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Renowned for its cafés (recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage) Vienna, Austria‘s 🇦🇹 capital city, may at first seem an a staid and stuffy place, pre-occupied with etiquette and ritual. Gleaming mansions signalling wealth; projecting power and order. Although some younger Viennese may protest, in my opinion you will not find alternative neighbourhoods like Kazimierz, Neukölln, Connewitz or District VII in Vienna where a clutch of venues has effectively taken over and rewritten the rules. Instead, as with many things Austrian, the interesting, the odd, the alternative is to be found in compartments, nooks and crannies and behind closed doors. It’s there – You only need to know where to look. That’s where we come in!
On this tour we will visit diverse yet iconic venues. These are, in their own very different ways, links to Vienna’s complex past and will develop your impression of the city behind the façade. Let’s do this!
The Route Map:
Stop #1 is Trzesniewski 🇦🇹
Dorotheergasse 1
One of Vienna’s iconic venues, you’ll find it down a side-alley and could easily walk past if you aren’t paying attention. Here is a distinctive, noteworthy format.. A Polish canteen serving finger sandwiches with a Pfiff, a tiny 0.15l of beer to wash it down, this is a snack bar but also a social meeting point with an excitable buzz and rhythm of service which is eye-catching. You could on occasions stay no longer than 10 minutes here, but that’s besides the point. A Vienna classic, a bar but not quite as you know it.
We don’t imagine observing that particular tradition will take too long, so have slotted in 9 rather than the usual 8 venues on this tour. The walk isn’t bad to the next place either: 10 metres – think you can manage that?
Stop #2 is Café Hawelka 🇦🇹
Dorotheergasse 6
It’s only right to experience a bit of café culture on this tour, but I have chosen one that’s a far cry from gleaming upright salons like Café Central. Hawelka (est. 1939) has a bohemian, literary history peaking in the 60s and 70s and chosen to retain its dark, pub-like interior with some out of time features such as a telephone box and quirky touches like the bust to commemorate its founder. A true city institution and one of the places you will find mentioned in the guides. There are pluses and minuses to visiting. The interior is a thing of beauty, service charismatic and the atmosphere timeless. Hours can pass if you’re not careful. Minuses, yes, it’s touristy at times, more expensive and occasionally the waiters may lose their rag at some idiots or other. If you aren’t ready for another beer just yet the classic Einspänner coffee will prepare you for what’s ahead.
Once you’re ready to leave, exit left and return to the bustle of Graben, an open square known for its huge Plague column. Look behind you to see the cathedral of St. Stephan and Stephansplatz, the central square. Both towers are accessible depending on if you prefer to take the lift or to climb! The church of St. Peter is nearby with its showstopper of a painted ceiling on the inside of its oval dome. The next place is just around the corner in a very unlikely looking shop front that resembles a long-shuttered 1970s fashion outlet than a pub. But look closer – there’s a menu on the wall. Dive in!
Stop #3 is Gutruf 🇦🇹
Milchgasse 1
A far cry from the tourist churn Beisls and Cafés in the centre of Vienna. Here is the surviving family-run antithesis. A superbly characterful, friendly operation cooking an unusual dual combo of Austrian and Chinese cuisine at the bar itself. There’s a kindly elderly lady serving, surroundings of local life and the odd tourist enjoying a truly unpretentious and authentic operation of a kind you may not find is there in 15 years time, sad to say. Personalised two-room interior decorated with retro signage and cuttings from the decades past. It almost feels like intruding to enter here at first, before it’s apparent you are very welcome. A see-and-be-seen place historically, now simply a charming past-it barnacle that high society and city centre rent-gouging has not managed to expunge. In fact, it’s an oasis of calm and normality when considering what’s outside. Long may that continue.
Backup option: Gösser Bierklinik 🇦🇹
I find, like thermal spas, change of extremes helps you appreciate the qualities of both all the more keenly. Turn back on ourselves to enter Stephansplatz and take in the atmosphere of the city centre, then amble down Kärntner Strasse to our next venue – something completely different!
Stop #4 is Loos American Bar 🇦🇹
Kärntner Durchgang 10
‘Why are we going in an American bar?’ you cry. Well, this is no ordinary venue. Far smaller than any photos do justice to, this interior is one of Vienna’s architectural highlights. Early modernist with textured panels, wood cut ceiling, clean lines and mirrors everywhere accentuating the space expertly while maintaining its intimacy. They maintain order and a sense of exclusivity by enforcing some ground rules (would it be Vienna, otherwise?) No shorts, sandals etc and no photography. This seems to be effective in weeding out selfish moaners, from what I can see on reviews. Cocktails are curated from a deliberately limited menu – there is simply not space to stock much more than they have. There’s a sense of fun to the place too by virtue of the customers, it isn’t a rigid library of imbibing. A special one-off experience for a visitor to the city. Not perhaps somewhere you’d go every week, but one to remember a holiday for.
Turn around and go back the way you came (this will all make sense when you’re there) heading up and past the Plague Column down narrow Naglergasse. Be sure not to pass by the alley – as I have done many times – where the next bizarre pub is lurking.
Stop #5 is Bockshorn Irish Pub 🇦🇹
Körblergasse 2
5 pubs in and we’re dragging you to a bloody Irish pub? Oh yes. But don’t think this is your average ex-pat plastic Irish bar (of which there are still plenty in Vienna). This is a labour of love, a bunker of weirdness that surpasses the genre’s confines to become something really quite different; enhanced. Established in 1991 by Hans Ungersböck, a regular visitor to Ireland who kept returning with more and more trinkets. Before long a previously empty room became a little bar, which was soon crammed to bursting. Every inch of wall space is used – no joke. The crowd is excitable, international and there’s a natural buzz and energy as people are thrown together in this little bathtub of a pub. Hugely distinctive – regardless of any misgivings about the theme. Trust me, these will be overcome. Be aware though that this is a Marmite pub – love or hate – if you don’t like crowded space then look elsewhere.
Backup options nearby: Philosopher Beer Bar Beisl 🇦🇹
A walk through the Volksgarten means you’ve reached Ringstrasse, which has an almost embarrassing ensemble of monuments and grandeur. The Parliament, Volkstheater and Town Hall are within close reach. However, now you’re very well set in to the bar crawl, let’s keep this going. We have 4 fabulous venues left!
Stop #6 is Café Bendl 🇦🇹
Landesgerichtsstraße 6
Hiding in plain sight in one of the most fancy and upmarket areas of the city. It’s a true dive that has turned a once elegant café into a scuzzy evening hangout par excellence. Its brown, elderly fixtures and fittings crackle and peel but that just adds to the character, along with a lively audience of youngster rubbing shoulders with the older regulars. They are served by and show appreciation for the lady behind the bar who operates in a warm, kindly way to strangers and locals alike. Whether you’re by the bar or in the lounge, the atmosphere is frequently buzzing and even when quiet it’s a museum piece – there’s a lot to look at.
Time for a walk now, and this is the longest connection you’ll have to make. Probably no more than 15 minutes for the average person, it’s a good opportunity for some fresh air. Passing the Palace of Justice and the Museums Quarter, there are some grand evening sights around here. You’ll eventually join up at Mariahilferstrasse, Vienna’s main, long shopping street. Just off from there is our next stop.
Stop #7 is Stehbeisl 🇦🇹
Windmühlgasse 6
A relief to discover one owner of the Beisl name that hasn’t devolved into a silver service restaurant. Quite the opposite – here is a lively narrow night bar with a combo of olde-worlde charm and offbeat bohemian décor. Decent drinks across the range – at last some better beer – and an audience of mainly post-grads attest to its relevance, without the bar feeling at all pretentious. It’s effective whether quiet or busy, and ticks a lot of boxes.
Stop #8 is Tanzcafé Jenseits 🇦🇹
Nelkengasse 3
A former brothel, the decision to maintain a boudoir type appearance makes perfect sense, and you’ll find the atmosphere buzzy, social early on, sliding imperceptibly towards sleazy as the night goes on. The absence of a ‘corporate’ lounge bar feel and slithering sense of weirdness that flits in and out provides a kind of lurid allure that overcomes more obvious objections towards its gouging pricing and tackiness. One to visit after a few drinks where your surroundings are perhaps a mite blurrier.
Stop #9 is Känguruh 🇦🇹
Bürgerspitalgasse 20
Since our initial visit in 2015 to this bar specialising in Belgian beer, the focus on Austrian beer has increased, in line with the rise of craft beer, so there is a genuine selection here, no doubt one of the best places for beer in Vienna many years on. Aside from the beers being exceptionally good, the venue itself is cracking. Although the pub is street-facing, they have made a conscious choice to cut off the outside world (there isn’t much of a view anyway), so it is one of those places where the transition from outside to inside and vice versa is quite dramatic. The atmosphere is shady, candlelit and dramatic, the crowd a mixture of couples, groups of friends and friendly youngsters enjoying the close feel and the gloom. If you’re peckish they have a connection with an adjacent Italian restaurant and prepare their own toasties. A well-known about local legend, not likely to change in any way any time soon (both fingers crossed), and essential visiting while in Vienna. My personal favourite.
Should any of the above 9 venues be closed we have a series of recommended backup venues for you:
Other recommendations:
Jazzland 🇦🇹 Superb basement Jazz venue for evening concerts. A city institution.
Kaffee Alt Wein 🇦🇹 A pubby Viennese café with a casual atmosphere, events posters strewn over the walls.
1516 Brewing Company 🇦🇹 Stalwart versatile and convenient brewpub.
7Stern Bräu 🇦🇹 – Larger last-gen brewpub operation with a wider range along European styles and nice beer garden.
Zum Holunderstrauch 🇦🇹 – An authentic Gasthaus with good wine and beer selection and genteel pubby main room.
Brendl 🇦🇹 – A cute, friendly and colourful neighbourhood café bar with a bohemian, alternative feel.
Das LANGE 🇦🇹 – Old-skool, pubby Beisl with warm, cosy interior and authenticity.
Gösser Bierklinik 🇦🇹 – A longstanding Beisl with historic, posh restaurant but it has an Ausschank where you can turn up for a beer and hang out. In winter it is cosy and sometimes smokey, and atmospheric with the clops of horses hooves passing by on the cobbles.
Philosopher Beer Bar Beisl 🇦🇹 – An informal, casual hangout spot with a few more beers than normal available on tap. Good atmosphere in the evenings with a younger crowd and good music.
Interested in more Austrian bars? Head over to our Austria 🇦🇹 page!