Outer South, Vienna: neighborhood guide

Outer South is the belt of districts south of the centre: Favoriten (10), Simmering (11), Meidling (12) and Liesing (23). Favoriten, Simmering and Meidling grew as worker districts, and they still read that way — ordinary apartment blocks, workshops, markets for residents rather than visitors, and far fewer hotels and cafés than the inner districts.

That is the point of staying here. You trade walking distance to the sights for a residential setting and everyday prices (check current room rates against the inner districts before booking). Liesing, the southernmost part, is greener and more suburban, with the Vienna Woods edge and the start of the Wienerwald hills close by.

The one sight that pulls visitors this far south is the Zentralfriedhof, the Central Cemetery in Simmering: nearly 3 million graves over almost 2.5 km², one of the largest in Europe, opened in 1874 and used as a weekend park ever since. Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss and Schönberg are buried in the graves of honour in section 32C; Mozart's stone is only a memorial. The Jugendstil Karl-Borromäus church by Max Hegele, built in 1911, stands inside the grounds, and the small Funeral Museum sits next to gate 2.

Elsewhere, the OstLicht photography gallery occupies part of the former Ankerbrot factory in Favoriten, and Neugebäude Palace, a 16th-century complex in Simmering, opens for guided tours by registration.

Choose Outer South if you want a quiet residential base with a supermarket downstairs, if you are staying a week or more, or if you are arriving or leaving by train from Wien Hauptbahnhof, which sits at the northeast edge of the area. Families and long-stay visitors do well in Meidling and Liesing.

Skip it on a first trip of three or four nights. Vienna's core sights — the Ring, the museums, the palaces — cluster in Innere Stadt and the districts just outside it, and every trip in and out costs you time you could spend walking the centre. If you want a base that is still close to the sights, look at Neubau or Alsergrund instead.

A middle option: stay in Favoriten or Meidling within a few minutes of a U6 station, so the ride to the centre is one straight line rather than a tram plus a change.

Food here is neighbourhood food: bakeries, kebab and pizza places, Austrian pubs (Gasthäuser) with schnitzel and goulash, and the market halls and stalls that serve local residents. Favoriten around Viktor-Adler-Markt and the Meidling Hauptstraße area have the densest everyday choice; Simmering is thinner.

Expect lower prices than the first district and shorter opening hours — many kitchens close by 21:00 or 22:00, and some close on Sundays. If you want a proper Viennese coffee house or a late dinner, plan to eat in the centre before coming back, or check what is open near your stop.

Vegetarian and vegan options exist but are patchier than in Neubau; larger supermarkets and Turkish and Balkan groceries in Favoriten cover most self-catering needs.

Wien Hauptbahnhof, the central station, sits just northeast of the area, so arrivals by rail from Salzburg or Graz land at the edge of it. From there the U1 runs south through the eastern part and the U6 covers the western side through Meidling and Favoriten. The U4 runs east-west along the northern border. For the airport, check your own connection from Hauptbahnhof or another station before you book.

Trams fill the gaps: line O links Praterstern and the Inner East with the eastern districts, line 6 comes from Neubau and Westbahnhof and crosses west to east, and lines 1 and 62 connect central Vienna with the south. For the Central Cemetery, take tram 71 from Schwarzenbergplatz, or the U3 to Simmering and then tram 71 or 6; the stops are named after the gates, with gate 2 the main entrance. A small bus runs inside the cemetery between the gates.

Tickets and fares are set by Wiener Linien; check the current fare and ticket rules before you travel.