8 of Vienna’s beach bars to get sandy in the city

Another city oasis can be found a 1-minute walk away from the metro station, Schottenring. The familiar face of the Tel Aviv beach bar never ages, and they’re back this year looking better than ever. They’ll be doing their sexy thing from April to September, filling up with bronzed bodies and bikinis on a daily basis. Their menu has an international look to it with a whole lot of hummus, burgers and filled pita breads amongst the mix.

Most evenings you’ll see it filled with the sort of crowd that wear makeup to the beach and guys that don’t like wearing a shirt, all enjoying cocktails with umbrellas in them and sinking their toes into the sand, while watching the sunset over the canal.

If Moses won’t go to the beach… bring the beach to Moses! Sorry, we’re not sure what we mean by that, either.

This oasis in the heart of the city, Strandbar Herrmann, is located on the Donaukanal next to the Urania. The bar beckons all who pass it with its deck chairs, hammocks, loads of sand, music, cool cocktails, delicious food, funky crowd, and its unique setting on a point of land sticking out onto the water, with an unmatched view upstream of the canal. The sun overlooks the bar til’ the sun goes down, so it is a great place for sunbathing throughout the day, and dancing into the early hours of the morning. It has regular DJ gigs.

Besides beach chairs and sand to settle into, you will also find proper tables and chairs where you can have a bite to eat, or sit up like civilised people (wink, wink)

Plus: drinks are relatively cheap (8–10€ euros for a cocktail) and stomach-filler snacks beach-style are served up every day til 11pm.

This is one of our favourites in the Sunken City crowd of bars. Palmar offers up some damn fine happy hours, and a real holiday vibe. They also have a second beachy area in the back with a few palm trees that offers a bit of privacy. One tip in saying this – discreetly fool around in the hammock after  finishing your drink (we’ve learned this the hard way).

Make sure to… stay until it gets dark when multi-coloured lights come on, and you’ll be magically transported to those holiday vibes. Keep an eye on your belongings though as the area can get quite crowded, especially on weekends.

The perfect mix of relaxed and lively, this intimate waterside location will make you forget you’re in a bar and like you’ve got your own little garden by the river. Complete with sun chairs and a few coveted hammocks, this is the perfect spot to get your chill on. Meanwhile, the graffiti on the gate and walls depicting dancing chickens (pollos locos, get it?) and flowers lend a strong hippie vibe.

Drinks are relatively cheap but heed the strict no BYOB policy – be sure to finish your liquid provisions well beforehand.

Make sure you… party hard after dark in the pavilion to Electro sounds, while setting fire to the sand with your dance moves. Then you can cool down with a swim in the river. But don’t try to steal one of the boats anchored in the tiny harbor opposite the beach area, no matter how tempting it may be after your third beer. Trust us, we speak from experience.

An excellent choice to meet for afterwork drinks. Located directly opposite the U4 metro station, Stadtpark, is a beach wonderland of epic proportions. Located on an area that becomes an ice skating rink in winter, during summer, this area transforms into a great sunshine chillout spot. Sand in the City has a mellow vibe, with music in the background, people playing beach volleyball on the courts provided, and you lounging in a beach chair. With no less than four cocktail bars, you’re sure to find your favorite (bar tender) here that you will remain loyal to throughout the whole summer. There’s a large selection of food stands, ranging from Asian to classic BBQ. The Freiwild stand offers some excellent snack platters to share.

Make sure to… play a game of volleyball if you’re feeling sporty (be sure to reserve a court, here). Playing beach volleyball against an urban backdrop, can’t be beat. Reward yourself with a drink after – you deserve it.

The Sansibar Beach Club is situated directly on a pier over the Danube, in the sunken City on Donauinsel. You can blow smoke rings over the river as you indulge in a fancy shisha and listen to fashionably outdated hip hop hits and Latino music.

During the happy hour between 6pm-8pm, cocktails are 5.50€ each. Conveniently, you can also order an “XXL jumbo version” of all alcoholic drinks (dangerous, but hey, you only live once) priced between 15–18€ for 0.86l. Quite the economical hangover, we’d say. They also started hosting very fun events that you should definitely check out if you want that la-vacay feel in dusty old’ vienna!

Make sure to… check out their fancy new paint job (meaning the place is looking better than it used to) and take the stairs up to the big old Sansigarden. It might be called garden, but don’t worry – there is sand and a bunch of comfortable chairs.

This is where you can find the real riviera feeling in Vienna…on a river. This area, situated just below the Reichsbrücke on either side of the river, hosts several beach bars and restaurants where you can drink and eat, and maybe even make a little sand castle in the sand when you get drunk and silly enough.

The iconic Ponte Cagrana pontoon bridge connects the Copa beach with the Sunken City, which is an area hosting another series of restaurants on the shores of the Donauinsel. While plenty perceive this place as plain mainstream, attracting a (insert insulting words here) kind of crowd, the city is working at rejuvenating this riverside playground and one visit makes most realize this beautiful spot is underrated.

Good to know… you can rent a small boat for up to four people at the Booteria (located on the Sunken City side of the river) until midnight if the weather is good. Rates start at 16€ per hour.

The veteran drinking dock of Vienna’s waterway, the ADRIA Wien, has had its annual makeover, and has also put on considerable weight. Still with its rugged DIY look of wood and steel rods, the ADRIA’s sandy stretches now spans the length of a modestly-sized dairy farm along the water’s edge. Its orginal bar is serving up pasta and burgers, and a vast range of drinks (including their popular house creation, the ADRIA Spritzer). The staff are down-to-earth friendly here, and the atmosphere is all about lazy days with toes in the sand, head in the clouds.

Two baby bars are located in its neighbouring sandpits filled with deck chairs, with one of them serving up ‘craft drinks.’ Meanwhile, directly next to the funny looking glass house, burgers (including vegetarian) and burritos are being served up by the street food crowd from Les Tartares. At anytime of day, ADRIA has the feeling of a wharf with ship horns blaring, rocking ships in the dock, and seagulls squawking.

We really like… how they offer free self-service flavoured water at the bar.