Hernals (Vienna) Travel Guide - Free

Explore Hernals in Vienna with Evendo's free guide. Find the best shops, historic streets, restaurants, and gems on web or mobile.

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Hernals
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Hernals in Vienna blends village heritage, vineyards, Vienna Woods walks, historic churches and easy tram connections with local neighbourhood life.

Village Character and Urban Life

Hernals occupies Vienna’s north-western edge, where the city’s dense nineteenth-century streets begin to loosen towards the Vienna Woods. The 17th district includes the old settlements of Hernals, Dornbach and Neuwaldegg, giving it a layered character: tram-lined urban corridors, quiet residential lanes, parish churches, hillside paths and remnants of a rural past. Hernalser Hauptstraße is the district’s principal spine, with everyday shops, cafés, restaurants and local services extending towards the outer suburbs.
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Churches, Hills and Historic Streets

The neighbourhood’s historic identity is especially visible around Kalvarienbergkirche and the older streets of Hernals, while Dornbach retains a more village-like atmosphere around its parish church and traditional wine taverns. Beyond the built-up area, Neuwaldegg opens towards Schwarzenbergpark and the Wienerwald, a broad landscape of woodland paths, meadows and gentle hills. These green spaces are among Hernals’s most distinctive assets, offering a markedly different experience from Vienna’s central boulevards.

Local Culture and Outdoor Escapes

Hernals is best approached as a lived-in Viennese district rather than a concentrated sightseeing quarter. Its pleasures lie in combining a tram ride along Hernalser Hauptstraße with a church visit, a meal in a neighbourhood restaurant or a walk towards Dornbach and Neuwaldegg. The transition from apartment blocks to woodland is unusually accessible, and the district’s streets reveal how former villages were absorbed into Vienna while retaining traces of their own identities.

Best attractions in Hernals

Hernals’s attractions are spread through the district rather than gathered around one central square. Kalvarienbergkirche is the principal historic visit, with its religious art and connection to the former Calvary pilgrimage tradition. The older streets around Hernals and Dornbach reward slow exploration, while Dornbacher Pfarrkirche provides another important focus for the district’s inherited village character. At the outer edge, Schwarzenbergpark offers lawns, mature trees and access to paths leading into the Vienna Woods; it feels more like a countryside excursion than a formal city park. Neuwaldegg’s spacious setting and the routes towards the Wienerwald add a strong outdoor dimension, particularly for walkers. The journey itself is part of the experience: tram 43 traces the changing streetscape from built-up Hernals towards the greener and more historically separate settlements of Dornbach and Neuwaldegg.

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Best landmarks in Hernals

Kalvarienbergkirche is Hernals’s most distinctive historic landmark, its religious importance connected to the Calvary pilgrimage tradition that developed when the area was still outside Vienna. The church gives Kalvarienberggasse and its surroundings a strong historical focus. Dornbacher Pfarrkirche represents another layer of the former village landscape, while the older parish and residential buildings around Hernals show how rural settlements were incorporated into a growing capital. In Neuwaldegg, the relationship between the built environment, former estate lands and the Vienna Woods is itself a landmark of landscape history. Schwarzenbergpark is significant not only as open space but also as evidence of the district’s aristocratic and rural past. Together these places explain Hernals’s unusual physical identity: urban streets gradually giving way to village remnants, parkland and wooded hills.

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Explore Hernals on the map

A handpicked selection of must-see spots in Hernals, mapped for you.

Best restaurants in Hernals

Dining in Hernals is primarily local and residential, with restaurants, cafés, bakeries and informal eateries concentrated along Hernalser Hauptstraße, Dornbacher Straße and connecting streets. The choice reflects Vienna’s everyday food culture more than a tightly defined culinary quarter: visitors may encounter Austrian cooking, familiar Central European dishes, cafés serving pastries and coffee, and international restaurants shaped by the district’s urban population. Around Dornbach and Neuwaldegg, traditional wine taverns provide a different setting, linking food and drink with the former vineyard landscape on Vienna’s western edge. Small businesses change over time, so the most useful approach is to explore the main commercial streets and check current opening arrangements locally. The neighbourhood’s food scene is best understood alongside its history as a former village absorbed into the capital, where ordinary cafés and taverns remain as important as destination dining.

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Best bars in Hernals

Hernals has a modest, neighbourhood-scale evening scene rather than a concentrated strip of nightclubs. Local pubs, cafés, wine taverns and restaurants provide the main places to meet after dark, particularly along Hernalser Hauptstraße and around Dornbacher Straße. The atmosphere becomes quieter towards Neuwaldegg and the Vienna Woods, where evening visits are more suited to a calm meal or a walk before returning to the better-lit urban streets. Visitors seeking large clubs, major concert venues or late-night entertainment will generally find a broader choice in central Vienna and nearby inner districts rather than within Hernals itself. Traditional wine-tavern culture is especially relevant around the outer settlements, although individual opening days and seasonal arrangements should be checked before travelling. Respect for residential neighbours matters in the district’s quieter streets.

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Best nightclubs in Hernals

Hernals has a modest, neighbourhood-scale evening scene rather than a concentrated strip of nightclubs. Local pubs, cafés, wine taverns and restaurants provide the main places to meet after dark, particularly along Hernalser Hauptstraße and around Dornbacher Straße. The atmosphere becomes quieter towards Neuwaldegg and the Vienna Woods, where evening visits are more suited to a calm meal or a walk before returning to the better-lit urban streets. Visitors seeking large clubs, major concert venues or late-night entertainment will generally find a broader choice in central Vienna and nearby inner districts rather than within Hernals itself. Traditional wine-tavern culture is especially relevant around the outer settlements, although individual opening days and seasonal arrangements should be checked before travelling. Respect for residential neighbours matters in the district’s quieter streets.

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Best shops in Hernals

Shopping in Hernals is practical, local and concentrated along Hernalser Hauptstraße, with smaller businesses extending into side streets and around the district’s tram corridors. Visitors will find the everyday mix associated with a long-established residential area: food shops, bakeries, pharmacies, cafés, household services and independent retailers rather than a large fashion or luxury quarter. The streets around Dornbach offer further local commerce, while Neuwaldegg is noticeably quieter and less retail-focused. Those seeking a larger market atmosphere can continue towards nearby Ottakring, but Brunnenmarkt lies outside Hernals and should not be confused with a district attraction. Hernals is most rewarding for observing ordinary Viennese shopping patterns and picking up provisions for a park or woodland walk, rather than searching for a single specialist shopping destination.

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Eve, your Evendo local guide

From Eve

Local phrases worth knowing

You don't need to get them perfect. A few words go a long way, and locals appreciate the effort.

6 phrase groups · English, local and pronunciation

Basics
EnglishLocalSay it
HelloServus[ser-voos]
GoodbyeAuf Wiedersehen[owf vee-der-zayn]
YesJa[yah]
NoNein[nine]
Please/You're welcomeBitte[bit-teh]
Thank youDanke[dahn-keh]
Excuse me/SorryEntschuldigung[ent-shool-dee-goong]
How are you?Wie geht es Ihnen?[vee gayt es een-en]
Fine. And you?Gut. Und Ihnen?[goot oont een-en]
Do you speak English?Sprechen Sie Englisch?[shpre-khen zee eng-leesh]
I don't understandIch verstehe nicht[ikh fer-shteh-eh nikht]
Eating & Drinking
EnglishLocalSay it
I'd like to see the menu, pleaseIch möchte die Speisekarte sehen, bitte[ikh merkhte dee shp-eye-zeh-kar-teh zeh-en, bit-teh]
I don't eat meatIch esse kein Fleisch[ikh ess-eh kine fly-sh]
Cheers!Prost![prohst]
I would like to pay, pleaseIch möchte bitte bezahlen[ikh merkhte bit-teh bay-tsah-len]
Emergencies
EnglishLocalSay it
Help!Hilfe![hil-feh]
Go away!Geh weg![geh vehg]
Call the Police!Rufen Sie die Polizei![roo-fen zee dee poh-lee-tsai]
Call a doctor!Rufen Sie einen Arzt![roo-fen zee i-nen ahrts]
I'm lostIch habe mich verirrt[ikh hah-beh meesh feh-reert]
I'm illIch bin krank[ikh been kr-ank]
Shopping
EnglishLocalSay it
I'd like to buy...Ich möchte kaufen...[ikh merkhte kow-fen]
I'm just lookingIch schaue nur[ikh sh-ow-eh noor]
How much is it?Wie viel kostet es?[vee feel koh-stet es]
That's too expensiveDas ist zu teuer[dahs ist tsoo toy-er]
Can you lower the price?Können Sie den Preis senken?[kew-nen zee den prees zehn-ken]
Time & Numbers
EnglishLocalSay it
What time is it?Wie spät ist es?[vee shpeht ist es]
It's one o'clockEs ist ein Uhr[es ist iyn oor]
Half past (10)Halb zehn[halb tsehn]
MorningMorgen[mor-gen]
AfternoonNachmittag[nahkh-mit-tahk]
EveningAbend[ah-bent]
YesterdayGestern[ges-tern]
TodayHeute[hoi-teh]
TomorrowMorgen[mor-gen]
1Eins[iyns]
2Zwei[tsvai]
3Drei[dry]
4Vier[feer]
5Fünf[fuenf]
6Sechs[zeks]
7Sieben[zee-ben]
8Acht[ahkt]
9Neun[noyn]
10Zehn[tsehn]
Transport & Directions
EnglishLocalSay it
Where's a/the...?Wo ist ein/der...?[voh ist iyn/dehr]
What's the address?Was ist die Adresse?[vahs ist dee ah-dreh-seh]
Can you show me (on the map)?Können Sie es mir zeigen (auf der Karte)?[kew-nen zee es meer tsee-gen (ouf dehr kar-teh)]
When's the next (bus)?Wann kommt der nächste (Bus)?[vahn kohmt dehr nekh-steh (boos)]
A ticket (to ....)Eine Fahrkarte (nach ....)[iyn-eh fahr-kar-teh (nahkh ...)]

History of Hernals

Medieval Villages and Estates

Hernals developed from a settlement outside Vienna’s historic walls, while Dornbach and Neuwaldegg formed separate communities among fields, vineyards and wooded slopes. Medieval references identify the villages as established rural places rather than extensions of the city. Their position beside routes leading west and north-west helped connect them to Vienna, but agriculture, viticulture and estate ownership remained central to local life for centuries. Neuwaldegg in particular became associated with aristocratic landholding and a country-estate landscape, traces of which survive in the area’s spacious setting and relationship with the Vienna Woods.

Reformation and Pilgrimage

During the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Hernals became known for its Protestant associations and for religious tensions linked to the settlement’s position beyond Vienna’s immediate jurisdiction. The later Catholic response helped shape the district’s most recognisable religious landmark, Kalvarienbergkirche. A pilgrimage tradition grew around the Calvary devotional route, and the church became an important local focus. Its presence reflects the way religious politics and popular devotion influenced the cultural landscape of what was still a village outside Vienna.

From Villages to Suburb

The nineteenth century brought faster urban growth, improved roads and expanding manufacturing to Hernals. Houses, workshops and small businesses increasingly filled the routes between the old village centres and Vienna, while the district’s proximity to the city encouraged commuting and suburban development. Public transport strengthened this connection, helping Hernals evolve from a primarily rural settlement into a densely built outer district. The older churches and irregular local streets remained visible within a developing urban fabric of apartment buildings and commercial thoroughfares.

Incorporation into Vienna

Hernals, Dornbach and Neuwaldegg were incorporated into Vienna in 1892, and the combined area became the 17th municipal district. This change formalised a process already encouraged by population growth, transport links and economic integration with the capital. Urban construction continued along Hernalser Hauptstraße and nearby streets, while the outer slopes retained gardens, vineyards and open land. The district’s present identity—part inner suburb, part former village and part gateway to the Vienna Woods—comes directly from this gradual incorporation rather than from a single planned foundation.

A District Between City and Woods

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Hernals remained a mixed residential district, combining established streets and municipal infrastructure with the quieter landscapes of Dornbach and Neuwaldegg. Tram and suburban-rail connections kept it closely linked to central Vienna, while parks and woodland protected a more spacious edge. Redevelopment has changed individual buildings and commercial premises, but the district’s defining contrast persists: Hernalser Hauptstraße and its urban neighbourhoods lead towards village-like streets, historic religious sites and the wooded recreation areas of the Wienerwald.

Hernals in Photos

Browse through our photo collection highlighting the charm and character of the destination.

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Neighbourhoods near Hernals

The closest neighbourhoods to Hernals, if you have time for more than one stop.

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