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Vienna Woods in Winter

Hello, My wife and I will be in Vienna in the first week of December and we are trying to figure out if a trip to the Vienna woods for some wine and scenery is plausible in the winter. Rick's book describes a downhill hike from Heiligenstadt to Nussdorf. I'm curious if in winter will wine bars/tasting rooms be open? Also, would hikes be treacherous in the winter (even if the weather is good)? Are there any paved paths? Also, we don't have a car but if it is worthwhile we would consider it. Thanks for the help, Jonathan

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32523 posts

This is a duplicate post. It may be easier for the poster and certainly less confusing for those contributing answers if they are all in one place rather than scattered.

Posted by
672 posts

In the 1990s, I lived in Vienna for a year and took many walks in the Vienna Woods, some in the winter. Sometimes there was snow, sometimes there was not. I remember one late-January walk where there was snow on the ground but the air temp was 50F that day! There are paved paths (for instance, the one at the end of the D Tram that leads to Beethovengang, where you can walk to the Kahlenberg). I would not consider any of the paths that I walked on to be particularly 'treacherous', although if they were ice covered and steep, like the Nasenweg that runs from to top of Leopoldsberg (the last hill of the Alps that is next to the Danube River) to the village of Kahlenbergerdorf, all bets would be off. Just bring waterproof hiking shoes and whatever else you would wear for a winter walk in, say, Pennsylvania, where I live. I am not sure which heurigen (wine taverns) would be open, but I remember one winter walk in the Vienna Woods when we stopped into a tavern for a nice meal of schweinbraten mit kraut (yum!). My best advice would be to check the weather forecast and plan accordingly. Vienna has Europe's best public transportation system (in terms of being able to reach anywhere in the city by subway, bus, tram, or local trains), so forget about needing a car!