Through a quarter still taking shape
Nordbahnviertel and Freie Mitte — new living with a park
New rows of flats, a large wild park in the middle, cranes at the edge: the Nordbahnviertel is Vienna in the making. This walk goes from the finished part through the Freie Mitte to where they are still building.
The map app only navigates to the starting point — the curated route then follows in Vienna Living Map. Download the GPX for the exact route.
You set off along an already-lived-in street, walk through the Rudolf-Bednar-Park and the deliberately wild Freie Mitte, until the first building edges appear between the finished houses. Not a walk for glossy photos, but one that honestly asks how everyday life feels when part of the neighbourhood is still a building site — and in return a big park is already at your door. If you like plenty of green and a quarter in the making, this is a taste of your own arrival.
Who is this walk for?
A walk for families and home-office seekers who want plenty of green and a quiet place to work at home, and who can live with a quarter in the making. You feel here how close everyday green and the in-between state sit — the park at your door, the building site a row away.
Good to know
Part of the quarter is still a building site: move in today and you spend a few years with cranes and building noise next door, until the final build-out stands.
And the “Freie Mitte” is deliberately wild, not a manicured park. For some that is closeness to nature, for others a hard-to-use in-between space.
The walk in chapters
- 1The finished edge
Here the quarter already stands: rows of flats, ground floors with shops and cafés, people about. You see at a glance whether the new part is alive — or whether the retail units are still empty.
- 2The Rudolf-Bednar-Park
The first big park in the middle of the quarter: lawns, playgrounds, water channels. An everyday green that wasn’t squeezed in afterwards but planned from the start.
- 3Into the Freie Mitte
The large, deliberately wild park at the heart of the quarter — tall grasses, old rail remnants, hardly landscaped. You have to like that nature here isn’t a mown edge but wildness in the middle of the city.
- 4To the building edge
At the edge it is still under construction: cranes, hoardings, shells beside finished buildings. Live here today and you spend a few years with a building site next door — in return the quarter keeps growing around you.
- 5Calm for the home office
Back through the residential rows: off the main axes it turns quiet, many flats face green courtyards. Whether the bright, still side is enough to work at home in peace, you only feel on the spot.
What you notice on the way
Neighbourhoods along the way
The route metrics stay separate from the Living Score — each Grätzl keeps its own.
Method & honesty
The line is the shortest walking path over Vienna’s real pedestrian network (OpenStreetMap, ODbL) between hand-set waypoints — real streets and park paths, not estimated geometry. Distance and step count follow from the measured length (typical stride 0.75 m, as a range). Green share and street trees are read along the line from open data; proximity to main roads is a spatial proxy from the road class, not a measured noise value. TIME-CRITICAL: the quarter’s construction state changes constantly — which plots are finished and where cranes still stand is to be checked on site; planning figures (flats, green space) are targets, not a snapshot. Deliberately NOT included: building-site noise/duration, finished school/kindergarten infrastructure, an elevation profile.
Frequently asked
How long is the walk?
Around 3.3 km — depending on stride, about 4,100–4,600 steps. Pure walking time roughly 44 minutes, with a break in the park more like 66. Flat, with no notable climb.
Is the quarter finished?
No — it is built in stages. Parts are inhabited and lively, at other plots cranes still stand. It is exactly this in-between state the walk looks at; the current state changes, so check on site.
Is it reachable by public transport?
Yes: the S-Bahn (Traisengasse) and the tram run at the edge of the quarter, and the Praterstern with U1/U2 and S-Bahn is a few minutes away. You reach the centre quickly.