Walks in Vienna. Hiking in and around Vienna

The foundation stone for the 12,000 hectare Vienna Green Belt, which encircles the city almost unbroken today, was first laid over 100 years ago. Want to know more? The Vienna Rundumadum hiking trail circles the city in 24 easy stages.

  

Vienna’s city hiking trails run for over 240 kilometers, mostly through the Vienna Woods on the edge of the city or through Vienna’s local recreation areas. They are well signed and can be reached by public transport. Service areas, restaurants and heurige along the way invite you to stay awhile, as do benches and tables at particularly attractive viewpoints or on forest meadows.

A classic is the 11 kilometer-long City Hiking Trail 1. It begins at the terminus of tram line D in Vienna's heurige town of Nussdorf and leads you moderately steeply, but with a great view of the city, Vienna Woods and Danube, through vineyards and woods to the Stefaniewarte on the Kahlenberg. After a detour to the cozily modern "Hütte am Weg" (Josefinenhütte), arrive comfortably back at the starting point along the gently sloping ridge of the Nussberg after about three and a half to four hours. What's more, you can ideally combine the hiking experience with culinary delights at Restaurant Kahlenberg as well as at the heurige on Wildgrubgasse, Kahlenberger Straße and in Nussdorf. A variant is offered by City Hiking Trail 1a, which starts right on Nussdorf Platz. Here, you hike along the Danube beach promenade, climb the Leopoldsberg and the Kahlenberg and can round off the tour, which is also 11 kilometers in length, in one of the delightful heurige in the romantic Kahlenbergerdorf.

The Green Prater

When you visit the Green Prater, you are walking on the former imperial hunting ground. The best way is to follow the signs on the 13 kilometer-long City Hiking Trail 9, which takes your directly from Praterstern (U1 Praterstern) away from the main avenue on the level to the little water meadow area at Freudenau.

Bisamberg

Ways to the wine on the edge of the city are offered by the hiking routes on the Bisamberg. One of these routes is the famous City Hiking Trail 5. Walk through old cellar lanes, roam through vineyards and oak woods.

Rundumadum Hiking Trail

The athletic amongst you can tackle the more than 120 kilometer-long Rundumadum Hiking Trail, which encircles the city in 24 easy to manage stages. The starting and end points of each stage can be reached by public transport. Inns and shelters along the way invite you to take a break. Collect confirmation at the five stamping points that you have really walked the "rundumadum" and be rewarded with a hiking pin!

  

Vienna. Schönbrunn Zoo: Europe's best zoo

Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna has been voted Europe's best zoo for the fifth time. Each year, more than two million visitors come to see panda babies, newborn elephants and many other rare animals in the world's oldest zoo still in existence.

  

In the summer of 1752, Emperor Franz I. Stephan von Lothringen, Maria Theresia's husband, took his royal guests to the newly constructed menagerie in the park at Schönbrunn Palace for the first time. Ever since then, the world's oldest zoo has been operating in Vienna.

In 1906, Schönbrunn was the site of a sensational event: This zoo in Vienna was the first place worldwide to see the birth of an African elephant conceived in human care. The next world premiere followed in 2007: For the first time ever, a panda baby that was naturally conceived in a zoo by the name of Fu Long was born in Schönbrunn. In August 2010 the second bear cub was born, in August 2013 the third. The twins Fu Feng and Fu Ban were finally born in 2016.

  

Modern enclosures

Today the Zoo at Schönbrunn is considered one of the best and most modern zoos in the world. In autumn 2018, it was voted Europe's best zoo for the fifth time: Schönbrunn Zoo therefore beat 126 scientifically managed zoos in 29 European countries to take first place. The animal compounds have a particularly generous and natural design. More than 700 kinds of animal live here - from the Siberian tiger to koalas and rhinoceros. Highlights are the giant rainforest house, the large South American enclosure and the ORANG.erie, home to Vienna's orangutans. The Nature Experience Trail was opened in spring 2010. May 2014 witnessed the return of polar bears to the zoo: The enclosure, called "Franz Josef Land", covers 1,700 m² and provides the white giants with enough space to romp around in. The bears can also be watched diving for the first time.

The new giraffe park was opened in May 2017: A gallery in the winter enclosure means that visitors can now meet the giraffes face to face. In the new East Africa Building next door, dwarf mongoose, Von der Decken’s hornbills and ground hornbills can be found bustling about. The latter share the 1,770 m² outdoor area with the giraffes. And the new, spacious hippopotamus bathing pond, which opened in summer 2018, makes it possible to watch the animals splashing around outdoors. New and extensive enclosures and animal houses are added each year. But the zoo's historic charm is always preserved. The zoo is part of the Schönbrunn UNESCO world heritage site.

Special tours and workshops provide information about the animal kingdom. And the zoo is directly adjacent to the Desert House, where the flora and fauna of the driest regions on earth can be explored.

  

  

Vienna. Historic bridges and fountains

You can walk over 1,716 bridges … at least you can in Vienna. Vienna actually has four times as many bridges as Venice. Just as interesting in terms of their architecture are the many historic fountains that dot Vienna’s streets and make it one of the most livable cities in the world. Ultimately, Vienna’s spring water flows from the drinking fountains!

  

The Vermählungsbrunnen fountain (1729) in the Hoher Markt is one of the most important Viennese fountain monuments of the Baroque period. The present-day stone and bronze version stands in place of a wooden monument that Emperor Leopold I. had built when his son Joseph returned from the war unharmed. The Donnerbrunnen fountain (1739) in the Neuer Markt also has an interesting history: the naked figures (allegories of the Danube's tributaries) were removed soon after Empress Maria Theresia established the Chastity Commission. Today, they are to be found in the Baroque Museum in the Lower Belvedere. The Donnerbrunnen fountain cannot be viewed until 2022 due to alterations. The Pallas-Athene Fountain (1902) in front of the Parliament building on the Ring shows river gods that embody the Danube, Inn, Elbe and Moldau. The Andromeda Fountain in the Old City Hall, the Austria Fountain on the Freyung and the Memorial Fountain to Empress Sisi in the Volksgarten are also worth a visit.

The nearly1.000 drinking fountains and 55 monumental and memorial fountains are all situated on central squares and are ideal quiet points to take a pause.

As a city on the Danube, Vienna also has many bridges to offer: ten over the Danube, 32 over the Danube Canal, 40 over the Wien River, 271 U-Bahn bridges and many more. The U-Bahn developed from the metropolitan railway designed by Otto Wagner, which required the construction of several bridges. These constructions may have been built for purely technical reasons, but were designed down to the smallest detail and are therefore definitely worth seeing. They mark the cityscape of Vienna to this day. Small but mighty is the Konstantinsteg in the Vienna Prater, which was opened in 1873 and is therefore - concerning the original construction - the oldest bridge in Vienna.

  

Green Vienna

In 2019, the Mercer Study voted Vienna the world's most livable city for the tenth year in a row, with the British weekly "The Economist" voting it into the number one slot for the first time in 2018. 280 imperial parks and gardens enrich the cityscape. In spring, 400 species of rose bloom in the Volksgarten alone. The nearby recreation areas of Prater, Vienna Woods and Lobau invite visitors to go on walks, day trips, hikes and bicycle tours. Vienna has a total of 2,000 parks.

  

 
Whether it is the park of the Schönbrunn Palace, the Palace Garden of Belvedere, or the Augarten – the mixture of baroque magnificence and the beauty of nature provide a nice contrast to a stroll in the Old City and leave an unforgettable impression!

Stroll down long avenues between artfully trimmed hedges, passing statues, fountains and splendid flower beds - maybe towards the Palm House from 1882, the largest in Europe, to the Maze, the Japanese Garden, or up the hill to the Gloriette, where you can enjoy a wonderful view in a Viennese café. A splendid baroque garden awaits you in the formerly private imperial gardens next to the palace, along with a unique collection of cacti in the Desert Pavilion from 1904. Visitors to the world's oldest zoological garden can enjoy the colorful activities of exotic and regional animals. Be amazed by the variety of species and their habitats at Schönbrunn Zoo. 

Tip: If you prefer not to explore the 160-hectare World Heritage site at Schönbrunn on foot, then the best way to see the area is to board the diesel-powered panoramic railway. A full tour of the palace park passes nine stops and takes about fifty minutes at a speed of around 10 km/h. The Palm House and Gloriette are just two of the sights to see. The two trains run from mid-March to the end of October, daily between 10.00 am and 6.00 pm, and stop at the Gloriette and Schönbrunn Palace on the hour and half hour.

Prince Eugene of Savoy had this Baroque garden, which is presently one of the most important of its kind in Europe (open all year, free admission), laid out around the year 1700. From the beginning of March to the end of August, you can experience the blossoms of 4,000 alpine plant species - in one of the oldest alpine gardens in the world, established 200 years ago in the Upper Belvedere by Archduke John of Austria. In the nearby Botanical Garden - established by Maria Theresa in 1754 -you’ll find indigenous and exotic plants. 11,000 plant species from six continents are cultivated and presented here on ten hectares for scientific research, species protection and recreational purposes. The garden is also an inner-city habitat for indigenous species (e.g. 130 types of bee) and a green oasis in the heart of Vienna, with its stock of old trees as well as meadows. Admission to the Botanical Garden is free! Guided tours are also offered on weekends from March to October.

The Augarten is a public park with a size of 52.2 hectares that has the oldest baroque garden in Vienna. It is located in the second Viennese municipal district. Arranged in the French style, the garden offers not only a ground-floor area with elaborate flower landscapes but also an extensive network of shady avenues lined with chestnut trees, elms, lime trees, ash trees and maple trees. However, as is the case in nearly all of Vienna's state gardens, night-time visits are not possible since the five park gates are closed (from dusk to early morning - the seasonal hours are displayed on metal signs at the gates). The Augarten is also home to a wide range of operations, such as the Vienna Boys' Choir in the Augartenpalais, the Augarten Porcelain Manufactory, the Porcelain Museum, and the Austrian Film Archive.