13 of the best places to unwind and have fun in Vienna

Vienna's blend of imperial grandeur and contemporary culture in its grand monuments and art-vault museums can be a dizzying introduction to this history-stacked city. Yet despite the urbanite energy filling centuries-old spaces, the city moves at a gentle pace. This slow approach to metropolis life sees locals pick from a slew of palatial gardens and historic parks, waterside hangouts, and hilltop escapes to lounge and linger, feast and fest. 

Ready to join them? These serene spots and leisurely locales are the best places to unwind in Vienna.

1. Fiesta year-round at the City Hall square

The spiring Neo-Gothic style Rathaus (City Hall) is not only an architectural beacon on the Ringstrasse road; its public square (Rathausplatz) opposite the esteemed Burgtheater (Imperial Theater) is a center for celebration. For a pick of the best, there's the Steiermark Frühling (Styria Spring) festival in April, laden with food and wine huts, live music and a show of Dirndl (women’s traditional dress) and Lederhosen. It's abuzz in summer with the party Pride Village during the Rainbow Parade in June and the Vienna Film Festival from July to September with open-air music film screenings and pop-up restaurants. It transforms into the famed Christmas Market (Rathausplatz Christkindlmarkt) by November, and the city’s largest ice rink come January. 

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2. Lounge on the Hofburg lawns

After peering into the vestibules of cultural artifacts and art masterpieces in the former sovereign home of the Hofburg, venture to its encompassing green – the Volksgarten (People's garden) – the city's first public garden opened in 1823, replete with a neoclassical Greek temple folly and a spread of 3000 fragrant rose bushes. You'll find locals splayed on the Burggarten (Palace garden) lawns when the sun is out, enjoying Emperor Franz Joseph's former private enclosure that he opened to the public in 1919.

Planning tip: Book ahead to snag a spot at the emperor’s tropical glasshouse turned cozy-classy Palmenhaus cafe and bar that shares its space with the flitter-filled Schmetterlinghaus (Butterfly House).

3. Step into nature in the historical center

The monument-packed historic core has a meadow on its fringes. Stadtpark (city park) – the city's first public park from 1862 – spills from the Ringstrasse loop road that encases the 1st district. You'll likely gravitate here for the gilded Johann Strauss II monument, but beyond its musical shrine is a walkable canvas of thick tree-lined pathways, water features, bench-dotted manicured gardens, and art nouveau architecture like the masterpiece carved portal over the capital's river, Wienfluss.

Planning tip: Time a park visit with breakfast or lunch at Vienna's gourmet Meierei im Stadtpark restaurant in a revived pavilion on the bank of the Wienfluss.

4. Be part of a cultural courtyard canvas

The MuseumsQuartier cultural district, built upon the foundations of former baroque court stables, is an artistic chill-out area outside its 11 exhibition and museum halls. You might spot a few food trucks and a mini golf course in front of its entrance in the warmer months, but walk through its half dozen art passages that lead to its courtyard and become a part of the open-air canvas lounging on the bold, geometric chairs. And with surrounding cafes and bars such as organic menu MQKantine, snack-stop MQDaily, and Austrian classic and international fusion joint Café Leopold, you can kick back here all day.

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Local tip: Head up to the MQ Libelle. This free-admission glass-fronted terrace upon Leopold's rooftop is a perfect spot for a sundowner from the Zur Libelle bar, overlooking the museum complex towards the Hofburg. 

5. Hang waterside along the Danube Canal

The graffiti-walled Donaukanal (Danube Canal) that splices the border of the historic 1st district and the trendy 2nd district is its own artistic enclave. Here you'll find a spirited promenade of sculptures and gardens, boat restaurants, like Motto am Fluss, and swimming pool-decked Badeschiff. There are also mellow dens such as Central Garden and Hafenkneipe, or tune into the music beats at beach bar Strandbar Herrmann. But when the evening hours last longer, this canal strip is packed and the bring-your-own hot spot for gatherings until the early hours.

6. Visit Vienna’s oldest baroque garden

Vienna's oldest baroque garden, Augarten, is punctuated by two strikingly looming concrete Flakturm (Flak towers) air-raid defense bunkers from 1944. However, this doesn't stop the former imperial hunting ground from blooming. A wander through its manicured hedgerows and decorative elements from its Habsburg-era expansion is a serene escape from the energetic 2nd district neighborhood surrounding it.

​​7. Mix adrenalin and recreation in Prater Park

There are two ways to experience the humongous span of Prater Park in the 2nd district – the former imperial hunting grounds turned into the largest recreational park in the city. There's the vast find-your-own-secluded-spot in the wooded Green Prater, or the adrenalin-charged 200-attraction pumped Würstelprater fairground. Join locals on weekends strolling the scenic tree-lined 4.5km-long (2.8-mile) strip (Hauptallee) that cuts through it all.

Local tip: Around a 20-minute walk from the Hauptallee's end at the Lusthaus restaurant, find ultimate serenity at the Japanese Buddhist temple and Vienna Peace Pagoda next to the Danube River.

8. Boat, bathe and beach on Danube tributaries

You can't swim in the Danube River, but its old and new tributaries and artificial islands are the places to be in summer. On the Alte Donau (Old Danube) stretch, rent a rowboat or island-themed boat, join the gliding SUP boarders and kayakers, or take a cooling dip in the calm waters from its grass banks or wooden jetties. The island of Strandbad Gänsehäufel is a paid-entry complex with cafes and restaurants, bathing lawns and a private wedge of waterway. Or hit Vienna's "beaches". The Danube Island (Donauinsel) has 42km (26 miles) of "shoreline", though it's better known as the host of the free open-air music concert, Donauinselfest in June. The New Danube (Neue Donau) is where you'll find the sand banks and huts bars of the congenial Copa Beach or the bougie Vienna City Beach Club, best for cocktails and DJ sets. 

9. Stroll UNESCO-recognized stately gardens at Schönbrunn Palace

The city's most iconic Habsburg summer residence, Schönbrunn Palace, is more than a romp through its regaling Rococo rooms. Its 1-sq-km (0.3-sq-mile) enclosure of Schönbrunn Palace Park is quite the palatial spread where you can freely ramble between marble fountains and mock Roman ruins, rose and Japanese gardens, tropic palm and succulent desert houses, a Privy Garden and citrus growing Orangery, and a vast hedgerow maze with a viewing platform. And that's before you've even hit the expanse of Schönbrunn Zoo – the oldest zoo in the world – founded by Maria Theresa's husband, Emperor Franz I Stephan von Lothringen, in 1752.

The manicured circuit between the twinned Belvedere behemoths is smaller, though just as exquisite. The entrance to the former stately pad of Prince Eugene of Savoy turned museum of art masterpieces, Upper Belvedere, is flanked by a grand, structure-reflecting pond. Its centerpiece is the public baroque gardens inspired by the designs of the Palace of Versailles, with symmetrical parterres, guarding Sphinx statues, and an elaborate cascade fountain. There are seated nooks within topiary rows, but the most tucked away spot is the Botanical Garden, added by Maria Theresa in 1754.

Planning tip: If you find yourself in Vienna in mid-June, join the masses on the Schönbrunn Palace Park lawns to watch the open-air melodies of the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert.

10. Enjoy views from the vineyards

The Viennese are known for their love of wine because it's fresh from the source – it's the only European capital to grow wine within its city limits. Of course, a favorite excursion of locals is to head to the vineyards and Heurigen (wine taverns) for an Achterl (0.125 liters/0.26 pints) or three, sipped the old-fashioned way from a stemless wine glass and to the sounds of Schrammelmusik, popular Viennese music for violins, guitar and accordion. The 19th district's Grinzing wine village is a good place to start, or for a metropolis taste, sip in the city's oldest Heuriger, 10-er Marie in the 16th district, Ottakring.

11. Unwind in a thermal landscape

Drawing from the site’s thermal springs and set to an oasis stage of the lake-dotted gardens of Kurpark Oberlaa, Therme Wien Oberlaa is a multiplex of mindfulness, with enough bubbling, plunge and grotto pools, steamy sauna rooms and sensory loungers, and pampering treatments to wondrously while away the hours of a day pass. 

12. Take a city hike into the Vienna woods

Beyond the city's mega-fill of green space, there are also the surrounding Vienna woods to track through. Pick from 12 city walking trails (Stadtwanderwege) connecting urban parks and outer neighborhoods to the incumbent woodland and the vineyard hills, all marked by numbered wooden signposts. For a vineyard sample, take Stadtwanderweg 1 through the vineyards of Nussdorf and the popular "mountain" vantage point of Kahlenberg. Number 2 gets you to Vienna’s highest elevation point of the Hermannskogel at 542m (1778ft), or if you want to explore more of Prater Park, opt for Stadtwanderwege 9 for a 13km (8-mile) round loop through the dense green.

13. Trail through a nature reserve biosphere park

Get off track in the former imperial hunting ground turned public nature reserve and protected biosphere park of Lainzer Tiergarten – a 25-sq-km (10-sq-mile) forest and grassy-meadow heath with 400-year-old beech and oak trees, drilling woodpeckers and rooting wild boars. If you are not an experienced hiker, tackling the longer, deep-set trails, which have more exposure to wildlife, is not advised. A more accessible track is from Sisi's summer macro-palace Hermesvilla that leads to the Vienna pano-vantage point of the Wienerblick.

Local tip: Combine a trip here with the nearby Otto Wagner Spital, a former psychiatric hospital complex and newly emerging cultural hub, for Otto Wagner’s art nouveau church (Kirche am Steinhof) with his signature-style functional aesthetics, gilded touches, and glass mosaic windows.