Where to Stay in Vienna: Innere Stadt, Neubau or Wieden?

The short answer. Stay in the Innere Stadt (the 1st Bezirk) for a first trip, because the cathedral, the Hofburg, the opera and the main museums are all inside a short walk. Pick Neubau or Mariahilf if you’d rather have cafés and shopping streets, and Wieden or Leopoldstadt if you want a lower bill and don’t mind a U-Bahn ride.

Roam Vienna read 7 English-language guides on this question. All 7 name the Innere Stadt as the pick for a first visit, and all 7 name Neubau as a good base. They split on price and noise, and Roam Vienna doesn’t print hotel prices because it has no hotel price index yet. No hotel is named here, because none has been checked against its own page. Look at rooms for your dates on a booking site, and use the map to see how far a street is from what you want to visit.

The short list

The U-Bahn lines come from vienna.info, the tourist board. It lists U1 as passing Stephansplatz and the Hauptbahnhof, U3 as running from Ottakring to Simmering through Westbahnhof and Stephansplatz, and U4 as stopping at Karlsplatz and Schönbrunn. Tram D runs from the Hauptbahnhof to Belvedere, and trams 1 and 2 run along the Ringstrasse past the State Opera, the Hofburg, Parliament and City Hall, according to the same site.

What the guides agree on

Innere Stadt for a first trip. Recommended by 7 of 7 guides read. Cathedral, palace, opera and museums are on your doorstep, and you can skip public transport on a short stay. See the Innere Stadt guide for what’s on each street, and the map for the places.

Innere Stadt costs more. Reported by 6 of 7 guides read. They call it the most expensive Bezirk and say hotel prices run higher than anywhere else in the city. Several add that it’s the touristiest part of town and that the streets empty after the shops close. Budget rooms are few.

Neubau for cafés and museums. Named by 7 of 7 guides read. It sits next to the MuseumsQuartier and Spittelberg, and the guides call it the trendy choice. Two warn about noise at night. One guide says hotels are fewer here than in the centre.

Leopoldstadt for value. Named by 6 of 7 guides read, and 5 of them mention value or lower prices. It lies across the Donaukanal from the centre and holds the Prater and the Augarten. The cost is distance. One guide gives 15 to 20 minutes to the centre and another says there are very few sights inside the district itself.

Wieden for the Naschmarkt. Named by 5 of 7 guides read. It’s calmer than the centre, with the Naschmarkt and Karlskirche close by. One guide calls it the best value of the central districts, and two say it has few luxury hotels.

Mariahilf for shopping and food. Named by 4 of 7 guides read. It’s lively and walkable, and 3 of the 4 say it’s crowded. The Café Sperl and the Naschmarkt are on its edge, and the market has its own entry in the food guide.

Landstraße for the Belvedere and the trains. Named by 4 of 7 guides read. It holds the Upper Belvedere and, at its edge, the main station. Guides describe it as more residential and more affordable than the centre.

One-off picks. Alsergrund, Hietzing and Favoriten each appear in a single guide. The Hietzing guide says it’s the closest base for the Schönbrunn palace but far from the centre. Another guide tells tourists to skip Simmering, because it’s far from the sights.

Which Bezirk for which trip

First trip, three or four days. Innere Stadt. If the price is too high, take Wieden or Landstraße and use the U-Bahn at Karlsplatz or the Hauptbahnhof.

Cafés, shops and an evening out. Neubau or Mariahilf. You can walk to the MuseumsQuartier and the Leopold Museum from Neubau.

Lower prices. Leopoldstadt, Wieden or Landstraße. All three have U-Bahn or tram links to the centre.

A Schönbrunn-and-Heuriger trip. Hietzing for the palace, though you’ll spend time on the U4 to reach the centre. The wine villages such as Grinzing sit in the north and need a tram or bus.

Arriving by train. The main station is on the U1, and tram D runs from it to Belvedere. Landstraße and Wieden are the nearest of the central areas above.

Getting around once you’re there

The U-Bahn runs from about 5 am to about midnight. On Friday and Saturday nights and the nights before public holidays, the lines run all night every 15 minutes, per vienna.info’s operating hours page. Nightline buses run every night from about 12:30 am to 5 am. See the travel tips for tickets and fares.

If you’re coming for the markets, the Christmas market guide lists all 16 with dates. For what to do in the daytime, see things to do in Vienna.

Places in this guide

Photos show the actual places, licensed under Creative Commons and credited to their photographers.

Wurstelprater Leopoldstadt Photo: Gugerell / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0) Augarten Leopoldstadt Photo: Tauralbus Karlskirche Wieden Photo: Manfred Werner / Tsui / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) Café Sperl Mariahilf Photo: © 1971markus / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Schloss Schönbrunn Hietzing Photo: Arjan Richter