Solo travel is becoming more and more popular. And Vienna is one of the best cities in Europe for it: safe, compact, easy to navigate by public transport, with a culture that has elevated being alone to an art form. This city is made for people who travel alone but still want to connect. We show you exactly where.
The Viennese coffee house is the perfect setting for solo travellers. Newspaper rack, Melange, marble table and permission to stay as long as you like. At Café Landtmann or Café Sperl, people have been sitting alone for over a hundred years, and nobody asks why.
Learn the unwritten rules in our guide to Viennese Coffee House Etiquette.
Johannesgasse 4A, 1010 Vienna · Mon–Sun 08:00–18:00 · Schleifmühlgasse 16, 1040 Vienna · Mon–Sun 08:00–20:00
For solo travellers looking for real connection, Vollpension is the right address. Our grandmothers and grandfathers bake, serve and share stories from their lives. Solo travellers don’t just come for coffee, they often leave with a conversation. As an award-winning intergenerational café and social business, we bring together people who would otherwise never meet.
Meet our team: our grandmothers and grandfathers.
Wienzeile between Getreidemarkt and Kettenbrücke, 1060 Vienna
Between 09:00 and 11:00 the Naschmarkt is ideal for solo travellers. The stalls are open but not yet crowded. At the cheese counters, olive bars and small food stands with standing tables, it is easy to strike up a conversation with vendors and other visitors. Solo travellers quickly become part of the market’s rhythm.
Around Schleifmühlgasse, 1040 Vienna · U4 Kettenbrückengasse
The 4th district between the Naschmarkt and the Gürtel is perfect for solo walks. Small galleries, bookshops, independent stores, hidden courtyards. No detour is too long. And in the middle of it all our Intergenerational Café Schleifmühlgasse, with garden terrace, dogs welcome and open kitchen.
More insider tips in our article on Vienna Beyond Schönbrunn.
Kunsthistorisches Museum · Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna
Museums are great for solo travellers because you set your own pace. No waiting for anyone. No moving on when you’d rather linger. The Kunsthistorisches Museum with Bruegel and Vermeer, MUMOK for contemporary art, the Leopold Museum for Klimt and Schiele: all of them are best experienced alone.
Vollpension Baking Courses · various dates · small groups
Solo travellers who want to do something active with other people are in good hands in our baking courses. In small groups we bake apple strudel, Sachertorte, Buchteln or Kardinalschnitte together. Our grandmothers and grandfathers pass on their knowledge, and you leave the course with new acquaintances and a cake to take home. For many, the highlight of their Vienna trip.
We are not a classic coffee house but a modern reinterpretation of the Viennese coffee house: an intergenerational café where coming alone means something beautiful. Our grandmothers and grandfathers take time for a conversation, our kitchen is open to view, and if you have questions, you can simply ask.
As an award-winning social business we are also a place where travel takes on real meaning: every visit means additional income for seniors, real encounters between generations and an answer to loneliness in old age. Meaningful travel at its best.
Solo travellers rarely seek loneliness. Most of the time they seek the opposite: spaces where being alone is unnoticed and encounters happen naturally.
Vienna is one of the best cities in Europe for solo travellers: safe, compact, with an excellent public transport system and a coffee house culture in which sitting alone for hours with a book is considered completely normal.
At the intergenerational café Vollpension, real encounters happen between generations. Classic Viennese coffee houses, the Naschmarkt in the morning and neighbourhood bars in the 4th and 7th district are also great places to connect.
Yes. In Viennese coffee house culture it is completely normal to sit alone for hours, reading, writing or simply observing. The coffee house was designed as a „second living room” where being alone is just as welcome as being in company.
Meaningful travel means experiencing a city beyond the classic tourist trail, with real encounters and awareness of the social impact of travel. In Vienna this includes a visit to the award-winning intergenerational café Vollpension.
Daily from 08:00. Johannesgasse 4A in the 1st district, Schleifmühlgasse 16 in the 4th district.
