Alsergrund

About this district

Alsergrund is Vienna's academic heart: the university, the huge AKH hospital and student haunts shape the district, and Sigmund Freud once practised in Berggasse - today the Freud Museum keeps his memory there. The Servitenviertel with its cobbled lanes and little bistros is often compared to a French quartier, and the garden of the Liechtenstein Palace is one of the city's loveliest quiet green spaces.

Staying in the ninth is unfussy and fair: the Liechtenstein Apartments right by the park offer old-building flats with their own kitchens, Hotel Alpha provides solid three-star rooms, and Pension Vera delivers the classic Viennese pension experience. There is no luxury here - instead you live among students and long-time residents rather than tour groups, and prices are among the friendliest of the inner districts.

Connections run on several tracks: tram line D crosses the district towards the Ring, the U4 follows the Danube Canal, the U6 runs along the Gürtel, and the U2 stops at Schottentor on the district's southern edge. From the Servitenviertel you can comfortably walk into the old town - the Votive Church and the university lie practically en route.

The ninth is right for anyone seeking a calm, genuine residential quarter with short routes to the centre - returning visitors, long-stay guests and travellers on a mid-range budget. Families appreciate the parks, self-caterers the apartments. If you want to sleep in the middle of the sightseeing or the nightlife, though, this is the wrong address: Alsergrund rolls up its pavements early, and reaching the cathedral or the Naschmarkt takes a tram ride or good shoes.

University, calm. You'll find 3 hotels and 0 sights here.