Volksgarten is one of the central and oldest parks in Vienna. And one of my favourite parks to take a walk through. It is part of the 1st District.
Location & how to get there
Surrounded with the Universitätsring and Burgring streets to the west, to the south it goes further to Heldenplatz and the Neuburg, to the east with the old Hofburg to the north with the Burgtheater.
Across the Burgring there is the Square of Maria Theresien with the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Art History. Further to the NW you will notice the enormous white Parliament building. Next to the Parliament is the huge Rathausplatz and the City hall (Rathaus) itself.
As you can se there are lot of "burgs" around since that was the residence of the Austrian rulers in the past.
You can reach it by trams at the stops "Dr Karl Otto-Renner Ring" then "Stadiongasse/Parliament". In the south there is "Burgring" and in the north "Rathaus". From the last two stations it might take 2-3 minutes maximum to get into the park.
Speaking of Ubahn the closest station is 'Herrengasse' which can be reached by taking U2 Sibenhirten or Ottakring, depending on your location. It will take maybe 5-7 minutes from the Rathaus Ubahn station to get to the entrance of the park.
Volksgarten in winter and summer
Since I visited it for the first time shortly in summer in June and spent later lots of time in winter I can say that I got a feeling in summer it looked much bigger. Most likely because of the greenery which gives it another special dimension in summer being full of life. In winter though it seems half smaller and not that attractive when it is cold. Still it is great to make a break from the city and step in, even when passing by, good to relax.
What I noticed was that in Winter the trees are being cut a bit and protected by plastic bags.
What can you find there?
The Volksgarten park itself has a shape of a broken triangle when looking at the map. The left part of it looks pretty geometric with several roads that make a circle or better to say a round-edged long rectangle. This part also has lots of flowers. At the end of the road to the south there is a building of Volksgarten club. But I heard it is expensive and that you have to be dressed "attractively and appropriate". I do not like that kind of a places.
In the centre of the park in general there is something like a Greek or Roman monument with lots of benches around to sit. From that place you can go the western part of the Volksgarten, to the eastern one (which has more trees and one hidden place that saved me in summer) or to the south and the exit.
I forgot to mention earlier that the park is an enclosed area. That means there is a wall and a fence that can be closed or opened during the day and night. The entrances exist in the north-west (about 3 of them) and one to the south that leads straight to the Heldenplatz and New Hofburg. When approaching this last exit in direction of Heldenplatz you will also notice a little "square" with a fountain in the middle.
Speaking of the eastern part and this hidden place here goes the story. When I was in Vienna in June paying a visit to my future (now former) studio for the internship I had to meet with a colleague from Zagreb who was also the same day there. I went waddling around Vienna having no clue where I was but found Volksgarten which looked pretty attractive with shadows and looking fresh to relax a bit after walking and sweating earlier. I found there in the Northern corner one place hidden a bit by the trees and stones. There was a fountain and the stones around it where you could sit in the shadow. I spent there an hour maybe half sleeping in the cool shadows and with water. The best feeling.
Unfortunately, even though I went 10 times at least to Volkgarten alone in just one month I was not able to find this place and felt stupid. Everything looked so different than in summer and I was not sure where it was. Later on I discovered that it was hidden again behind some bigger monument but since the trees were cut the landscape just looked foreign. I am coming again to Vienna in May and will try to visit the place again.
In conclusion
if you appear to be somewhere around and are looking for the place to make a break, sit and relax or just walk through I highly recommend you to visit Volksgarten. I might envy a bit those of you who are doing the summer semester exchange as everything is going to be much warmer and with more greenery but Volksgarten is worth visiting during any season.
