Währing (18th district)

The 18th district (Währing) is a middle-class residential district in the northwest, and above all it is green. Two parks define it, and visitors hardly go to either of them.

Türkenschanzpark is one of the most beautiful parks in Vienna – laid out in 1888 as a landscape garden, with artificial hills, ponds and trees that are hard to match anywhere in the city. The Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark adjoins it farther up and merges practically straight into the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald); sheep graze on its meadows in summer.

In between lies a district of villas, unpretentious coffee houses and the Währinger Park. If you want to spend an afternoon in Vienna without a plan, this is the place.

Also remarkable is the Währinger Schubertpark: until 1873 it was a cemetery where Beethoven and Schubert were originally buried, before both were moved to the Central Cemetery. The original grave monuments still stand there today, in the middle of a park where children play. This layering is typical of the district.

Getting there: U6 (Währinger Straße-Volksoper, Nußdorfer Straße), trams 40, 41 and 42.