The Giant Ferris Wheel
Vienna's emblem since 1897, and a slow, calm ride that suits the view far better than anything fast around it.
Ralf Roletschek โ CC BY 3.0 ยท Unknown authorUnknown author โ Public domain ยท Karl Gruber โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Barbara-Ingeborg โ CC BY-SA 4.0
Very much so: there are rides scaled to young ages, and free entry means a short visit costs nothing. The green park behind is ideal for prams.
Small and mid-size rides are modest, the big ones cost more. A family riding four or five ends up spending about what a central restaurant meal costs.
Late afternoon: wander in daylight, then stay for the lights. Avoid summer Saturdays if you dislike heavy crowds.
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It was a closed imperial hunting ground until Emperor Joseph II opened it to the public in 1766, at which point it became Vienna's great outdoor release โ and has never stopped being that. The name today covers two adjacent things, not one. The first is the Wurstelprater: an amusement park with no fence and no entry fee, where you pay per ride, mixing tall modern machines with century-old wooden ones, mirror houses and sausage stands. Entry is free and simply walking through it is entertaining even if you ride nothing. The second is the park itself behind the rides: a huge green expanse cut by a four-kilometre straight avenue under chestnut trees, where Viennese run, cycle and sit in garden taverns. This is the part locals actually use, and most visitors never reach it.
Vienna's emblem since 1897, and a slow, calm ride that suits the view far better than anything fast around it.
Four straight kilometres under the trees behind the fairground โ where the real Vienna runs and strolls.
A wooden coaster, mirror houses and shooting galleries decades old โ their charm is age, not speed.
Lights, music and grill smoke transform the place โ the Prater at night is a different park entirely.
Praterstern, Vienna