Vienna city model made of brass, to feel Photo: Hans, Pixabay

Experience Vienna barrier-free - is that possible?

Five interesting facts for a barrier-free Vienna experience

Vienna - a world city of music, art, and architecture established its fame centuries ago. Vienna is always a journey back in time to Austria's glorious past. Anyone who associates this with cobblestones, jargon, and lots of steps is underestimating the Viennese.

Vienna can be traveled and experienced without barriers. In the following article, we provide information on accessibility in Vienna:

  • Vienna Airport,
  • Central Station,
  • public transportation,
  • sights and
  • restaurants and hotels.

If the Viennese sometimes seem a little grumpy, this is just their Viennese charm, which is full of heart and openness. It has always been important to the Viennese that everyone can live here according to their own style and possibilities. This also means that the city, its sights, and services are accessible to everyone, regardless of physical or mental limitations.

1. Vienna Airport

Vienna Airport is considered 100% barrier-free. Pictograms and guidance systems facilitate orientation, while monitors at eye level make flight information easier to read.

Further information can be found at: www.viennaairport.com

Chocolate coins with the inscription "Servus" are held up with one hand in front of the baggage carousel at the airport; Schönrunn Castle can be seen in the background as an advertisement Photo: Stefanie Jost
Hello from Vienna!

2. Vienna Central Station

Vienna Central Station is considered the most modern in Austria. It was designed to be barrier-free. If you need the ÖBB mobility service, please register here 24 hours before departure: msz@pv.oebb.at

3. public transportation (S-Bahn, U-Bahn, bus, tram)

Public transportation is largely barrier-free. Wiener Linien offers low-floor buses and trams as well as elevators and ramps in subway stations.

ÖBB's S-Bahn and regional trains have been converted to barrier-free accessibility for several years.

If you come across underground and suburban trains that do not yet meet the barrier-free requirements, please wait for the next vehicle and apologize for the inconvenience. Vienna's public transportation network offers one of the densest frequency networks in Europe.

4. Sights in Vienna

Many of Vienna's sights are barrier-free. They offer wheelchair-accessible entrances, elevators, and special guided tours for people with visual or hearing impairments. The following tourist attractions are just a few examples:

  • Kunsthistorisches Museum with its tactile tours, guided tours in sign language, guided tours in simple language, guided tours for people with dementia
  • (for the author) the most beautiful building in Vienna, the Upper Belvedere: It offers, among other things, of his most famous work "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt's tactile reliefs.
  • Schönbrunn Palace, the Dom Museum Wien, and the Roman Museum provide multimedia guides in Austrian Sign Language.
  • The Wien Museum on Karlsplatz is new, outstandingly good, and ambitious. The Wien Museum attaches great importance to inclusion and offers barrier-free access. For example, tactile floor information guides visitors from the two subway exits at Karlsplatz through Resselpark to the barrier-free entrance to the museum, where tactile stations, overview maps, signposts, and door signs are labeled in Braille and tactile normal writing. Assistance dogs are allowed. Hearing amplification and digital guides are just as much a part of the repertoire as guided tours in simple or sign language.
  • Yes, the famous Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel is barrier-free.
Tactile relief in the Dom Museum Vienna, white head that you can feel Photo: Lena Deinhardstein, Dom Museum Wien
Tactile relief of the portrait of Rudolf IV. in the Dom Museum Wien

5. Restaurants and hotels

There are so many barrier-free restaurants and hotels in Vienna that we can't name them all. Please check here for your culinary wishes and individual accommodation ideas on the Internet.

Vienna - a city for everyone.

Detailed information with regular updates on accessibility in Vienna can be found at www.wien.info/en/travel-info/accessible-vienna.

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