A photograph of Vienna

City guide · Austria

Theme: History, Up to 1 hour in Vienna, Austria — page 2

Vienna is 414.78 km² holding 2,028,499 people, and almost everything a visitor comes for sits inside a single ring road less than a kilometre across. The Inner...

Photograph · Andrzej Otrębski · CC BY-SA 4.0

5,640 Places
23 Districts
Suggested stay
3–4 days
Getting around
U-Bahn and tram

Turn this list into a plan

Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.

Plan Vienna

Editorial responsibility: Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Vienna is 414.78 km² holding 2,028,499 people, and almost everything a visitor comes for sits inside a single ring road less than a kilometre across.

The Innere Stadt — the 1st district — is the medieval core, and the Ringstrasse that surrounds it was built in the second half of the nineteenth century on the line of the demolished bastions. The 371-hectare historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001; it was on the endangered list from 2017 to 2026.

The wider urban area holds 2,223,236 people and the metropolitan area 2,890,577, which makes Vienna the tenth largest city in Europe and by a long way the largest in Austria.

Checked 2026-08-23

Practical information

Language spoken
German
German is Austria's official language; Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian also have official status in some regions
Dialling code
+43 1
Vienna landlines; drop the leading 0 of 01 when calling from abroad
Currency
Euro (€, EUR)
Austria introduced euro banknotes and coins in 2002
Emergency number
112
One number across the country; 144 reaches an ambulance directly
Plug type
Not recorded
No verified national official source was found
Tap water
Safe to drink
Austria's national tourism authority states that tap water is drinkable in every region

Planning a visit

November · November in Vienna has mean high 7.5°C, mean low 2.4°C, rainfall 50.0 mm, 8.3 rain days. Cold temperatures make a full outdoor itinerary less comfortable. A flexible November itinerary in Vienna is more realistic than a long exposed walking day.

  1. January: viable with meaningful trade-offs
  2. February: viable with meaningful trade-offs
  3. March: good time to visit
  4. April: good time to visit
  5. May: best time to visit
  6. June: best time to visit
  7. July: good time to visit
  8. August: good time to visit
  9. September: best time to visit
  10. October: good time to visit
  11. November: viable with meaningful trade-offs — current month
  12. December: viable with meaningful trade-offs

Sources

Top things to see

Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.

  1. Café Central Café Central
    26 1 hour

    Café Central

    Café Central is a historic Viennese coffeehouse inside the Palais Ferstel, a Neo-Renaissance building designed by Heinrich von Ferstel. The café opened in 1876 and became one of Vienna’s best-known literary meeting places before the First World War.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  2. Kohlmarkt Kohlmarkt
    27 10 min

    Kohlmarkt

    Kohlmarkt is a short pedestrian shopping street in Vienna's Innere Stadt, running from the Graben to Michaelerplatz, where it ends directly at the Michaelertor, the domed gate into the Hofburg.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  3. Court Chapel Court Chapel
    28 45 min

    Court Chapel

    Hofburgkapelle

    The Hofburgkapelle, or Court Chapel, stands within Vienna's Hofburg Palace complex. It served as the Habsburg imperial family's place of worship and preserves an important connection between court ceremony, religion, and Viennese history.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  4. Looshaus Looshaus
    29 20 min

    Looshaus

    Looshaus is Adolf Loos's 1909-1911 commercial and residential building at Michaelerplatz 3, directly opposite the Michaelertor gate of the Hofburg.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  5. Äußeres Burgtor Äußeres Burgtor
    30 45 min

    Äußeres Burgtor

    Burgtor

    Äußeres Burgtor, also known locally as Burgtor, is a historic neoclassical gate in central Vienna. The gate belongs to the city’s imperial architectural landscape and marks an important threshold near the Hofburg complex.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  6. Haas House Haas House
    31 10 min

    Haas House

    Haas-Haus

    The Haas-Haus is a curved glass-and-stone office and retail building on Stock-im-Eisen-Platz, directly opposite the main entrance of St. Stephen's Cathedral, designed by Hans Hollein and completed in 1990.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  7. Altes Palmenhaus Altes Palmenhaus
    32 45 min

    Altes Palmenhaus

    Altes Palmenhaus is a historic palm house in Vienna, a building type created for cultivating tropical and subtropical plants in an urban setting. Its name means “Old Palm House,” linking the structure to Vienna’s tradition of displaying exotic flora.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Hietzing
  8. Kuffner observatory Kuffner observatory
    33 45 min

    Kuffner observatory

    Kuffner Sternwarte

    Kuffner Observatory, also called Kuffner Sternwarte, is a historic astronomical observatory in Vienna. Founded through private patronage in the late nineteenth century, it served as an active research institution for decades.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Ottakring
  9. Fillgraderstiege Fillgraderstiege
    34 45 min

    Fillgraderstiege

    Fillgraderstiege is a historic public staircase in Vienna connecting Fillgradergasse with Theobaldgasse between the Mariahilf and Neubau districts. Built in the early twentieth century, it combines a practical pedestrian link with the architectural character of Vienna's urban streets.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Mariahilf
  10. Heiligenkreuzerhof Heiligenkreuzerhof
    35 45 min

    Heiligenkreuzerhof

    Heiligenkreuzerhof is a historic courtyard complex in Vienna's Inner City, situated near Stephansdom. The site derives its name from Heiligenkreuz Abbey, the Cistercian monastery in Lower Austria that has owned the property for centuries.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  11. Wittgenstein House Wittgenstein House
    36 30 min

    Wittgenstein House

    Haus Wittgenstein

    Haus Wittgenstein — also called the Stonborough House — is a modernist house at Kundmanngasse 19 in Vienna's 3rd district, built in 1926-1928 for Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein, sister of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Landstraße
  12. Episcopal Palace Episcopal Palace
    37 45 min

    Episcopal Palace

    Erzbischöfliches Palais

    Episcopal Palace, locally called Erzbischöfliches Palais, is the residence of the Archbishop of Vienna in the historic centre. It is a working ecclesiastical building rather than a conventional museum or sightseeing venue.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  13. Augarten Flak Tower Augarten Flak Tower
    38 45 min

    Augarten Flak Tower

    Flakturm Augarten (Gefechtsturm)

    The Flakturm Augarten (Gefechtsturm) is one of six surviving flak towers built in Vienna during the Second World War. Constructed between 1942 and 1945, these massive reinforced concrete structures served as anti-aircraft gun platforms, command centers, and air-raid shelters.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Leopoldstadt
  14. Donnerbrunnen Donnerbrunnen
    39 45 min

    Donnerbrunnen

    Donnerbrunnen, also called the Providentia Fountain, is a Baroque monument in Neuer Markt. Georg Raphael Donner created the fountain between 1737 and 1739, making it one of Vienna’s important eighteenth-century sculptural works.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  15. Republikdenkmal Republikdenkmal
    40 45 min

    Republikdenkmal

    Denkmal der Republik

    Republikdenkmal, also known as Denkmal der Republik, commemorates the founding of the Austrian Republic in 1918. The monument marks the political transition that followed the end of Habsburg imperial rule and the emergence of republican government.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  16. Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice
    41 45 min

    Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice

    Deserteursdenkmal

    The Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice, known locally as Deserteursdenkmal, is an outdoor memorial in Vienna. It honours people persecuted by Nazi military courts, including deserters and others punished for refusing service or being judged insubordinate.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  17. Trinity column, Radetzkystraße 1, Landstraße Trinity column, Radetzkystraße 1, Landstraße
    42 45 min

    Trinity column, Radetzkystraße 1, Landstraße

    Dreifaltigkeitssäule

    The Dreifaltigkeitssäule, or Trinity Column, stands at Radetzkystraße 1 in Vienna's Landstraße district. This religious monument represents the Holy Trinity and forms part of the city's extensive heritage of plague columns and devotional structures erected across Central Europe.

    • Must see
    • Historic site
    • Landstraße
  18. Burg am Leopoldsberg Burg am Leopoldsberg
    43 45 min

    Burg am Leopoldsberg

    Burg am Leopoldsberg is a historic castle structure on Leopoldsberg, a prominent hill in northern Vienna above the Danube. The elevated setting places the castle within a landscape of river views, wooded slopes and the expanding city below.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Döbling
  19. Friedensbrücke Friedensbrücke
    44 45 min

    Friedensbrücke

    Friedensbrücke, or Peace Bridge, crosses the Danube Canal in Vienna. It is a working urban connection linking parts of the city for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Brigittenau
  20. Hohe Brücke Hohe Brücke
    45 45 min

    Hohe Brücke

    Hohe Brücke is a historic bridge in Vienna. The German name means “High Bridge,” and the structure belongs to the city’s network of crossings, streets and walkways.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Innere Stadt
  21. Schloss Altmannsdorf Schloss Altmannsdorf
    46 45 min

    Schloss Altmannsdorf

    Altmannsdorfer Schloss

    Schloss Altmannsdorf, also known locally as Altmannsdorfer Schloss, is a historic palace in Vienna’s Altmannsdorf district.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Meidling
  22. Palais Augarten Palais Augarten
    47 5 min

    Palais Augarten

    Augartenpalais

    Palais Augarten is the Baroque palace standing inside Augarten park in Leopoldstadt.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Leopoldstadt
  23. Bergkirche Rodaun Bergkirche Rodaun
    48 45 min

    Bergkirche Rodaun

    Bergkirche Rodaun is a functioning church in Vienna’s Rodaun district. Its name refers to its elevated setting, giving the building a distinctive position within the neighbourhood.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Liesing
  24. Erlöserkirche Erlöserkirche
    49 45 min

    Erlöserkirche

    Erlöserkirche Endresstraße

    Erlöserkirche is a church on Endresstraße in Vienna. Its role is best understood through its place in the city’s neighbourhood religious landscape: it is a church building serving worship and community life, rather than a large museum complex.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Liesing
  25. Chuch of St. John Chuch of St. John
    50 45 min

    Chuch of St. John

    Evang. Johanneskirche

    The Evangelische Johanneskirche, known in English as the Church of St. John, is a Protestant church in Vienna. It serves the Evangelical Lutheran tradition and belongs to the city’s diverse religious and architectural landscape.

    • High
    • Historic site
    • Liesing

Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·

Where to base yourself

District boundaries come from OSM administrative relations, so a district page holds exactly the places inside it — plus, for the islands and the coast, the nearest district by proximity.

How the city is laid out

Twenty-three districts, numbered roughly in the order they were absorbed, arranged around the 1st.

The Innere Stadt is the 1st and holds the cathedral, the Hofburg, the opera and most of what a short visit will see. Districts 2 to 9 and 20 were incorporated in 1850 and lie inside the Gürtel, the outer ring road; they are the inner districts and are where most visitors sleep and eat. Districts 10 to 19 and 21 to 23 came in between 1874 and 1938, mostly in 1892.

Districts 21 and 22 are across the Danube on the left bank — Floridsdorf is the northernmost part of the city and Donaustadt the largest by area. Districts 2 and 20 sit on the island between the Danube and the Donaukanal.

The postal code gives the district: 1XXA, where the middle two digits are the district number. An address at 1070 is in the 7th.

Checked 2026-08-23

Getting around

The U-Bahn, the trams, and a ticket that covers both.

The U-Bahn has five lines, 109 stations and 83.9 km of track, and it opened on 25 February 1978. It carried 404.8 million passengers in 2023. Trains run from about 05:00 to 01:00 at intervals of two to fifteen minutes, and run all night at fifteen-minute intervals on Friday and Saturday nights and before public holidays.

A sixth line, the U5, is under construction for completion between 2026 and 2032; the network will then be 90 km with 116 stations.

Tickets are integrated with the trams, the buses and the S-Bahn through the VOR system, so one ticket covers the whole journey. Some airport services are outside it.

Inside the Ring, walking beats all of it.

Checked 2026-08-23

More city guides

Common questions

How many days does Vienna need?

Suggested stay for a first visit: 3–4 days. Two days cover the Innere Stadt and the Ring — the cathedral, the Hofburg, the opera, the museums on the Maria-Theresien-Platz. A third takes Schönbrunn and the Belvedere, and a fourth allows a proper concert or an afternoon in the wine villages.

How do the districts work?

Twenty-three of them, numbered roughly in the order they joined the city. The 1st is the medieval centre, districts 2–9 and 20 came in 1850 and lie inside the Gürtel, and the rest arrived between 1874 and 1938. The postal code carries the number: 1070 is the 7th district.

What is the Ringstrasse?

The boulevard built in the second half of the nineteenth century on the line of the demolished city bastions, encircling the Innere Stadt. Most of Vienna's great public buildings face onto it.

Is the U-Bahn the best way around?

For anything beyond the Ring, yes. Five lines, 109 stations, 83.9 km, running from about 05:00 to 01:00 and all night at weekends. Inside the Ring, walking is faster.

When is the best time to come?

April to June and September to October. Summer afternoons reach 27–32°C and the palace gardens have little shade; winter hovers around freezing but brings the concert season and the Christmas markets.

How big is Vienna really?

414.78 km² with 2,028,499 people in the city proper, 2,223,236 in the urban area and 2,890,577 in the metropolitan area — the tenth largest city in Europe.