There is a Vienna evening I particularly like to show friends visiting from elsewhere, and it begins quite plainly: at Roßauer Lände, where the U4 comes up out of the ground and the Donaukanal is close for the first time. From here you walk downstream, and the city reveals itself station by station from a side that surprises many guests.
Painted walls and a river at work
Right at the start, your eye falls on large, densely painted concrete walls. This is the Wienerwand, a project of the City of Vienna: surfaces that may legally be sprayed, marked with a small plaque showing the “Vienna dove”. Along the canal there are several such spots, at Roßauer Lände, at the so called Rampe between Roßauer- and Augartenbrücke, and by the Kaiserbadschleuse. The images change constantly, that is the whole point, so the walk looks a little different every evening.
Where you linger
A little further on, in the Obere Donaustraße, NENI am Wasser sits right on the canal, open year round, Monday to Saturday from 5pm. For something quieter, a newer address has settled a bit further downstream in the former Otto Wagner Schützenhaus. But the most reliable stop on this walk, for me, remains Motto am Fluss on the Franz-Josefs-Kai, with a café open daily from eight in the morning until midnight, and a bar that runs on, depending on the day, well into the small hours.
Around Schwedenplatz the canal grows livelier. From June to September, people gather under the Schwedenbrücke on Mondays and Fridays for salsa, a workshop early in the evening, then open dancing into the night. You do not have to join in to enjoy watching for a moment. Further downstream lies the Badeschiff, a pool right on the water with a bar on board, open daily from eleven until one in the morning, and opposite, by the Urania, there is a restaurant whose rooftop terrace, however, only opens on selected days, though the view from below is lovely on any evening.
The last stop
Anyone who walks on as far as the Herrmannpark will find Strandbar Herrmann there: sand, deck chairs, a summer bar in the best sense, generally open into the early evening and, at weekends, during the day as well. From there it is only a short stretch to Wien Mitte, where the U3 and U4 carry the evening back into the city.
Pure walking time is about 45 minutes; with one or two stops along the way, it easily becomes a two to three hour evening, entirely unhurried. All the stations, with addresses and a precise route, are gathered in our recommendation, “An Evening on the Donaukanal”. And if you would rather walk this route in company, with stories about the images on the walls and the places along the water, we are happy to accompany you in person as well.
Martha
