Vienna

Wien (Vienna / AUT) in general

Wien (Vienna) is the capital of Austria and is located in the north-east of the country. It has a population of around 1.7Mio and it is (according to some statistics loving economy gurus from all over the world) the fourth or fifth richest area in the world (or something like that. Who cares...). Its dimensions are about 22km (north-south) times 30km (east-west). Thanks to the fact that Vienna is by far the biggest city in Austria (second biggest city is Graz with about 300.000 inhabitants), and due to its universities you'll find a lot of students (nearly everyone who wants to study in Austria moves to Vienna) and many different sorts of clubs, bars, restaurants, cafés and so on.

How to get there?

By car

Via autobahn (from the German border to Vienna it will take around 2 hours). But be careful: In Austria you have to have a motorway permit sticker. For 10 days it cost around 8EUR. If you are stopped by police and you have no permit sticker it'll cost you up to 1000EUR. There is no fee for the use of federal higways, but there speed limit is 100km/h.

By train

ÖBB (Austrian federal railway) gives you the possibility to create your personal railway schedules online. In Austria, as opposed to some other European countries, you dont have to "book" your seat. You just buy your ticket and, as long as it is no short-range ticket, you are allowed to travel that certain route once within the next four weeks.

By plane

Vienna's airport is outside the city (Wien-Schwechat) but there are several possibilities to get into town. Usually loads of taxicabs are waiting for international passengers, but try to fix a money amount before entering the cab. On the airport there is also a railway station where you can chose between CAT (the socalled city airport train that goes directly to Landstraße/Wien Mitte, a station near town center, and takes about 20 (?) minutes) and rapid transit railway (cheaper, one of its stations is also Landstraße/Wien Mitte, and it will take about 35 (?) minutes)

Public transport

In Vienna you'll find five metro lines, a rapid transit railway/city train and several bus and tramway lines. Online Schedule

Metro

In Vienna you can use the metro in the time between 5 a.m. till 12:30 a.m., the intervall is something like 3-5 min (day) and 5-7 min (night). This unofficial metro system homepage contains loads of general information as well as timetables and network maps.

Bus/Tram

To be honest, i dont use bus/tram that often, mainly because their intervall is 10 minutes and because the metro network enables you to reach lots of waypoints in no time. By the way, a walk through Vienna is always nice ;-) . At night, there are several night buses, the so called Nightline, whose tour starts either at Schwedenplatz or at Karlsplatz (both in the centre of Vienna) depending in what direction you want the bus to go.

Signs

Here you can see the typical signs that indicate public transport stations. (From left: Metro, Tram, Bus, City Train)

Daylife

Shopping

For shopping purposes there are two main streets, that have loads of clothing/shoe/lifestyle shops on it: Kärntnerstraße/Graben (in the first district. those two are considered to be "the" city centre) and Mariahilferstraße (sixth district, starts more or less in the city centre).

Record Stores For you mixingbowlers there are of course some record stores out there that i'd like to recommend:

Friendly House[1] is a music store that specializes on deejay equipment as well as PAs, but also has to offer vinyl. You'll find mainly house (quelle surprise) and techno there as well as a little bit of electro, progressive, tranz and sellout records. I did buy my whole dj-equipment in this store, and i gotta say that their service and guidance concerning equipment is really great. Regarding their record section, the service is non existent, but you'll find sth like 4 working turntables over there plus the prices are usually quite low.

Rave Up[2] is Vienna's "cult" record store. Formerly known for guitar based music (everything from rock'n roll to punk), Rave Up now offers you a wide choice of records including genres like hip hop, electro, dance and experimental.

Substance[3] is a store which concentrates on different rock/pop genres (indie, alternative, etc) but where you can also find some electro/hip hop/house tunes. The service is (as far as i know) shite, but who cares. SInce its not far away from Mariahilferstraße (one of the shopping main streets) it might be worth visiting.

R.I.P.

Black Market[4] was Vienna's most sophisticated record store (located in the town centre) where you could find vinyl as well as cds and merchandising stuff like shirts or bags. The vinyl section covered techno, electro, house (main area), headz/groove/nujazz (well...viennese downtempo of course as well as german stuff like compost records and so on), hip hop (not that much), soul/funk/blues (some classic tunes in there) and a little bit of dnb. To make the vinyl selection process as comfortable as possible, the shop sported 4 turntables for listening purposes as well as a small bar and a few seats in order to creat some sort of living room feeling. You got the best expert advice/music recommendations in town when Fritz was present (I think hes responsible for about 50% of the stuff in my vinyl collection. lol).

33/45[5] was a small but well-provided record store. They covered loads of different styles like techno, progressive, house, electro, tribal, dnb etc. Sometimes you could also find some rarities there, because the shop owner used to buy record collections from people who want to give up deejaying/need money/whatever. Thanks for your enthusiasm, Chris.

Cheap Record Store was the shop of the "Cheap Records" label owners Patrick Pulsinger & Erdem Tunakan located directly inside MQ (Museumsquartier). The shop was extremely small, but very comfortable. A great place where i met some nice DJ guys (including Tiefschwarz and so on).

Classic Sightseeing

Hofburg peek inside and museum's hp

Classic. lol. The Hofburg was one of the residencies of Austrian emperors and is nowadays among others still the government building directly in the town centre. Inside Hofburg youll also find the "Spanische Hofreitschule" (the Lippizaner horses thing), the "Nationalbibliothek" (national library), the "Völkerkundemuseum" (ethnology museum) and so on. In front of Hofburg, there is a huge square called Heldenplatz where you can chill out or watch people playing frisbee, football and some other weird games. Unfortunately, the grass on other places is always greener, so id suggest you visit some parks for your chillout sessions instead.

Schloss Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace) [6]

Schönbrunn was the summer residency of Austrias regents and is maybe the most famous sightseeing area in Vienna. Its a bit outside of the town centre, but you can go there very quickly by metro (U4, Schönbrunn). The palace itself is...well, a palace like Versailles and so on. And just like Versailles it also has a beautiful and huge backyard (of course not as huge as Louis XIV's residency...but still quite big) with a bar/restaurant ("Gloriette", which was a part of the palace) in it, from where you have a great view over Vienna because its located on a hill.

Churches / Cathedrals

Of course you can find a lot of nice churches and/or cathedrals in Vienna. The most famous and maybe most impressives are

Stephansdom (St. Stephens Cathedral) in the heart of Vienna (metro U1/U3 "Stephansplatz"; or simply by foot no matter where you are in the 1st district). Vienna's tallest cathedral. Its quite nice on the inside, and, if you want to, you can also ascend its two towers (northern tower, the smaller one, contains the "Bummerin" i.e. the church bell; southern tower is a popular lookout due to its 137metres of height).

Karlskirche is not far from towncenter at Karlsplatz (metro U1,U2,U4 or several bus/tram lines station "Karlsplatz"). Since its a baroque church, its full of Bling Bling :D

Votivkirche is also nearly a part of the first district and is next to Uni. Afaik it was built after some Emperor survived an attempted murder.

Great Places & Chillout Areas

MQ (Museumsquartier)[7]

The MQ is a public space that consists of several huge and not so huge art galleries/museums, some shops and some restaurants/cafés/bars as well (see for instance Nightlife -> Clubs -> Café Leopold) and is one of the 10 biggest cultural complexes in the world. The square in the middle of it is filled with uhm... artistic seats where you can relax for a few minutes or spend the whole afternoon lying in the sun. One of the coolest features is the dj sessions, which are hosted by local radio station FM4 and which include many well known local djs.

The biggest art galleries in there are "Leopold Museum" (mainly Austrian art of the 19th and 20th century by artists like Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and so on; the white cube), "MUMOK" ("Museum für moderne Kunst", museum of modern art; the black cube) and "Halle" (the oldschool building, various exhibitions).

Altes AKH

This area formerly was a part of Vienna's general hospital and is now hosting some of Vienna University's Institutes as well as some restaurants and beer gardens. Although this area is near some busy roads (and not far from town centre), its very calm inside (as calm as beer gardens can be :P ) since its an inner yard. I love getting drunk in this place in summer. Eight tentacles up :D

Nightlife

Clubs

FLEX[8] (extremely recommended for its sound system)

is Vienna's best known club with definitely one of the best coordinated soundsystems in the world. Its besides Danube Canal in the first district, so you can consider it a great place for meeting interesting people, chillin around outdors, clubbin indoors, smokin pot and enjoyin a great evening. Flex has, although it is located quite central (metro U2 & U4 station Schottenring, tram 1, 2 and some others), considerably moderateprices (Entrance fee: 5-10EUR depending on when you arrive there, a bit more expensive when hosting live events or special guests; usually free entry after 3:00am except on days with special events; pint of beer around 3EUR, FREE SODA WATER at the bar!)

Programme: Flex opens doors at around 06:00pm (the so called "Café" i.e. the outdoor part where you can chill in the sun or have a sightseeing-break), the club itself usually opens at or around 09:00pm (in case of concerts a bit earlier but youll find it in the programme). Closing hours for the outer part are around 03:00am (changes from day to day), the party inside usually goes on until its over (exact time depends on bouncers/DJs/organiser but is usually between 05:00am and 06:00am)

Monday: Dropshop (Dub/Dubstep)

Tuesday: Crazy (Techno)

Wednesday: London Calling (Indie/Brit/Alternative Rock and Pop)

Thursday: Beat It (DnB)

Friday: Usually London Calling Special (can change tho)

Saturday: Always changing (Guest DJs/Live Acts/Specials/...), you have to check the schedule for exact informations.

Sunday: afaik Flex is closed, Flex Café is open...

FLUC[9]

is quite a new club, nevertheless it looks like...uhm...very alternative, if you know what i mean. It consists of two separate rooms, one is called FLUC, which looks more like a bar and which is open the whole week, the other one is the so called FLUC Wanne, which is more like a club and which hosts electronic music of all sort on fridays and saturdays (breaks, breakcore, dubstep, grime, electroclash, techno). The club is located right besides North Central Station in a former underpass, so you can go there by metro U1 (Praterstern), by city train S1, S2, S3 and S7 (Bahnhof Wien-Nord/Praterstern), by bus 80A and 82A (Praterstern), by tram 21, 5 and 0 (Praterstern) and by Nightline N25, N26 and N29. Entrance fee should be sth around 10EUR, beer and shots also arent that expensive. Usually loads of students/"artists"/and so on there.

Programme: FLUC Wanne's opening time is around 10:00pm, FLUC should open a bit earlier, but im not quite sure. Always changing programme (Live Acts, Record Presentations, Local Residents, International Guests DJs and Producers @ FLUC Wanne), so you have to check the website for further inforrmation.

WUK[10]

is some sort of cultural centre, so it does not only host different music events but it also provides some space for different kinds of artistic exhibitions and rooms where workshops take place. The musical spectre does reach from hip hop events to jungle parties and ska punk concerts. WUK is located west of the town centre, you can go there either by metro U6 (Währinger Straße-Volksoper) or by tram 40, 41 and 42 (Währinger Straße-Volksoper). Entrance fee is usually quite low but depends on the concert/party.

Programme: Due to the fact that WUK is a cultural centre there are no regular events. You have to check their website in order to get information. There you'll also find some info about upcoming exhibitions and workshops.

CAFÉ LEOPOLD[11]

is a café directly inside MQ (Museumsquartier, see Daylife/Chill-Out Areas for more information). In the daytime it is a regular and quite nice café, but everyday after 10:00pm the tables were put away so that you get some free space as dancefloor and local DJs start playing "Viennese Sound" (Dub, Nu-Jazz, Funky House, Downtempo,...). There is also a second room right besides the café where mostly fridays and saturdays concerts and "bigger" events take place. You'll reach Café Leopold by metro U2 (Museumsquartier or Volkstheater) and U3 (Volkstheater), tram 49 (Burggasse) and bus 2A (Museumsquartier, Burgtheater or Königsklostergasse). Entrance fee is on weekdays sth like 5EUR, Fri/Sat usually more due to the events. Free entrance within the small hours. Drinks arent that expensive and should cost about the same as in the daytime, i.e. about 3.50EUR for a pint of beer.

Programme: Open Sun-Wed 10:00am to 02:00am, Thu-Sat 10:00am to 04:00am. The café is open Mon-Sun and hosts local DJs, the "Clubbing part" usually hosts events on Fri/Sat. Once again, you gotta check the website for further information.

CLUB CAMERA[12]

is a small basement club near Mariahilferstraße (in the 6th/7th district of vienna, starting at MQ). Back in the 90s loads of drug dealers were selling their stuff over there, thats why the owners decided to put a camera right over the door so that they could see when the police came in order to maka a raid. Nowadays the club is quite decent, loads of peeps in the age of 18-35 there, very common price scheme.

Programme: Open Thu/Fri/Sat starting either at 10:00pm or 11:00pm. Musical spectrum reaches from minimal to disco-house, you gotta check the homepage for detailed information.

DONAU[13] (extremely recommended for its flair)

is a mixture of bar and very small club. AFAIK there is some sort of dancefloor (depending on the dj-set and the actual location of the tables). The interior decoration is awesome: The whole bar is one small pillared hall (i guess from the fin-de-siècle period) with pictures (comics and stuff, changing every day) projected onto the otherwise ugly panels on the wall (pictures on the hp). Loads of students/scene people from the age of 23-40 id say in there; and usually an awesome amount of fit girls...

Programme: Open Mon-Thu 8pm-4am, Fri/Sat 8pm-6am, Sun 8pm-2am. The dj-sets should be mainly eclectic stuff, containing everything from reggae over deephouse to nujazz and techno. See the hp for further information.

Passage

U4

Volksgarten

Wirr

Bars

tits a test made by the most random member who has no clue how to write a wiki article.

but ill try to finish what i started :)