The Ring Boulevard (Ringstrasse) is the circular route in Vienna which takes you past most of the impressive historic buildings in the city. It’s around 4km long and spaciously planned out and along the way you’ll see the State Opera House, the Hofburg, the Austrian Parliament (pictured below), Vienna City Hall (Rathaus) and the Museum of Fine Arts. It’s a lovely walk on a nice day or you can take a guided walking tour or even horse-drawn carriage!
The Ring Boulevard has several different names along its route, but all of them end with the word Ring. For example, at one point it is called Burgring which becomes Openring and then Schubertring etc. The road was initially built in the 1850s to replace the city walls, which had become of little purpose, with a wide boulevard to show off the sights of Vienna. Another way to enjoy the sights of the road is to take the dedicated Ring tram.
The Ring Tram (pictured above) runs around the ring constantly from 10am to 6pm (7pm in the summer), so you never have to wait long to catch the next one. The full journey takes around 30 minutes and LCD screens advise you an what each building is along the way. Exact departure times are listed on each tram stop. Adult tickets cost 7 Euros (2025 prices), but a 24 hour ticket so you can hop on and off along the way maybe better value at 9 Euros.
LOCATION & MAP
The Ring Boulevard circles central Vienna with most of the city’s significant buildings on either side. The map below shows Vienna City Hall (Rathaus) but you can move the map around to see the route of the road….
MORE ON THE VIENNA RING
Vienna Ring Strasse – Wikipedia
Ring Tram – ViennaLinien (official public transport website)
More Things To Do In Vienna – From our Tours & Activities pages
Hotels in Vienna – Great rates from Hotels.com
More Vienna Hotels – Massive discounts from Expedia
Vienna Travel Books – Amazon