea market at the very end of both rows.

What a heaven for bon vivants!

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Naschmarkt | Bars, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.)
Kettenbrückengasse | Inner districts
Mon – Sat 06:00 -Food stalls Mon – Sat 06:00 – 19:30 | Bars/restaurants till 23:0019:30 (food stalls; the bars/restaurants are open till around 23:00)

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna

Image by Linda Nepicks

We all know about draught beer, we have tasted wine from the barrel, we may even have drunk lots of whiskey in the jar on our last trip to Scotland …But have you ever seen green, red, white liquor in big round glass barrels, olive oil in a ton or vinegar being tapped in beautiful glass bottles and decanters?!

In this small shop you can choose between all sorts of oil, vinegar or liquor. You choose what you want, how much you want and in what kind of glass bottle. You ask yourself how you gonna get this perfect present back at home?

No worries, the committed assistants in the shop will help you to pack it so safe and sound that (hopefully) nothing will break on your way back home. And be sure – your friends or family (or the Viennese hosts you’re staying with) will love you if you bring them such a present!

Need ideas? What about Italian Limoncino or strawberry lime? Too ordinary? Ok, then try out passion fruit-habanero pepper liquor! Or you just thought about sesame oil Sicilian olive oil? Why not porcino oil!? And instead of some well known apple vinegar you can find in any household rather date or even pomegranate vinegar on your salad!

Come and see, try out and savour – that’s the motto of the shop “Vom Fass”, which literally means “from the barrel” and this is literally done and practised here by many customers.

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Vom Fass | Shopping
Siebensterngasse 46 | Inner districts | +4315269400
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 17:30, Sat 10:00 – 17:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Vienna