Colorful tiles on the roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

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Vienna Media News 09/2021 Viennese Wanderings: Vienna on Foot

Tour Guide to Go

The first issue of route – the Vienna Tourist Board’s latest brochure – contains a set of special walks and new discoveries that are not only aimed at visitors to the city. route shows the city’s best walks and takes in places to relax, enjoy fine food and have a drink while experiencing authentically Viennese charm – and there’s not a smartphone or internet connection anywhere in sight. This practical guide has pull-out city walks categorized by topic, which open up a whole new slant on the old town and various special routes (including the Ringstrasse boulevard), such as the world of Sigmund Freud, architecture and Red Vienna. Each walk comes complete with shopping and refreshment tips.

route’s digital counterpart is ivie, the personal Vienna guide which made its debut in spring 2020. The ivie app’s Walks & Guides section is full of routes around the city. A popular highlight is the Beethoven audio walk, which retraces the great man’s movements around the city, revealing a new side to the composer while the highlights of his lifetime play out over the headphones. Meanwhile, an aroma walk provides a different kind of sensory appeal. Moving from one olfactory stop to the next, it opens up a completely different side to the city. In addition to uncovering all kinds of fascinating tidbits about Vienna, ivie also provides no end of support before, during and after a stay in the city. The exact location of water fountains, WCs, Citybike terminals, personal sightseeing favorites and hotels can all be called up and saved before traveling to the city. Once in the capital, curious minds can make the most of the option to receive notifications, ensuring that they don’t miss out on tips relating to nearby places.

Free to download for iOS and Android: https://www.wien.info/en/travel-info/mobile/ivie-app-349196

Viennese Walks

A walk around the vineyards, especially in the fall, is an unforgettable experience for all the family and visitors of all ages. Vienna is the only major capital in the world with a significant winegrowing industry inside the city limits – around 700 hectares of the capital is under vines. Around 80 percent of the winegrowing area is given over to whites, including the Gemischter Satz – originally a Viennese specialty. Viennese Heuriger wine tavern culture was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural assets in 2019. In fall, the latest vintage is pressed and is available for sampling at the city’s wine taverns. Sturm and must (low-alcohol or alcohol-free variants in the harvest’s journey from grape juice to wine) are only available at this time of year. Accompanied with a cold platter of smoked meats and a rich selection of spreads makes the vineyard walks a popular choice for anyone interested in more of a culinary odyssey, and not just people looking to stretch their legs. All of this is possible on some of the 13 clearly signposted Stadtwanderwege hiking trails that crisscross the city. The best-known winegrowing areas are located in the 19th district in Grinzing, Sievering, around the Nussberg hill and up on the Cobenzl.  One great tip that lots of locals aren’t necessarily aware of is Stammersdorf. Lined with idyllic cellar lanes, this winegrowing area couldn’t be easier to reach with the number 31 tram running directly to the city center. In fact, this part of the 21st district is covered by Stadtwanderweg 5, a 10km-long hiking route dotted with fields, vineyards and Heuriger wine taverns. The walk concludes on the Bisamberg hill, which offers some pretty impressive views of the Viennese skyline and the surrounding area.

More information about the route: https://www.wien.gv.at/english/leisure/hiking/path5.html

In addition to the municipal hiking paths, the Rundumadum-Wanderweg trail comes highly recommended. Skirting some 120km around Vienna, this lengthy undertaking is broken down into 24 easily manageable sections. The start and finish of each stretch is easy to reach on public transportation and between three and ten kilometers in length, meaning that each subdivision is perfect for a leisurely stroll. Like section number six which leads from the Hütteldorf U4 subway station to the Lainzer Tor entrance to Lainz Game Preserve, a haven beloved of Empress Sisi. The Hermes Villa, built for her in the park, and the restaurant it now contains are always popular with visitors. Right on the fringes of the Vienna Woods, the parklands provide a natural habitat for deer, wild boar and 20 different species of bats – the most diverse concentration of bats found on a single site anywhere in Europe. From spring to fall, visitors are instantly captivated by the peace and tranquility of this expansive natural retreat.

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Contact

Vienna Tourist Board
Helena Hartlauer
Media Relations
Tel. (+ 43 1) 211 14-364