The city's own signposted Stadtwanderweg 1 is a loop from the tram D terminus in Nussdorf, up through the Wildgrube vineyards and woods to the 484 m Kahlenberg and back down over the Nussberg. It climbs through vineyards and forest with wide views over Vienna and the Danube; the city lists the Heurigen in Wildgrubgasse, Kahlenberger Straße and Nussdorf as places to eat on the way.
Best time: A dry day from spring to autumn; allow 3.5 to 4 hours for the 11 km loop and time for a Heuriger at the end.
The route, stop by stop
- 1Wildgrubgasse
From the tram D terminus in Nussdorf the trail goes up the Zahnradbahnstraße and the Beethovengang into the Wildgrubgasse. The city names its Heurigen among the stops for food on Stadtwanderweg 1. 30 min
- 2Stephaniewarte
A 22 m stone lookout tower on the summit of the Kahlenberg (484 m), built in 1887 to plans by Fellner and Helmer for the Kahlenberg railway company and named after Crown Princess Stephanie. The city says it gives a view on clear days over Vienna, the Danube from the Wiener Pforte to the Donau-Auen, and the Schneeberg. Next to it stands a 165 m steel TV mast (1974). Opening hours not verified. 20 min
- 3St. Josef am Kahlenberg
The church of the Camaldolese hermitage founded in 1628, when Ferdinand II renamed the 'Sauberg' (pig mountain) Josefsberg; the name Kahlenberg moved here from today's Leopoldsberg at the end of the 17th century. Burnt by the Ottomans on 8 July 1683, rebuilt by 1734; it has a Sobieski chapel. 15 min
- 4Josefinenhütte
On the Höhenstraße between Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg. An excursion restaurant opened on 18 June 1935 with the building of the Höhenstraße, named after the mayor's wife; the first house in Vienna without a chimney because it was fully electric. It is the stamp point for the city's hiking pass on Stadtwanderweg 1 (Josefsdorf 47, +43 1 320 39 75). 30 min
- 5Nussberg
The 342 m outlier of the Kahlenberg, first recorded in 1226. Its plateau is a beach terrace of the ancient Pannonian Sea and the highest such terrace in Vienna; the trail comes down through its vineyards via Nussberggasse and Bockkellergasse to Nussdorf. 45 min
More walks in Vienna
- Imperial Vienna: cathedral to crypt
- Ringstraße: Opera to Votivkirche
- Otto Wagner and the Secession around Karlsplatz
- Roman and Jewish Vienna to Otto Wagner's bank
- Landstraße: Stadtpark to the Belvedere
- Schönbrunn: palace, Gloriette and Palm House
- Red Vienna: the council superblocks of the Margaretengürtel
- Heiligenstadt: Karl-Marx-Hof to Beethoven's village
- Leopoldstadt: Jewish Vienna to the Augarten
- Along the Danube Canal: Urania to Otto Wagner's weir