The 2nd district in summer is a world of its own, quiet, green, with the Augarten at its centre and the Donaukanal at its edge. What we recommend to guests staying in our Augarten apartments and what we'd recommend to Viennese residents who haven't been paying attention.
The Leopoldstadt was long the part of Vienna that Vienna didn't want to show. Today it's one of the quietest and at the same time most vibrant corners of the city. It has no tourist hotspot, the Riesenrad Prater doesn't count and that's exactly what makes it so pleasant in summer. Living here means living in a Viennese district that still functions like a Viennese district.
We've been living, working, and letting apartments here for years. We know the routes, the hours, the shop opening times. What we recommend to guests in summer is not what the city magazine publishes. It's where we ourselves stand on a Saturday morning.
Karmelitermarkt, Saturday before ten
The Karmelitermarkt is the centre of the neighbourhood in summer. Stallholders from early, cafés all around, a mix of market regulars, families, locals, tourists. It's not the Naschmarkt, smaller, less staged, considerably more pleasant.
We like to go on Saturdays between half past eight and ten. Before that the neighbourhood is still asleep; after that it gets busy. In this window you can get the best pieces from Käsemacher, still-warm sesame bread from the Turkish baker at the corner, and the strawberries the fruit seller keeps behind the counter for his regulars. Breakfast afterwards at Tewa right on the market, Levantine breakfast with shakshuka or at the Mochi corner, if you're in the mood for something Japanese.
Augarten, the park, not the café
The Augarten is Vienna's oldest baroque park, laid out in 1614 and opened to the public in 1775. In summer it's the air-conditioning unit of the 2nd district. Deeply green, with old chestnut trees, broad avenues, lawns where no one minds you lying down with a book.
We recommend the early morning, when the sun falls at an angle through the trees or the late evening, just before closing. During the day at weekends, families, students, and the occasional yoga group are dotted about. It's not a tourist park. It's a Viennese park where no one takes photographs.
The Augarten is the air-conditioning unit of the 2nd district. In July between the chestnut trees it can be a full five degrees cooler than on the Praterstraße.
Also standing in the park are the two Flaktürme, two concrete monuments from the Second World War that were never demolished. They're not a tourist highlight, but they're a reminder that this park is not only a postcard motif.
The Porzellanmanufaktur café, the quietest summer table in the district
In the middle of the Augarten stands Schloss Augarten, where porcelain has been manufactured since 1718. On the ground floor there is a café with its own garden and that garden is, in summer, one of the most beautiful places in Vienna in which to do nothing for three hours.
It's a place where the cup you're drinking your coffee from was made in the workshop next door. Breakfast is solidly Austrian, the coffee is good, the pace pleasantly slow. We recommend booking at weekends.
Ice-cream parlours, three we're loyal to
For ice cream we go to three addresses. Tichy is classically Viennese, with the famous Marillenknödel-flavoured scoops. Veganista on Hollandstraße makes the technically finest vegan ice cream in the city, pistachio and chocolate are no compromise there. Eis-Greissler on Praterstraße works with milk from its own farm. All three are busy in summer. All three are worth it.
Vorgartenstraße and Volkertplatz, where locals have breakfast
The Vorgartenstraße between Praterstern and Augarten is one of Vienna's most underrated streets. Antique bookshops, record shops, small galleries, a few good bars. In summer people sit outside; no one is wearing traditional dress, no one is asking for the Wi-Fi password.
The Volkertplatz itself is our direct home, most of our apartments are a few steps from it. In summer a small market sets up here twice a week, the playground in the middle is well shaded, and there are two cafés at the corner where we often sit. Café Else with good filter coffee, and the Volkertplatz-Beisl for Viennese classics. More about our apartments there in the Augarten overview.
Donaukanal, five minutes on foot
From the Augarten you're at the Donaukanal in five minutes. That's Vienna's summer living room. The city sits down by the embankment wall, feet almost in the water, an Aperol Spritz or a beer, a sunset over the cranes of the harbour.
Our favourite stretches are between the Augartenbrücke and Schwedenplatz (with Strandbar Herrmann) and the section further east towards Praterstern. In July there's nearly always something happening there of an evening. A small DJ session, a pop-up restaurant, a reading. Nothing is announced and nothing is touristy. You just have to show up.
What happens in the neighbourhood in summer
We also recommend keeping an eye on the smaller festivals. The Kulturlängen in the Augarten, the Karmelitermarkt summer evenings with concerts, open-air cinema at changing locations. None of it is large. All of it is good.
Anyone living in the district for a longer stretch notices. The Leopoldstadt celebrates quietly. It spreads its summer evenings across many small places. Once you've understood that, you'll never go into the city centre again in July.