The Vienna on foot you’ve never seen
When we wrote the tools of the first travel podcasts back in 2006, it was clear that digital has soon become essential for those who travel without the weight of the guides in their suitcase. But the fact is that the card has not completely abandoned our hands as travelers, particularly when we can find it on site and perhaps the phone has a limited battery life. And so, in 2021, Vienna produces itineraries both on paper and in app versions, to fully enjoy the city on foot. In autumn it is the best time to do it: with the air starting to get sparkling, wandering on the historical footsteps of Beethoven or going on a real trek through fields and vineyards, located in the heart of the city, can be a pleasure to be indulged without senses. of guilt, just like a nice slice of Sachertorte.
Show me the way!
Made of paper, but lightly. Very special walks through Vienna can be found in the first edition of City-Guide Route, the new prospectus of the Vienna Tourist Board which shows the most beautiful walks in Vienna and leads to places full of pleasure, relaxation and of course Viennese charm – without the need for smartphones and the internet. It is a practical guide with thematically ordered and detachable city walks. This allows you to experience Vienna for example in the city center or along the Ringstrasse, but there are also less beaten paths, such as those with a Freud theme, architecture or Red Vienna. Each walk also contains gastronomic or shopping suggestions.
Digital to download. The digital path extension is ivythe personal guide to Vienna launched in the spring of 2020. Also here in the column Walks and Guides there are city walks. Of particular note is the audio walk through Beethoven’s Vienna, which presents the composer from a new point of view, as you discover yourself listening through the main moments of his life. Even the walk dedicated to perfumes is aimed not only at sight: walking from one olfactory stage to another you learn about the city from a new perspective.
In addition to the countless information about Vienna, ivy also offers practical help before and during the trip to Vienna: drinking fountains, toilets and bike sharing stations, attractions you want to visit or the location of your hotel can be integrated and stored already before the trip, and then on the spot ivie with its innovative geo-locating system via smartphone notifies you when you are in the vicinity of one of the stored places or when you have a special suggestion. Here you can find the free download for iOS and Android.
Fields and vineyards, but in the city
An experience for the whole family and for all ages is above all walking among the vineyards on the hills in autumn. Vienna is the only city in the world with a real one wine production within the city limits, for seven hundred hectares. About 80% of the area planted with vines is dedicated to white wine, and one of the specialties is Wiener Gemischter Satz.
Since 2019, the Viennese heuriger culture is part of the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In autumn the new wine is pressed, the heuriger in fact, and then it can be tasted in the typical “frasche”, the buschenschank and the heuriger.
Sturm And more they are precursors of wine that have already undergone a first fermentation and have a non-existent or reduced alcohol content and are offered only at this time of the year. In combination with a nice plate of tasty snack specialties such as smoked meat or bread and different types of spreads, the “wine trekking” and the visit to the heurigers are not only a sporting but also a culinary pleasure, which can be experienced along some of the thirteen Viennese city hiking trails. The best known wine areas are located in the nineteenth district a Smiling And Sift, around the Nussberg and Cobenzl hills. A gem that not everyone knows, even in Vienna, is the wine area of Stammersdorfwith the typical streets flanked by the traditional basement cellars and an excellent connection to public transport thanks to tram 31. In this hilly area of the 21st district is the City Hiking Trail 5, ten kilometers between fields, vineyards and heuriger. The goal is the Bisamberg hill, from where a splendid view of the panorama around Vienna and the city skyline opens up. Here you will find further information on the route.
The loop trail in Vienna
In addition to the hiking trails, the Rundumadum is also worth mentioning: a circular hiking trail all around Vienna. It is 120km long and you are the patient type – or you just have the time available – you can walk them all. But if you have less challenging goals, you can choose to go through just some of the 24 stages into which it is divided. The length is between 3 and 10 kilometers and it is practically always about walks to be faced in complete tranquility.
A good example is stage 6, which leads from the subway station in Hütteldorf until the Lainzer Torthe portal of the nature reserve Tiergarten by Lainzer, the place where Empress Sissi loved to retire and where you can still visit the Hermesvilla, which was built especially for her, with her restaurant. The park borders the Wienerwald, the biosphere reserve that offers a largely untouched habitat for roe deer, wild boar and twenty different bat species – the largest variety of bats in one place in all of Europe. This large wooded space is particularly appreciated for its peace and tranquility in the period from spring to autumn.