Hietzing (13th district)

The 13th district (Hietzing) is the district of Schönbrunn Palace, and for many visitors that makes it the second destination after the city center. The palace itself is only the beginning: the palace park is free to enter, and the path up to the Gloriette terrace offers the best view of the city you can get without paying admission.

Things are much quieter in the Lainzer Tiergarten, a former imperial hunting ground. In the middle of it stands the Hermesvilla, which Emperor Franz Joseph had built for Elisabeth – today a museum, and one of the places in Vienna where you can actually be alone.

Around the palace, Hietzing is an upscale district of villas with Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) buildings by Otto Wagner.

Besides the palace, Hietzing Cemetery is worth a visit; Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner and Alban Berg are among those buried there – a small, quiet place without the bustle of the Central Cemetery. And the Otto Wagner villas on Hüttelbergstraße show how the architect built for himself. Both are off the routes Schönbrunn visitors usually take.

Getting there: U4 (Hietzing, Schönbrunn), trams 10, 58 and 60.