Vienna Sports & Outdoors

People who are planning on an extended stay in Vienna very often want to know about good gyms. Well, this is not difficult to find. More difficult it is to discover a gym where you are not obliged to sign a contract for at least several months. I know 2 gyms where you can buy a ticket valid for one day. The first, and the one I reccomend is the Elixia gym. They have 2 branches in Vienna and 1 in Linz in upper Austria. You can easily reach for example the Elixia gym on the top floor of the shopping centre "Milleniumscity" if you take the subway U6 and get out at station "Handelskai". They are super-clean, have a big area with all the fitness machines and extra rooms for spinning and gymnastics. Furthermore there is a big swimming pool and a smaller one to do some aqua gymnastics. They have a nice wellness area with saunas (an extra one for ladies only too) , steam bath and a room where you can just relax. While doing sports you can enjoy a nice view over Vienna`s 20th district. The ticket for 1 day costs EUR 25.
The alternative would be the "Club Danube", which many students frequent because they are really cheap. They have 9 fitness clubs in Vienna. There you can do the usual work out, but they offer a lot of gymnastic courses, Tennis, badminton and squash as well. A 2 hours fitness ticket there costs EUR 14 and they have very cheap offers for a 1-month membership. I went to the Club in Erdberg twice and didn`t like it too much, because it didn`t seem to be that clean. The Capoeira lessons I attended there were great though.

During summer time, when the mountains have no snow and the city's ice-skating rinks are closed, the sport-loving viennese will put on their roller blades/skates and start roller skating around Vienna's many parks and skater-friendly lanes and pavements.

Roller blading is very popular in Vienna. They even have a weekly night marathon for roller bladers, and it's held every friday night. There are many people joining this night marathon, that the police even got involved to control the traffic.

Equipment: A pair of roller blades, safety gears such as kneecap and shin covers and skating helmets, comfortable cotton clothing, water bottle and nano iPod (for music lovers!).

In winter time, the Rathaus opened up its front courtyard to the ice skating rinks of the Wiener Eistraum. You can go skating there - for a price - and around the ice paths set up around the parks nearby. It is fun and exhilarating, especially when you can skate very well. Latest pop hit music will be played over the speakers all over the place, and at night, the disco lights will be on to add more fun to the sport.

Equipment: Ice skates and warm clothings. If you don't have your own ice skates, you can rent them at the stalls there.

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Inside the MQ (Museums Quartier) you will find a big variety of winter-activities such as skating or "Eisstock-schiessen" that you may see on my main picture. This is quite a popular sport in the alpine regions of Austria and Germany and you will have to try to get your "stick" as close as possible to another stick that is placed at the end of the track. Several players try to do so and each of them also has the possibility to push the "target-stick" and the other sticks away from its original position and so the game could be ended completly as a surprise. Mostly it is played by 2 teams fighting against each other

Equipment: You get all of the equipment there, you simply should have shoes that are not extremely slippery on the ice.

On a hot day in the city this swimming swimming pool just looked too tempting. Too bad we were on a treasure hunt through Vienna and didn't have the time to jump into the attractive looking water!

The so-called "Badeschiff" is located at Donaukanal, between Schwedenbrücke and Urania. One of the two barges is completely filled with water. The pool is almost 30 metres long and when other ships pass by you can feel that you are actually in the water on the water...

Equipment: Bring your swimsuits, bikinis, shorts to refresh from all the sightseeing and walking in the heat of the city.

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In Vienna it is not easy to find an area, where one can walk or jog good, average distances.
You may go for the "Danube Island", but if you are staying in western Vienna, the Vienna Woods and surroundings are excellent, but not easy to reach without car or bike.

Equipment: I prefer 2 areas, close to my neighbourhood and would like to recommend them as an "Insider Tip"!

a.) the "Steinhofgruende" close to Hotel Schloss Wilhelminenberg" (see my hotel tip for directions etc), and

b.) The "Schwarzenberg-Allee" in NEUWALDEGG (tram 43 )

the green areas show the jogging- and walking areas !

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Wiener Eistraum is an annual event - all of the square between the Burgtheater and Rathaus / Town Hall will be dedicated as a large place for scating. Long slopes will lead you also through the park, there is music playing outside and also inside various restaurant-tents.
This year it started Jan. 25th
09.00a.m.-04.00p.m. you pay 3,50 / children 2,50 / families 8,50
04.00p.m.-11.00p.m. the prices are : 5,00 / 4,00 / 13,- Euros

Equipment: Bring your own equipment or simply rent it there against a small fee. Even the toilets may be reached with your scates on !!
The fee for renting a pair of scating-shoes was 6 Euros in 2006 (3,80 Euros for children)

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The Ernst Happel Stadium (before 1993: Prater Stadium) was inaugurated in 1931 and renovated in 1986. It hosts all major international soccer matches in Vienna, but is not home to any local club.
The seating capacity of the stadium is 49.000, but will be increased to 53.000 for the Euro championships in 2008 when the final will take place here.