Quiet, residential Landstrasse is Vienna’s most important destination for lovers of design. From the innovative public housing projects such as the Rabenhof to splendid private buildings, there is something around every corner for every taste. Take a walking tour down its charming, multifaceted streets and photograph the most exciting façades.
Visit the capital’s best examples of the designs of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austria’s most famous architect. He enjoys a reputation in Vienna like Gaudi has in Barcelona. Admire the multi-colored, textured façade of the Hundertwasser House Vienna, a mixed apartment and office building. Learn about his philosophy at the KunstHausWien, whose collection in housed in a former furniture factory. Appreciate modernism of the musical kind at the Arnold Schönberg Center, celebrating the noted composer.
Go back in time to Vienna’s golden age in the Belvedere Palace, with the world’s largest collection of Klimt paintings amid meticulous gardens and neoclassical architecture. Experience additional high culture at the Konzerthaus, the early 20th-century home of the Vienna Symphony. Wander through the collections of the Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna, founded in 1754. Search for Mozart’s grave in the atmospheric Sankt Marxer Friedhof. After all that walking, relax over a drink in one of the beach bars lining the Donaukanal.
Landstrasse is located in central Vienna, directly adjacent to the Innere Stadt and bounded on the east by the Donaukanal. Wien Mitte, one of the city’s biggest train stations with direct connections to the airport, is located here. Drive or take a taxi from the airport in 25 minutes or take the train in about an hour. Vienna’s main train station, with rail connections throughout Europe, is a 12-minute walk from the Belvedere Palace. Robust metro and bus connections make the neighborhood easy to navigate.
For dinner at the end of a long day in Landstrasse, head to trendy Radetzkyplatz, full of hip new restaurants and bars springing up in former industrial buildings.