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Visiting Vienna

Hotels near the Austria center

Austria Center welcome sign

The Austria Center Vienna (ACV) is one of the city’s top convention centres. Read on for some of the quality hotels within walking distance.

After the specific hotel suggestions, a map shows more hotel and apartment options around the Austria Center, and I have info on what else the locality offers (e.g. the UN) along with travel advice.

The ACV is right next to the Kaisermühlen VIC subway station. The U1 subway line there takes you straight to the old town and central hotels. But for a more local hotel, consider these options…

As with all my hotel guides, I’ve listed places near the location which also have a user rating of at least 8 or more at booking.com (as of the last check end of October, 2024).

Meliá Vienna

The DC Tower

(Located inside the DC Tower)

If you’re looking for impressive views of the city and the Danube, this makes a fine choice.

The luxury hotel, Meliá Vienna, occupies something like the first 15 floors within the 250m DC Tower (designed by star French architect Dominique Perrault and now Austria’s tallest skyscraper).

The Meliá’s 57 Restaurant on the tower’s 57th floor is some 220m above the poor souls condemned to eat a packed lunch outside at ground level.

Tower and hotel are only a five-minute walk from the Austria Center (plus a few seconds for the lift).

ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser Wien

The ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser Wien

(The side of the hotel on Wagramer Straße)

Fancy a lakeside walk before taking in the convention?

The ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser Wien looks out on to the Kaiserwasser lake, which leads directly into the Alte Donau (Old Danube) recreational area with its waterside cafés and restaurants, lidos, boat fun, and lakeside walks.

Despite the mostly park-like surrounds, the hotel remains just a short walk from the UN and ACV.

NH Danube City

The NH Danube City

(The tall building on the left of the hotel is the IZD Tower)

Another highly-rated hotel sandwiched between the convention center, UN area and the Kaiserwasser and Old Danube area. So the right room on the top floors can also offer watery views.

Only a 15-minute walk (or one station with the subway) from the large Donauzentrum shopping mall.

Hotel Schani Uno City

A new hotel that opened in early 2024 between the ARCOTEL and the NH Danube City. (Photo will follow when I get a chance to visit.)

Notable for its intelligent engineering, where smart technology gives automated or individualized control of heating, energy use etc. in the room during your stay (both when in the room and out of it). Very 21st century.

Hotel alternatives

(Map provided by booking.com*, who I am an affiliate of)

Booking.com

Local area

Transport connections take you to Vienna’s centre remarkably quickly (see below) but the immediate area has two standout attractions in its own right.

VIC

The UN buildings (VIC – Vienna International Centre or UNO city) provide a home to various UN offices, but the area contains, for example, the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency too.

The VIC offers its own public tours, which I’ve not done in a while but remember being rather interesting.

Lakes, rivers, and parks

View of the Danube Tower

(The Danube Tower)

Parks and water features surround the Austria Center and UN complex on almost all sides.

  • The large Donaupark, for example, has the Danube Tower at one end: a giant viewing platform with a revolving coffee house and restaurant at the top. A strong dining option for late evening with the lights of Vienna below.
  • As mentioned above, the self-contained Alte Donau / Old Danube stretch of water has plenty of (mostly seasonal) recreational opportunities, including public bathing areas and various waterside restaurants along its banks.

(I can speak highly of Das Bootshaus, for example: a restaurant styled like an English rowing club. Cross the Alte Donau along Wagramer Straße, then turn right down the lakeside footpath to reach it.)

  • Then you have the mighty Danube itself, with its walking and cycling paths. The river splits in two through Vienna, flanking a long artificial island.
The Danube with a view across to the UK headquarters

(The Danube with the Donauinsel in the background and DC Tower & UNO complex behind)

That island (imaginatively named the Donauinsel or “Danube Island”) is another popular recreational and event location. For example, the huge Donauinselfest music festival takes place there in June.

The Reichsbrücke bridge takes you from the Austria Center and UN complex to the central section of the Donauinsel, where most of the action takes place.

Getting there & wider attractions

The Kaisermühlen VIC subway station serves the convention centre and UN complex. The U1 line that stops there takes you into the very centre of Vienna in just a few minutes.

The Riesenrad in the snow seen through the trees

(You’re not far from the iconic Riesenrad, seen here in high summer winter)

For example, a four-minute journey takes you to Praterstern and the Prater entertainment and park area that includes one of Vienna’s landmark sights and experiences: the Riesenrad giant Ferris wheel.

A seven-minute journey leaves you at Stephansplatz station, where you emerge outside the door of Stephansdom cathedral in the heart of the pedestrianised old town. As such, a hotel in the centre also makes a decent option if visiting the ACV.

The U1 also takes you to Vienna’s man railway station (Hauptbahnhof) in about 13 minutes.

If you’re travelling to or from Vienna International Airport, the Vienna Airport Lines bus has stops in the area, too: very close to both the ARCOTEL and NH Danube City if I recall right, as well as other local hotels.

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