Monday, April 20, 2015

Where to stay in Vienna?

Austria’s capital and the largest city Vienna is also the country’s political , cultural and economic center . It has been home to Habsburg Dynasty for most of its long history and its historic center is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The city not only offers a lot of historic buildings and art in its huge open-air museum center but also offers great classic music and is known as the music capital of Europe. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Joseph Haydn , Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert , Johannes Brahms , Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg lived and composed their important pieces here. Combine all these with modern amenities and a lively city, Vienna is also the first in the list of World’s Most Livable Cities.

If you are planning to visit the city and asking where to stay in Vienna, it is important to know that Vienna hotels are expensive, even expensive compared to its already expensive counterparts in Europe. But on the other hand quality of the Vienna hotels are high.

Another thing to know is that not all Vienna hotels marketing themselves in the city center are in core city center, Innere Stadt (District 1). In fact, many of these hotels are even not in broader city center, which falls within District 1 to 9. But if you find a nice hotel near metro station or a tram line, traveling to Vienna city center would only take 20 minutes.

If you really want to stay in historic city center and walk to all major Vienna tourist attractions, you should stay in historic center, District 1 or Innere Stadt.  But District 2-9 are also considered central districts and hotels here would also be just fine. Since hotels in Vienna are expensive, if you are budget conscious, you would like to stay away from city center but near a metro station to find the optimum hotel location.

Now, let’s look at the geography and the city center of Vienna and see what city center means here. District 1 , known as the heart of Vienna, is called Innere Stadt . Innere Stadt is the historic center of the city and home to most of the places to see in Vienna. Until 1850, the city of Vienna was just this district and every other part of the city either did not exist or a town near Vienna. Innere Stadt is also right in the middle of Vienna as you can see in the Vienna map below.

Stephansplatz Square in the center of Innere Stadt is the most famous place to visit in Vienna. The large Stephansdom Cathedral here is the attraction #1 and is the most important church in the city.

Historically, Innere Stadt was surrounded by defensive city walls. In 19th century, these walls were demolished and the road circling the city walls is kept as Ringstrasse ( Ring Road ).

Leopoldstadt ( District 2) , Landstraße ( District 3) , Wieden ( District 4 ), and Margaret the ( District 5) , Mariahilf ( District 6), Neubau ( District 7), Josefstadt ( District 8) and Alsergrund ( District 9) are also considered city center. If you look at the map, District 2 to 9 also encircles the Innere Stadt. This Districts are enclosed in 13 miles long Gürtel ( Belt Road ) which runs parallel to the Ringstraße .
So, you can consider District 1 to 9 within this Gürtel ( Belt Road ) as Vienna city center. But Brigittenau (District 20) next to District 2 and 9 is also considered a part of city center (District 2 and District 20 is on an island surrounded by rivers.

Vienna Map – Green area (District 1 – Innere Sdadt) is the historic center of the city and houses most of the tourist attractions. District 2 to 9 (orange areas) are also considered within city center.
District 1 (Innere Stadt)

Innere Stadt (Inner City) is the historic center of Vienna. The city was only this area until 1850s. Today, it is geographically in the center of modern Vienna. Stephansplatz and magnificent Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral) is here right in the center. From the east and south of the Stephansplatz starts Graben and Kärntner Straße which are important shopping streets in Vienna.

Being home to Hapsburg, one of the most important royal houses of Europe, Vienna Innere Stadt is magnificant and is considered an open-air museum on its own. If you want to stay just in the middle of the city and within walking distance to almost everything to see, Innere Stadt is the place to stay in Vienna.

If you are thinking about to stay in this area, for a complete list of hotels and customer reviews as well as the latest best room prices refer to Vienna Innere Stadt Hotels page.

Vienna Stephansplatz and Stephansdom
Vienna Stephansplatz and Stephansdom
District 2 – 9 (Leopoldstadt, Landstraße, Wieden, Margareten, Mariahilf, Neubau, Josefstadt ve Alsergrund)

Leopoldstadt (District 2) is to the north east of Innere Stadt and is between Danube River and Danube Canal. With Brigittenau (District 20), it forms a large island which is in the center of Vienna. Leopoldstadt’s most famous place to see is Prater Park which is popular with its large and shady boulevards, beer gardens and Giant Ferris Wheel (Riesenrad). There are not many things here to see indeed but it is a central place outside city’s core center and a nice place to stay. For a detailed list of hotels here, you can visit Vienna Leopoldstadt Hotels page.

To the west of Innerstadt, you can find Landstrasse, a district soaked into art and culture. You will find extraordinary works of Hundertwasser such as KunstHaus Wien and the Hunderwasserhaus. To a little south, Belevedere Palace is a popular attraction with its baroque gardens and Austrian Gallery full of masterpieces like Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (Belevere is the #1 tourist attraction here). For hotels in Landstrasse visit Vienna Landstrasse Hotels page.

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