Austria · Self-guided walk
Vienna in one walk 8 sights, 50 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Vienna Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.3 km loop, about 50 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.3 km, a loop
- Time
- about 50 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Stephansdom
- Steps
- no streets with steps on the route
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Vienna walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Vienna, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Stephansdom
the start · inside open Mon–Sat 06:00–22:00, Sun 07:00–22:00
Everybody on the square looks up at the tower. Look at the roof instead: 230,000 glazed tiles laid into a pattern. The only way to see it properly is from a lane at some distance, not from directly underneath. Walk the far side of the block.
Next: Ruprechtskirche, 480 m, about 7 min, along Stephansplatz, Rotenturmstraße, Bauernmarkt.
2. Ruprechtskirche
about 7 minutes of walking from the start
Two of this level's street names point at it and one of them is a staircase. Take the Ruprechtsstiege. It is the least of the sights on this walk and the easiest to miss, sitting on the lip of the terrace where the pavement falls away past it.
Next: Hohe Brücke, 550 m, about 8 min, along Marc-Aurel-Straße, Wipplingerstraße.
3. Hohe Brücke
about 15 minutes of walking from the start
You will cross this without noticing there was anything to cross, because from up top it looks as though the lane simply goes on. Find the steps at either end, go down, and turn round. From down there it stops being a lane.
Next: Freyung, 310 m, about 5 min, along Tiefer Graben, Freyung.
Lunch break
Cà Phê Lalot, Wipplingerstraße 25, about 40 m off the route, open Tue–Fri 09:00–15:00, Sat 10:00–16:00, Mon, Sun closed.
A day café that cooks from Vietnamese ideas: omelette with crispy chili oil, lychee granola, a lunch plate that changes. More on what to eat in Vienna.
4. Freyung
about 20 minutes of walking from the start
Do not come in off the road. Take the Ferstelpassage in from Herrengasse instead: shops, a kink, a six-sided court under a glass roof. Then the open space arrives all at once, which is how a square ought to be handed over.
Next: Looshaus, 440 m, about 7 min, along Freyung, Herrengasse.
5. Looshaus
about 26 minutes of walking from the start
On the Michaelerplatz, across the cobbles from the big domed gate. At street level, four marble columns. Above them, a front as bare as an unbuttered roll, and the bareness is the point. Stand under the columns, look up and work out what the upper floors are missing. I am not telling you what.
Next: Spanische Hofreitschule, 110 m, about 2 min.
6. Spanische Hofreitschule
about 28 minutes of walking from the start
Two of the street names on this level belong to it: Reitschulgasse, and Stallburggasse for the stalls round the corner. From outside there is not much to look at, a long wall and a gate. Go early. What you cannot see, you can hear.
Next: Hofburg, 160 m, about 2 min, along Josefsplatz.
7. Hofburg
about 31 minutes of walking from the start
This one is not a halt, it is a route. Four of the names on this level are just parts of this one building: Hofburg, Michaelertrakt, Schweizertor, Augustinertrakt. Go in under one arch and keep walking until you come out under another. Nobody will ask you to leave.
Next: Albertina, 420 m, about 6 min, along Augustinerbastei.
8. Albertina
about 37 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Tue 10:00–18:00, Wed 10:00–21:00, Thu 10:00–18:00, Fri 10:00–21:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00
From Albertinaplatz you are looking at a wall covered in stone figures with a house sitting on top of it. Take the ramp. The terrace up there is the flattest, quietest spot on this level, and it costs nothing to stand on.
Back to the start: Stephansdom, 830 m, about 12 min, along Augustinerbastei, Hanuschgasse, Tegetthoffstraße, Neuer Markt, Seilergasse.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Vienna.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 219 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Vienna Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.