Visit Vienna for the third time and it’s easier to step away from Stephansdom and Schönbrunn. But even on a first trip it pays to weave in one or two of these places: they show a Vienna quieter than the postcard version - cemeteries full of music history, cellars beneath the city, lanes straight out of the Middle Ages. These ten are less visited but worth your time.
1. St. Marx Cemetery
In the 3rd district (Landstraße), and barely any tourist finds it. Mozart was buried here in 1791 in an unmarked communal grave (exact spot unknown; a symbolic stone marks it today). A wildly overgrown Biedermeier cemetery, full of lilac in early summer - when it becomes one of the most atmospheric places in the city. No burials have taken place since 1874, which is why everything simply stopped: leaning stones, ivy, silence. Take tram 71 or 18.
2. Zentralfriedhof, Gate 2
Once you’re out there, walk to the graves of honour: Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Falco, Hans Hass. The church by Max Hegele, a student of Otto Wagner, is worth a look, and the avenues are so long the cemetery runs its own bus line. At the far end lies Vienna’s old Jewish section (Gate 4), badly damaged, silent - a place that says more about the 20th century than many museums. Tram 71 goes straight there from the Ring; the Viennese phrase “taking the 71” is a euphemism for dying.
3. Kapuzinergruft (Imperial Crypt)
Under the Capuchin Church on Neuer Markt, in the middle of the Innere Stadt. Twelve Habsburg emperors and nineteen empresses lie here in 150 sarcophagi, from plain metal caskets to Maria Theresia’s baroque double sarcophagus. Admission is cheap, and most Vienna visitors walk right past because they don’t know it’s there - two minutes from Kärntner Straße.
4. Schlumberger Kellerwelten
In the 19th district (Döbling), Vienna’s oldest sparkling-wine cellars (1842). Guided tour with tasting, three storeys below ground, long passageways lined with bottles. A different kind of Vienna outing - and easy to combine with a Heuriger evening, since the wine villages of Grinzing and Nussdorf sit in the same district.
5. The “Washerwoman’s house”
In Schönlaterngasse, a tiny house from the 14th century. Genuinely small, easy to miss. Schönlaterngasse itself is one of the narrowest lanes of the inner city and, together with the adjoining Heiligenkreuzerhof courtyard, the best-preserved piece of old Vienna: cobblestones, the basilisk legend, hardly any people. Five minutes from Stephansplatz, two hundred years away in feel.
6. Ankeruhr
Hoher Markt, a mechanical clock from 1914, Jugendstil. Every day at noon, a parade of twelve historical figures passes by, from Marcus Aurelius to Joseph Haydn. A three-minute show, free. Arrive five minutes early; afterwards the small crowd dissolves instantly - and Hoher Markt has two more underrated neighbours in the Wedding Fountain and the Roman Museum.
7. Otto Wagner pavilions at Karlsplatz
Two small light-rail pavilions from 1898, one now a café, the other a small museum of Otto Wagner’s work. Jugendstil at full strength, small, often empty - green ornaments, gilded details, curved roofs. Most people rush past on their way to the metro. If Wagner’s Vienna interests you, this is the most compact starting point before moving on to the Postsparkasse or the church at Steinhof.
8. Looshaus
Adolf Loos’s residential and commercial building from 1911 on Michaelerplatz. Emperor Franz Joseph reportedly hated the “house without eyebrows” so much that he had the window of his Hofburg apartment opposite curtained. A bank occupies it today; during opening hours you can walk into the hall: marble, brass, all of Loos’s elegance. Together with the Roman excavations on the square and the Michael Gate of the Hofburg, three eras stand here within twenty metres.
9. Café Anzengruber
In Schleifmühlgasse (Wieden). A narrow, tall beisl with regulars and artists, slightly dark, honest. Plays vinyl, has no tourist menu. The surrounding Schleifmühlgasse, with its galleries and restaurants, is the best proof that the 4th district is the most underrated quarter near the Naschmarkt.
10. City hiking trail 1 (Kahlenberg from the Cobenzl)
A classic view, but if you walk it instead of taking the bus, you pass vineyards and forest, feel the city’s edge, and arrive at the Kahlenberg differently. Plan 2.5 to 3 hours, well signposted, no gear needed. Heurigen and wine taverns line the way for a stop - during the autumn harvest it might be the prettiest half-day tour in the city.
Bonus: Beethoven’s Pasqualatihaus apartment
On the Mölker Bastei, small, quiet, four rooms full of Beethoven documents, high above the Ring. Very few tourists. The Mozart houses are full, the Beethoven houses empty, for no good reason.
How to fit these into your days
Most of these addresses aren’t separate excursions but ten-minute detours: the Ankeruhr, the washerwoman’s house, the Looshaus and the Imperial Crypt all sit in the 1st district and slot into any old-town walk. St. Marx and the Zentralfriedhof combine into half a day via tram 71. Schlumberger plus a Heuriger fills an afternoon in Döbling; the city hiking trail fills a morning. If you want to see the city from this angle on purpose, stay where the detours are short - our hotel overview sorts by district, and the historic houses fit the theme best.
A few more things not in the guidebook
- In summer, the Donauinsel’s Strandbar Herrmann opens in the evenings as an open-air bar with loungers.
- The Pawlatschen passage in the first Hofburg courtyard is usually empty, costs nothing, and feels like a private inner court.
- The brutalist concrete staircase at the 21er Haus near the Belvedere surprises everyone.
Frequently asked questions
Are these places suitable for a first Vienna visit? Yes, as seasoning. Sprinkle two or three of them between the classics and your picture of Vienna gets noticeably more complete. Just don’t trade St. Stephen’s for the Zentralfriedhof.
Do these places charge admission? Most don’t. Lanes, cemeteries (apart from guided tours), the Ankeruhr and the Looshaus hall are free. The Imperial Crypt, the Pasqualatihaus, the Roman Museum and the Schlumberger tour charge moderate fees.
How do I get to the cemeteries? Both by tram 71: St. Marx lies halfway, the Zentralfriedhof at the end of the line. For the graves of honour, get off at Gate 2.
When is the best time for these places? Weekday mornings, when even the better-known ones are empty. St. Marx peaks during the lilac bloom in late May, the hiking trail in autumn; the cellars and the crypt work in any weather.