Where to Drink With The Locals: 19 Excellent Bars in Vienna

By Tas TóbiásLast updated: Aug. 16, 2025

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A good way to assess a city's vibes? Head to a neighborhood bar. The list below includes everything from grungy dives to slick downtown cocktail dens, so you can pick what suits your fancy.

#1 Cafe Anno

Cafe Anno is a rightfully popular place for Viennese alternatives, a dive bar of the best kind: low lights; wooden floors; maroon walls covered in posters; brainy locals perhaps here for a book launch. The draft beers are notably delicious and affordable. The music selections lean catchy 1980s pop. Fans of foosball and darts can appropriate the designated room in the back.

#2 Kreisky

District 7 is the edgy-cool part of Vienna, but you can stumble into places that don’t try so hard. One of my favorite dive bars around here is Kreisky, named after Austria's seminal social democratic Chancellor, Bruno Kreisky. It’s a lively, grungy, graffitied-over drinking joint. No matter whether you order a coke-and-wine combo (“cola rot” – tastes better than it sounds) or a glass of prosecco, the bartenders won’t turn up their noses at you. Open daily until 4 a.m., with such specials as "free shots for true tears."

#3 Cafe Monic

One of the hidden jewels of Vienna's District 6 (Mariahilf), Cafe Monic is an updated dive bar, one that makes no attempt to bring attention to itself. The outside of the building is covered in graffiti, the inside dim, with plenty of nooks and crannies. It’s the kind of bar where neither a Campari soda, nor the house lager feels out of place. The crowd comprises alternative-leaning locals in their twenties and thirties who come here for date nights and weekday drinks. Open late every day of the week.

#4 Schikaneder Bar

This positively grungy dive bar lining the fashionable Margaretenstraße in Vienna’s District 4 is named after Emanuel Schikaneder for good reason. Schikaneder, a comic actor, playwright, and theater entrepreneur, wrote the libretto to Mozart's Magic Flute, which premiered at the nearby Freihaustheater in 1791.

It’s all about the crowd here, which is young and cool and artistic and alternative. Friday and Saturday nights are especially lively. Also here: cheap booze and toasted sandwiches buried in ketchup. (The bar is attached to the neighboring art cinema, Schikaneder Kino.)

#5 Pub Klemo Weinbar

Vienna’s Klemo wine bar embodies that rare combination: a top wine program and a pretense-free ambiance. Here, no one will expect you to know the difference in soil between Bordeaux and Burgundy, but you won't be alone if that sort of thing gets you going. Around seventy wines are served by the glass, mainly Austrian, French, and Italian, in addition to daily tasting lineups such as 6 Rieslings of Wachau, 6 Reds from the Northern Rhone, or 6 Austrian Sweets.

The food also merits attention: the Päpstliche Platte cold cut platter, the homemade pappardelle, and the crème brulée have been mainstays on the menu since the 2006 opening. If a wine has caught your attention, you can buy it at Klemo’s wine store located across the street.

#6 Espresso Burggasse

Part cafe, part breakfast restaurant, part bar, Espresso is an effortlessly cool establishment in Vienna's fashionable District 7. Although it opened in 2004, Espresso will take you back in time to the 1960s: neon sign, red leather banquettes, small plastic-topped tables, midcentury chairs (the ceiling shows leftover frescoes from the bakery once here).

The breakfast dishes and the lunch specials are reliably solid, the coffee distinctly old school. Evenings also get lively, when the place transforms into a natural wine-forward bar. Both the servers and the crowd are trend-conscious, but not in a pretentious way. Closed on Sunday.

#7 Cafe Bendl

One of the most idiosyncratic bars of Vienna, Bendl is a lively student hangout near the City Hall (Rathaus). I haven’t been able to ascertain why so many of the young clientele sport a suit and a tie, but it surely makes for a strange sight under the yellowed walls covered in worn wall panels.

As the night unfolds, the energy level rises, beer coasters fly (keep the tradition alive and join the coaster battle!), and Austrian evergreens stream from the jukebox. €1 will buy you not one, but three songs. Cleanliness doesn't seem to be a priority here, but Bendl makes up for it in good spirit.

#8 Kleines Cafe

Places near Vienna’s main attraction, the Stephansdom, must be taken with a grain of salt, but the Kleines Café is no tourist trap. The inside is truly small – hence "kleines" – and features an idiosyncratic 1970s design by the prominent Austrian architect Hermann Czech. In the vein of his idol, Adolf Loos, Czech used inventive space-maximizing solutions, such as the mirror panels behind the leather booths split by vertical marble partitions. Dim, cozy, and positively strange.

The Kleines Cafe is packed at all times, but try to score a seat from which you can observe the crowd. In the evenings, when tourists have retired, the stylish, longtime regulars often appear. Price points reflect the central location.

#9 Loos American Bar

For fans of architecture, the Loos Bar is a must while in Vienna. Adolf Loos, one of the seminal modern architects, is best-known for his infamous Looshaus (1910-12), a provocatively undecorated building right across from the Imperial Palace on Michaelerplatz.

The American Bar (1907), hidden on a downtown side street off Kärntner Straße, embodies Loos's stylistic philosophy: exquisite materials – marble, mahogany, alabaster – without superfluous decorations. The dim cocktail bar is tiny, the impact striking (lots of mirrors are meant to enlarge the space). That portrait hanging on the wall: he's Peter Altenberg, a close friend of Loos and a famous Viennese coffeehouse poet. The crowd is heavy on tourists and scoring one of the precious seats is nearly impossible, but keep your eyes on the prize.

#10 Wunder-Bar

An alternative-leaning bar right in Vienna’s historic city center otherwise known for its Baroque palaces and five-star hotels? Wunder-Bar – a play on the German word for “wonderful” – hides on a small, obscure medieval street. The inside is dark and quirky, showing the strange postmodern touches of architect Hermann Czech: fading leather banquettes, decorative ribbed vaulting, inlaid marbles, space-swelling mirrors (Mr. Czech left a similar mark on the nearby Kleines Café).

The crowd is young and relatively bohemian (this is swanky land, after all). The excellent musical selections include contemporary indie hits anywhere from Russia to South America. Depending on the bartender, the service can be kind or less so.

#11 Cafe Weidinger

Cafe Weidinger is my second home in Vienna but – warning – it may not be for everyone! This old-school, unpretentious establishment is located along the Gürtel in District 16, well away from downtown and its tourist and bourgeois-heavy crowds. Here, you’ll be with regular Viennese: mid-level office workers, community organizers, foreign workers, daydreamers, students. The low price points and the all-inviting atmosphere attract this eclectic group.

Some decades ago, the brown walls must have been yellow, the gray upholstery blue, the formica tables unblemished. Oh well. Apart from alcohol and surprisingly good coffee, they also serve goulash soup, scrambled eggs, and toasted sandwiches. The evenings draw Viennese hipsters, as well as card, pool, and bowling players (the bowling alley is below-ground).

#12 Bar Campari

Curious where the Viennese upper crust winds down? Head to Campari Bar, tucked away in the city center amid Louis Vuitton, Hermés, and Prada stores. As its better known sister location around the corner, Zum Schwarzen Cameel, Campari Bar is a see-and-be-seen destination for the well-to-do. Lots of high heels, slicked-back hair, and champagne popping. The drinks menu is focused on Campari based cocktails, of which the Negroni Sbagliato – campari, vermouth, prosecco – is what the white-suited servers deliver most of.

#13 Cafe Carina

Part bar, part concert venue, Carina is a longstanding drinking den in Vienna located along the Gürtel – the busy road connecting inner and outer city – and the crowd is accordingly mixed on most days. Notably, Carina occupies the ground floor of the grand Josefstädter Straße subway station, one of the 1895 masterpieces of architect Otto Wagner.

I like to warm up to my Carina visit with drinks and some grub at Weinhaus Sittl, an old-school, traditional Austrian restaurant across the street. Be sure to check the concert schedule before you go as things are slow on off days.

#14 Cafe Kafka

“Vienna is boring,” something I hear from Budapest friends. All the prosperity leaves no room for a bit of irreverence, they say. Too much melange, too little espresso, if you will. I like to point them to Cafe Kafka to prove this isn’t so. Opened in 2001, this bar draws many people who would seamlessly blend into Budapest’s alternative scene (ironically, Kafka is just steps away from Mariahilfer Straße, the main shopping street). No matter whether you come here at 11 a.m. or 11 p.m., the place is filled to capacity with a mixed crowd.

Vintage film posters decorate the worn walls and vintage too is the wood-burning stove that provides heating in the cool months. Laptops are permitted and there’s wifi and electric outlets for lingerers. A few of the servers are known for their bad attitude, but don't let them spoil your time.

#15 Futuregarden

Dim space, disco lights, ear-catching electronic music drifting from the background – what else can you wish for on a Saturday late night in Vienna? Affordable drinks and good company perhaps, and that too delivers Futuregarden, a longtime bar in the heart of Mariahilf (District 6). It’s a good place to meet people and even to move your feet as the night progresses. Weekdays tend to be slower.

#16 Weinhaus Sittl

If you’re like me and get a kick out of weathered neighborhood institutions with a beating heart, then be sure to mark up your map with Weinhaus Sittl. The patrons span Viennese young adults, senior citizens, and everyone in between. What draws them here? The friendly price points and the tasty dishes: cold cuts, Schnitzel, meatballs, and the Kaiserschmarrn all hold their own.

The server-proprietor sisters, Leila and Anna, are members of the fourth generation and treat everyone with the same no-nonsense kindness, whether you're a cool hipster or a downtrodden senior here for a nightcap. Sittl is located on a not especially inviting part of Vienna's Gürtel, a car-heavy road, but the venerable patina of the place, which opened in 1914, will make you forget the noisy traffic outside. In nice weather, try the outdoor garden too. Weekdays only!

#17 Kaffee Alt-Wien

Kaffee Alt-Wien is an unlikely place in the middle of Vienna's Old Town. Far from the typically pristine establishments, here seasoned film and museum posters blanket the walls and distinctly bohemian vibes imbue the dim interior. The place was best known as the hangout of painters and poets in the 1980s, some of whom still appear in the evenings alongside beer-loving members of the Croatian and Hungarian communities. Given the location, tourists also stumble in, but Alt Wien's native spirit is very much alive.

#18 Schweden Espresso

Walk into this downtown watering hole on a weekday, and you’ll glimpse a mellow and predictable bar crowd: students, construction workers, graying alcoholics, a few oldtimers in the back huddling over a chessboard. Come Saturday evening, an influx of young Viennese monopolize the place drawn by the old-school vibes (jukebox!), low prices, and central location. Needless to say: you're here for the throwback atmosphere, not the quality of drinks. Cash only.

#19 Weinstube Josefstadt

Heurigers are a Vienna specialty: charming wine taverns in the suburbs, near the city’s vineyards. What if you don't have the time or energy to trek out to Grinzing and Nussberg in Heuriger-land? You find the best alternative in the city, which is Weinstube Josefstadt. It's a small drinking joint in the elegantly old-school District 8, with residential houses towering over its ivy-covered outdoor garden.

While technically not a Heuriger – they don't make their own wine – the place looks and feels like one. Both its Gemischter Satz and Blaufränkisch-forward wine offerings and the foods lined up behind the glass display: meatballs, roast pork belly, egg and Liptauer spreads, apple, and cottage-cheese strudels. Weinstube Josefstadt retires for the cold months, from November until February.

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