It’s not often a road gets a music festival in its name. Unless that road is the Gürtel: home to bars and venues in a culturally urban part of Vienna. Railway arches and tarmac echo to the sound of live concerts during the annual Gürtel Nightwalk.
- Open-air concerts along the Gürtel road
- Usually free entry
- Starts in the evening and goes on into the night
- May include extras like a small art & design market
- 2026 date: TBA (was Aug 30 in 2025)
- Book a 2-hr walking tour* for Vienna
- See also:
Urban flair along the Gürtel
A busy six-lane thoroughfare coils its way around the middle of Vienna, split in the middle by brick archways and the raised Stadtbahn railway.
Once considered a less salubrious part of town, this Gürtel still can’t be accused of over-gentrification. But it’s a metropolitan success story, as bars and venues have turned large chunks of it into a vibrant centre of urban culture and nighttime entertainment.
One night a year, a dozen or more of the bars and venues across a stretch on the west side of Vienna throw open their doors and spill out into the road for the Gürtel Nightwalk, a showcase of popular culture.
Several of the locations on the Gürtel, such as B72 and Chelsea, are woven into the fabric of the local music scene. And the beating heart of the Nightwalk festival is, inevitably, music. DJs and live acts perform on open-air stages (and occasionally indoors).
The numerous concerts shift between genres….ska, samba, pop, punk, rock, reggae, singer-songwriters, and more: see the website for programme details once available.
You might also find a few bonuses in among the concerts, such as a design/art market or film showing. In 2025, for example, we got the Nachtmarkt: a small arts & crafts market.
2026 dates, tickets & tips
I don’t have a confirmed date for the Gürtel Nightwalk, but it usually takes place on the last Saturday in August. So the 2025 date was August 30th.
Just to make the night easier on the pocket, the various events are normally free to attend.
How to get to the Gürtel
The relevant parts of the Gürtel are marked on the map below, with events typically going on at venues across that zone.
Subway: most locations cluster around the Josefstädter Straße station, which effectively marks the middle of the Gürtel Nightwalk area; two other stations (Alser Straße and Thaliastraße) mark the ends. All are on the U6 line (the “Stadtbahn” that follows the course of the Gürtel for much of its route).
Incidentally, the first two stations mentioned still have the original buildings designed by iconic architect Otto Wagner.
Tram: if you’re coming from the centre, just jump on a tram to the Gürtel with your public transport ticket. Take the 44 from Schottentor to Hernalser Gürtel, the 2 from various stops along the Ring to Josefstädter Straße, or the 46 from Ring/Volkstheater to Thaliastraße.
Address: Lerchenfelder Gürtel und Hernalser Gürtel between Alser Straße and Thaliastraße in the 16th and 17th districts