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Vienna's must-sees: from St Stephen's to the Karlskirche

If you only have a few hours, this is your route. It covers Vienna's highlights in a straight line, from the cathedral to the Karlskirche, crossing the Graben, the Hofburg and the Ringstrasse. Each stop tells you what you are looking at and what not to miss.

  • 6 stops
  • 2 km
  • 1 h 50 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
Main façade of St Stephen's Cathedral with the Riesentor and the two Heathen Towers

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 St Stephen's CathedralThe heart of Vienna: a Romanesque Giants' Door, a 136-metre Gothic spire and a coloured roof that rose from the ashes of 1945.
  2. 2 The Graben and the Plague ColumnA Roman ditch turned into Vienna's most elegant promenade, with the monument an emperor raised in thanks for the end of the plague at its centre.
  3. 3 Michaelerplatz and the HofburgThe grand gateway to the palace from which the Habsburgs ruled for more than six centuries, facing a façade that scandalised Vienna.
  4. 4 AlbertinaA palace on a surviving stretch of the city wall, home to Dürer's hare and around a million drawings and prints.
  5. 5 Vienna State OperaThe first great building on the Ringstrasse, so savaged by critics at its opening that neither of its architects lived to see it finished.
  6. 6 KarlskircheAn emperor's vow during the plague became Vienna's most spectacular Baroque church, with two columns borrowed from ancient Rome.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Vienna's must-sees: from St Stephen's to the Karlskirche

Vienna's highlights

Six must-see places that sum up eight centuries of history, from Romanesque St Stephen's to the 19th-century Opera.

Details with a story

The cloth measures carved into the cathedral, the kneeling emperor on the plague column and Dürer's hare.

From the centre to the Ring

About 2 km on the flat, from Stephansplatz to Karlsplatz, without retracing your steps.

Keep exploring

More routes in Vienna

Back to Vienna
HistoryFrom Vindobona to the 1938 balcony: two thousand years of Vienna Mysteries & legendsVienna of the basilisk: devils, plagues and an unsolved death