Innere Stadt

About this district

The Innere Stadt is the Vienna you know from postcards: St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Hofburg, coffee houses with marble tables and horse-drawn carriages on cobblestones. Nearly everything on a classic Vienna checklist is packed into little more than a square kilometre. By day the crowds flow along Graben and Kärntner Straße; in the evening the lanes empty out and the district shows its elegant, almost museum-like side. If it's your first visit and you only have a few days, no other district gives you as many sights per minute of walking.

Staying in the first district almost always means the upper end of the market. The classics Hotel Sacher and Hotel Imperial embody the grand Viennese hotel tradition, the Park Hyatt Vienna occupies a former bank palace, and the DO & CO Hotel in the Haas-Haus looks straight at the cathedral. Slightly gentler on the wallet are places like Hotel Am Parkring, overlooking Stadtpark, or Hotel de France on the Ringstraße opposite the university. Genuine budget options are rare here - the location is simply too sought-after.

Public transport barely needs a thought: U1 and U3 cross directly beneath Stephansplatz, U1, U2 and U4 meet at Karlsplatz, and ring trams 1, 2 and D circle the old town. In practice you will walk most of the time anyway - the cathedral to the Hofburg takes about ten minutes, the State Opera hardly more. Even the Belvedere and the MuseumsQuartier in the neighbouring districts are an easy stroll away without buying a single ticket.

A few practical thoughts on where to stay within the district: around Kärntner Straße and Graben you are closest to the action, while the lanes towards the Ring or near Stadtpark are noticeably calmer. The finest hour of the first district is early morning - stand on Stephansplatz before the tour groups arrive and you have the old town almost to yourself. And schedule at least one long coffee house session: the district's tradition-steeped cafés are as much part of the Vienna experience as the cathedral and the Hofburg.

The first district is the right choice for first-time visitors, opera and culture travellers, and anyone who values short distances over price. It is a weaker fit if you are on a tight budget, travelling by car, or looking for the everyday Vienna of the Viennese - more tourists sleep here than locals live here, and cheap eateries and supermarkets are scarcer than in the districts just beyond the Ring. And don't expect wild nightlife: the first district is elegant and rather quiet, never loud.

Imperial, central. You'll find 7 hotels and 7 sights here.