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TOURISM

Five unusual cafes not to miss in Vienna

Vienna’s traditional coffeehouse culture, steeped in history, dominates the local café scene but a few rebel places have managed to mix up old world tranquillity with some exciting twists.

Published: 10 April 2015 16:18 CEST
Five unusual cafes not to miss in Vienna
Das Möbel cafe. Photo: www.vienna-unwrapped.com

Barbara Cação picks her top five cafes, where a top-notch melange is served with a fresh perspective.

Café Neko

Leagues of cat lovers have been flocking to this café, tucked away in a romantic side street in the first district, since it opened in 2012, when its Japanese co-owner imported Japan’s love affair with felines to Vienna.

Photo: Cafe Neko

Austria’s only cat café has five resident cats from an animal shelter who provide snuggling, playtime and entertainment alongside a range of coffees and Austrian and Japanese cakes and snacks.

The interiors are designed to be cat-friendly, with cat perches and runways on the walls. Coffee comes without double cream (too tempting for cats) and the food arrives covered… just in case.

Location: Blumenstockgasse 5, corner of Ballgasse, 1010 Wien.

Das Möbel

Yes, Vienna coffee houses can be as cool as any in New York, Copenhagen or Sydney. At Das Möbel you can try out, sit on and experience the latest designs of young local artists, and if you like them you can buy them.

The interiors change regularly. Drinks include organic coffee, Ayurvedic teas and classic coffee specialities.

Location: Burggasse 10, 1070 Wien. 

Café Phil

Photo: www.vienna-unwrapped.com 

Phil is the unofficial headquarters of Vienna’s bobos (bourgeois bohemians). The cafe/bookshop is also an oasis for lovers of retro style, contemporary literature, and a good breakfast which includes everything from Nutella to falafel, and is served until 4pm.

Take a book from the surrounding shelves and let yourself forget time for a while. In a similar concept to Das Möbel, if you like something, buy it and take it home.

Location: Gumpendorfer Strasse 10-12, 1060 Wien.

Café Ministerium

Outwardly, there is nothing rebellious about Ministerium, with its traditional marble tables, upholstered seats and globe lamps. But once every month, this popular lunch spot beloved by government officials opens its doors to an ever changing mix of local and international social diners practising the art of conversation at the Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations.

Location: Georg-Coch-Platz 4, 1010 Wien.

Konzertcafé Schmid Hansl

Schmid Hansl is another coffee house with patina which could have aged gracefully if only people would have let it. Instead, its Viennese café chairs and velvet plush seats regularly host local music rebels and their fans. Their favourite pastime: whipping up the traditional Viennese folk song (Wienerlied), de-kitsching it and blending it with local zeitgeist, from pop and jazz to world music tunes.

Location: Schulgasse 31, 1180 Wien.

Know any other unusual cafés in Vienna? Let us know!

Viennese native Barbara Cação runs travel blog Vienna Unwrapped.

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CRIME

Are there ‘young gangs’ forming in Vienna?

If you read Austrian tabloid media, Vienna has a 'gang' problem, with several crimes committed by groups of young people in recent months. But is that true?

Published: 18 April 2024 13:17 CEST
Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.  

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations. 

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria. 

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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