The 1st district is smaller than most people expect: from St. Stephen's Cathedral to the State Opera is a seven-minute walk. Here's a route for three to four hours, with a coffee break and the lanes hardly anyone knows.
The 1st district (Innere Stadt) is smaller than most people expect. From St. Stephen's Cathedral to the State Opera is a seven-minute walk, and crossing the entire city center takes twenty. That's exactly what makes it Vienna's best area to explore on foot: you won't need public transport at any point.
This route takes you through the city center in about three to four hours, with a coffee break but without museum visits. If you stop along the way or take a detour, it will take longer. That's the idea.
Start: Stephansplatz
St. Stephen's Cathedral has stood on this spot since the 12th century, and in its present form since the 14th and 15th centuries. The South Tower, which the Viennese call "Steffl," is 136 meters high, and 343 steps lead up to the old watchman's room. The North Tower was never finished, but it has an elevator up to the Pummerin, Austria's largest bell.
Look at the roof. On the south side, the 230,000 glazed tiles form the double-headed eagle; on the north side, the coats of arms of Vienna and Austria. The roof was reconstructed after the fire of 1945.
Stephansplatz itself is the center of the city in the literal sense: all distances in Vienna are measured from here.
Along the Graben to the Kohlmarkt
From the cathedral, head west onto the Graben. The name ("ditch") is meant literally: this is where the defensive ditch of the Roman legionary camp Vindobona ran. Today it's Vienna's grandest street, with the Plague Column in the middle, erected after the epidemic of 1679.
A detail many people miss: the two Art Nouveau public restrooms by Adolf Loos, underground, with mahogany and brass, and still in use today.
At the end of the Graben, the route bends left into the Kohlmarkt, Vienna's most expensive shopping street. The view straight ahead to the dome of St. Michael's Church and the Michaelertor gate of the Hofburg is one of the best perspectives in the city, and the reason someone is always taking pictures here.
Worth a quick detour: St. Peter's Church (Peterskirche) just off the Graben. From the outside it's inconspicuous, squeezed in between the houses; inside it's overwhelmingly Baroque. Admission is free, and there are often organ concerts at midday.
Hofburg and Heldenplatz
Through the Michaelertor you enter the Hofburg, the former imperial palace, the residence of the Habsburgs for six hundred years and today the official seat of the Austrian Federal President. The complex grew over the centuries and is correspondingly hard to navigate: every ruler added on.
Inside are the Imperial Apartments, the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection, as well as the Spanish Riding School. If you want to see the Lipizzaner horses without booking a gala performance, the Morning Exercise is much cheaper and enough for most visitors.
Continue onto Heldenplatz, a square with a heavy history: it was here in 1938 that Hitler proclaimed the "Anschluss," Austria's annexation. The Neue Burg behind you now houses museums and parts of the National Library.
If you need a break in the green: the Volksgarten right next door has more than 3,000 rose bushes and, in summer, perhaps the nicest place to sit in the city center.
Maria-Theresien-Platz and the Ringstrasse
Crossing the Ring brings you to Maria-Theresien-Platz, flanked by the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) and the Natural History Museum Vienna. The two buildings are mirror images of each other, a 19th-century idea of symmetry carried through down to the details.
You're now on the Ringstrasse (the Ring), the grand boulevard built from 1857 onward in place of the demolished city walls. In both directions you'll find the Austrian Parliament, City Hall (Rathaus) and the Votive Church (Votivkirche).
Tip: When your feet get heavy, hop on tram 1 or 2 and ride a loop. It costs a regular ticket and replaces any sightseeing tour.
Back Through the Quiet Lanes
The more interesting way back doesn't follow the shopping streets but leads through medieval Vienna.
Cross the Freyung: the name comes from the right of asylum of the Schottenstift (Scottish Abbey), where people were "free" from persecution. Continue to Judenplatz with Rachel Whiteread's memorial, a library turned inside out, cast in concrete. Beneath it lie the foundations of the synagogue destroyed in 1421.
From there it's just a few steps to St. Rupert's Church (Ruprechtskirche), Vienna's oldest church, covered in ivy and usually deserted. The contrast with the cathedral could hardly be greater.
Head back toward the cathedral via the Jesuit Church on Universitätsplatz. Its painted false dome is a masterpiece of illusionist painting; stand on the marked spot on the floor.
Where to Stop Along the Way
The 1st district has the highest concentration of coffee houses in the city. Four that are on the route:
- Café Central: on Herrengasse, magnificent and accordingly crowded. Expect to wait.
- Café Hawelka: small, dark, unchanged. Legendary for its Buchteln (sweet yeast buns) in the evening.
- Café Landtmann: on the Ring, Freud's regular haunt, more formal.
- Café Sacher: behind the opera house, for the cake. Touristy, but it's something you just do once.
For a quick bite in between: the Würstelstand Bitzinger, a Würstelstand (sausage stand) by the Albertina, where after the opera, evening wear stands next to construction jackets. A Käsekrainer (cheese-filled sausage) there is as Viennese as the coffee house.
Practical Tips
- Shoes: Cobblestones everywhere. No thin soles.
- Timing: Early in the morning the city center is almost empty: between 08:00 and 10:00 you'll have the Graben nearly to yourself.
- Churches: During Mass, sightseeing is not possible or only limited, and on Sunday mornings that applies to almost all of them.
- Car: The entire 1st district is a short-term parking zone, and parts of it are a pedestrian zone. Come by public transport.
If you want more afterward: the Squares, Streets & Neighborhoods and Churches & Religious Buildings in our directory will lead you to the places that didn't fit on this route.
