An excursion we recommend
An Evening on the Donaukanal
The Donaukanal is the city living room, only without a roof. Along a few kilometres between Rossauer Laende and the Urania you find painted concrete walls, a ship with a swimming pool, sand and deck chairs, and places that only really wake up in the evening. You walk downstream, stop wherever you feel like it, and see a Vienna that no guidebook quite covers.
Getting there
U4 to Rossauer Laende
On foot
approx. 45 minutes, entirely flat
Best start
from 6 pm
The Route
U4 to Rossauer Laende
From there it is two minutes down to the water.
The Wienerwand
The legal graffiti walls of the City of Vienna.
approx. 10 minutes downstream
Along the bank, past the Augartenbruecke.
NENI am Wasser
First stop, Mediterranean, right on the water.
approx. 15 minutes to the Schwedenbruecke
It gets livelier here. This is where the evening starts.
Schwedenbruecke
Motto am Fluss, and on Mondays and Fridays there is dancing underneath.
approx. 10 minutes on
Past the Badeschiff towards the Urania.
Urania
Strandbar Herrmann, sand underfoot, the last drink.
The Stops
The Wienerwand
What looks like a free-for-all is partly by design: the City of Vienna has released stretches of wall along the canal where spraying is legal. Each one carries a small plaque with a pigeon on it. Because anyone may paint over what came before, the walk looks different every time. The largest walls are between the Rossauerbruecke and the Augartenbruecke.
Obere Donaustrasse, between Rossauerbruecke and Augartenbruecke
Always accessible. The legal stretches carry a plaque with the Vienna pigeon.
NENI am Wasser
Where the Tel Aviv Beach used to be there is now a restaurant with an open kitchen right at the water. Mediterranean with a Tel Aviv hand, plenty of fish, plenty to share. Unlike the summer bars around it, this one has a roof and stays open all year.
Obere Donaustrasse 65, 1020 Vienna
Monday to Saturday from 5 pm, until 10.30 pm. Open all year.
Or a little further on
- OTTO am Donaukanal, Obere Donaustrasse 26. Grill kitchen in the Otto Wagner Schuetzenhaus, an Art Nouveau building left over from a lock that was never finished. Tue to Thu from 4 pm, Fri from 4 pm, Sat from 12 noon. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Motto am Fluss
The building sits like a ship above the boat landing at the Schwedenbruecke. The cafe on top has a terrace over the water, the restaurant and bar are below. Of all the addresses on the canal this is the most dependable: open late, weatherproof, there all year round.
Franz-Josefs-Kai 2, 1010 Vienna
Cafe daily 8 am to midnight, kitchen until 10 pm. Bar Sun to Wed 6 pm to midnight, Thu to Sat until 1 am.
All around
- Salsa under the Schwedenbruecke. From June to September there is open-air dancing here on Mondays and Fridays, workshops from 6 pm, party from 8.15 pm. Salsa, bachata and kizomba on three floors. Five euros on Monday, eight on Friday. Bring closed shoes.
- Badeschiff, Wolfgang-Schmitz-Promenade 4. A converted cargo ship with a pool on deck, a bar and a restaurant. Daily 11 am to 1 am.
Strandbar Herrmann
At the end of the walk, where the Wien river meets the canal, there is sand. Deck chairs, a bar, a small stage, and the view goes back across the water to the city. All of it outdoors, so only in fine weather and only in summer.
Herrmannpark, 1030 Vienna
A summer bar, entirely in the open. Usually from 2 pm on weekdays and from 10 am at weekends, until 11 pm. Closed when it rains; a call to 0720 229996 saves the walk.
If it happens to be Friday or Saturday
- KLYO in the Urania, Uraniastrasse 1. The roof terrace looking over the canal and the city opens only on Friday from 6 pm and Saturday from 10 am. During the week it stays closed in the evening.
Good to Know
No booking. On the canal you simply sit down. Only Motto am Fluss is worth a call on a Friday or Saturday evening.
The right day. Monday and Friday there is dancing under the Schwedenbruecke. Friday and Saturday the KLYO roof terrace is open. Sunday and Monday OTTO is closed. If you want all of it, come on a Friday.
Season. Strandbar Herrmann and Badeschiff are summer places and depend on the weather. NENI am Wasser and Motto am Fluss are open all year, so the walk works in November too.
The walls. Only the stretches marked with the pigeon plaque are officially released, the rest is tolerated rather than legal. Spraying needs no permit, but stay inside the marked zone.
Getting back. From the Urania it is about 400 metres to the U3 and U4 at Wien Mitte, where the airport train leaves as well. If you have had enough earlier, take the U1 or U4 at the Schwedenbruecke.
On a warm evening the canal belongs to everyone. You only have to go.
