Neighbourhoods at a Glance
With the Hofburg palace complex and streets north to Stephansplatz, this part of the Innere Stadt (city centre) is brimming with museums. The hotel and restaurant scene is fairly limited here, but improves closer to Stephansplatz, and the shopping is excellent. It’s easy to skip across Maria-Theresien-Platz from the palace into the MuseumsQuartier.
Stephansdom & the Historic Centre
In the oldest part of Vienna, the highlight is indisputably Vienna’s towering cathedral. The neighbourhood takes in the medieval Jewish quarter in the northwest, the area down to the southern bank of the Danube Canal and regions northeast and east of Stephansplatz – altogether covering most of the hubs of Vienna’s eating, drinking, clubbing and sleeping scenes inside the Ringstrasse.
Karlsplatz & Around Naschmarkt
Fringing the Ringstrasse in the southeast corner of the Innere Stadt, this neighbourhood includes the Opera and extends south beyond Vienna’s enormous market and food paradise, Naschmarkt, into some of the city’s most interesting Vorstädte (inner suburbs): Margareten, Mariahilf and Wieden. There’s great eating, drinking and nightlife and a truly Viennese Vorstadt character. Its clear highlight is the magnificent Karlskirche.
Beginning on Maria-Theresien-Platz with high-profile Kunsthistorisches Museum and Naturhistorisches Museum, this neighbourhood sweeps west to include the MuseumsQuartier and the hip Neubau Vorstadt to the Gürtel. Shopping is more offbeat than in the Innere Stadt and it also has some good eating and drinking venues.
Alsergrund & the University District
This neighbourhood includes a small section of the Innere Stadt inside the Ringstrasse, including Freyung and its market, and stretches into the Alsergrund Vorstadt , where you find the university campuses. When not residential, it’s dominated by business clientele around the stock exchange and uni students.
Schloss Belvedere to the Canal
The absolute highlight of this neighbourhood is Schloss Belvedere and gardens. Restaurants, bars and other sights and places of interest are few and, especially the further out you go, far between.
Leopoldstadt, the predominant Vorstadt in this neighbourhood, begins directly across the Danube Canal. It’s an unusual former Jewish quarter that’s sleepy and quiet in many parts, but interesting around Karmelitermarkt and in the famous Prater parkland. Further east is the Danube River and Danube Island recreation area.
The palace dominates this neighbourhood, which otherwise has very limited attractions. The parts around the palace have a relatively suburban feel, and this also goes for an ensemble of suburbs adjoining the neighbourhood to the north – Fünfhaus, Rudolfsheim and Ottakring – which throw up interesting pastiches of suburban life.
