District tour: The 19th district — Döbling
Vineyards, wine taverns, villas and views stretching across the whole city: Döbling is Vienna’s green, upmarket district — with more everyday life than you might think.
If you look down on Vienna from the Kahlenberg, you can see why Döbling is so popular: the city lies at your feet, the Danube winds its way through, and behind you lie the vineyards and the Vienna Woods. The 19th district is green, peaceful and expensive — but it is also much more than that. It is a wine-growing village and a residential area of villas, ‘Red Vienna’ and Beethoven, evenings at the Heurigen and council housing.
We’re often out and about in Döbling, and every time we notice just how varied its different areas are. This tour takes you from top to bottom: from the hills down to the wine-growing villages, and from the villas into the town.
Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg
Vienna’s two local mountains are a classic day-out destination: up by bus, down on foot via the Nasenweg, and in between, the view that features on every other postcard. For the people of Döbling, the Vienna Woods are like their own back garden — running routes, walks, and sometimes snow in winter, even when there’s none down in the city.
What strikes you from above is just how much green space there is between the houses. Döbling is one of Vienna’s least densely built-up districts, and this is no coincidence, but rather the result of a century of land-use planning that has protected the district’s character.
Grinzing, Nussdorf, Sievering, Neustift
The old wine-growing villages at the foot of the Vienna Woods have retained their village character: narrow lanes, wine taverns with courtyards, medieval churches, and winegrowers’ houses with gateways. In summer, half of Vienna can be found sitting in the wine taverns; in autumn, the vineyards glow; and anyone walking through the vineyards in spring will understand why Vienna is the only capital city with any significant wine-growing within its city limits.
Beethoven lived in Heiligenstadt and wrote his famous will there; his house is now a museum. Grinzinger Straße, Pfarrplatz, Kahlenberger Straße — here stand houses that have been in the same family for generations and rarely change hands. When they do, it is usually without anyone knowing about it.
Cottages and villas
The Cottage district around Hasenauerstraße and Türkenschanzpark is one of the city’s most beautiful villa districts: Gründerzeit architecture set amongst old trees, planned in the 19th century on the English model as a garden city for the middle classes. The streets are quiet, the gardens spacious, and the houses are often listed buildings. Living here is like living in a park with neighbours.
Further up, in Oberdöbling and on the Hungerberg, the architecture becomes more modern: post-war villas, new-builds with views, terraced houses on the hillside. This is also where the district’s few new developments are springing up — mostly small, mostly expensive, and mostly snapped up quickly.
Red Vienna and Everyday Life
A few streets below the cottage, the Karl-Marx-Hof serves as a reminder that Döbling also played a part in shaping ‘Red Vienna’: stretching over a kilometre, with courtyards, archways and a flag that tells the story. And around Döblinger Hauptstraße, the Gürtel and Krottenbachstraße, the district is just like any other: supermarkets, schools, trams, council housing and Gründerzeit architecture.
It is this blend that defines Döbling — both upper-middle-class and down-to-earth. You can sit in a Heuriger here and be at the Schottentor in twenty minutes. You can go for a run in the Vienna Woods and take the tram to work. That is why families who settle here rarely move away.
Housing and the Market
As far as the property market is concerned, Döbling is a prime location in every sense of the word. Detached houses and garden flats are scarce and are often sold discreetly; new-build projects with views of green spaces are highly sought-after; and flats in older buildings in Oberdöbling and the Cottage area are among the most expensive outside the Inner City. At the same time, in Unterdöbling and around the Gürtel, there are flats that are reasonably priced by Viennese standards — whilst still being registered in the same district.
We have arranged the sale of some of our most beautiful properties in Döbling — villas that were never advertised, flats with terraces overlooking the whole district. And we know the streets where it’s worth waiting until the right house becomes available. Sometimes that takes years. Sometimes it’ll be ready next week.
