Spittelberg

Spittelberg is a few blocks of two- and three-storey houses from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries on a slight rise behind the imperial stables, and it survived by accident: it was a poor and notorious quarter, largely brothels and cheap lodgings by the nineteenth century, was left to decay, and by the 1970s the city intended to clear it. A campaign saved and restored it instead, and what emerged is one of the few coherent pre-Ringstrasse residential quarters left in central Vienna - narrow cobbled lanes closed to traffic, low painted façades, courtyards, and now restaurants, bars, galleries and craft shops. The Amerlinghaus is a cultural centre in one of the courtyards. In December the lanes hold one of the better Christmas markets, weighted towards craft rather than mass-produced goods.

The main sights

• Pre-Ringstrasse houses - low painted façades on cobbled traffic-free lanes.
• A quarter saved from clearance - restored in the 1970s after a public campaign.
• Courtyards and galleries - the Amerlinghaus and small studios inside the blocks.
• A craft Christmas market - the December lanes, better than most in the city.

When to go

All year; December for the market, summer evenings for the terraces. Half a day.

Things to know

It is small - a few streets, walked in twenty minutes. Evenings and December are crowded and loud, which residents complain about. Restaurant prices are above the district average.

Nearby

The MuseumsQuartier is directly below; Mariahilfer Strasse is south.