Vienna World's Fair | Vienna Route

Schweizerhaus

The route begins at the Prater and its main street "Straße des ersten Mai", which leads you to the beer garden Schweizerhaus. I was a little surprised to find out this was the first stop, but apart from being famous for its pork knuckles and beer, Schweizerhaus has a rich history that dates back to 1716 and the Vienna World's Fair is part of it.

One thing more interesting than the menu at Schweizerhaus is their website that is "brimming with all kinds of useful and useless details and stories about Schweizerhaus with the sole purpose of turning you into the pub’s know-it-all". You might want to take a look, it is very nicely made. Then, of course, you should reward yourself with something tasty - like a true information hunter of the modern days.

Campus WU

Now we're talking!
After you leave the amusement park behind your back, you get to Welthandelsplatz, which is a pedestrian zone at the Vienna University of Economics and Business campus. I highly recommend going there early on a Sunday morning, when all of the students are still sleeping, and enjoy the peace and quiet of the place. Fascinating architecture, lots of wonderful flowers, bakery and coffee shop, leisure areas and, to me, many stunning backdrops for photo sessions. I was really impressed with the campus and I haven't even been inside of the WU Library, which has a stunning facade, but even more impressive interior. I am so buying a library card just to get there!

Viertel Zwei

And now it gets even better!

I've been to Viertel Zwei once in my life before and had no idea of the proximity to the Prater - I just never thought of that. Although I have visited one of the buildings there for a workshop, I had no idea how stunningly beautiful it gets, once you turn left towards the Stella-Klein-Löw-Weg. A pond with fish in the water and ravens around it, many restoration areas, beautiful modern architecture and yet - peaceful, clean, green and energising. I loved it there!

At the end of the pond there was a water lily area and, luckily for me, all the flowers were blooming! Here they are for you to enjoy as well!

Trabrennbahn Krieau

After the futuristic dive into the WU Campus and Viertel Zwei, we get back to the trotting track that we've seen a few left turns earlier. This is a place where you can watch (or participate in) single-horse, two-horse and fiaker rides. It was positively nice to see the beautiful strong horses that were out that day, but it was also interesting to see the old buildings that contrast so much with the surrounding areas.

The route circles the trotting track and walking behind the club's building is probably the only truly unpleasant part of the Vienna World's Fair walk.

Prateratelilers

We get to the only remaining pavilion from the Fair which is now being used as a sculptor's atelier. The visibility is close to none, but one can still tell that the building is massive (or at least I expected something much smaller) and impressive even nowadays.

Konstantinhügel

A hill with two wooden tables with benches. The pond that surrounds it is much more impressive with its ducks, drakes, tortoise and an occasional grey Herons.

This is the last stop on the route and then you are bound to get back through Prater Hauptallee, which, unless you're on a bike or other means of faster transportation, is one of the most boring places for a walk. I don't know... maybe it's me, maybe it's the fact that you walk a straight line for way too long, but every time I go to Prater and have to use the Hauptallee, I get immensely bored and frustrated. Ok, most likely it's me...