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Across the canal from the Innere Stadt — workspaces around the Prater, the Riesenrad and weXelerate, Austria's largest startup hub.
8 Stella-Klein-Löw-Weg, 1020
Desk from €485/mo
18/2 Lilienbrunngasse, 1020
Desk from €230/mo
50 Ausstellungsstraße, 1020
Desk from €289/mo
1 Praterstraße, 1020
36 Am Tabor, 1020
The 2. Bezirk — Leopoldstadt — has been Vienna's 2nd district since 1850 and takes its name from Emperor Leopold I. It sits between the Donaukanal and the Danube, directly across the canal from the Innere Stadt, and is dominated by the Prater — the historic green park that includes the Wiener Riesenrad, Vienna's famous 1897 Ferris wheel and one of the city's defining landmarks. Leopoldstadt has reinvented itself twice over the last two decades: from the formerly Jewish "Mazzesinsel" island into a multicultural inner-city district, and more recently into a startup corridor anchored by weXelerate (8,000 m², one of Europe's largest startup hubs, opened in summer 2017 in the Design Tower on Praterstraße 1) and a steady inflow of tech and creative tenants along the Donaukanal.
The district was the unregulated arm of the Danube ("Vienna Arm") before 18th-century river engineering. The "Lower Werd" island that became Leopoldstadt has been continuously rebuilt since — most recently with the post-2010 redevelopment of the Donaukanal promenade into a continuous riverside walk between Schwedenplatz and the Praterstern.
Coworking density here is the second-highest in Vienna after the Innere Stadt. weXelerate at Praterstraße 1 anchors the startup-side offer; The Social Hub Coworking on Am Tabor 36, opened as part of the Social Hub Vienna hotel-and-coworking format, anchors the international-traveller side; Startup House by Lumia at Stella-Klein-Löw-Weg 8 in the Viertel Zwei development serves the Donaukanal-east cluster. Members are typically tech, fintech, gaming, and Vienna outposts of European media companies — younger, more international, and more flexible than the legal-and-finance demographic across the canal in the Innere Stadt.
The 2. Bezirk's office mix has tilted strongly to tech since the 2017 weXelerate opening, with Erste Group's main campus on Am Belvedere a short walk south, the Vienna offices of Bitpanda and other Austrian fintechs nearby, and the Viertel Zwei mixed-use development hosting the Vienna Insurance Group, OMV and a steady cluster of consultancies. The Prater itself — including the funfair, the Riesenrad and the Krieau trotting course — sets the district's evening rhythm, with the Praterstraße and the bars of Karmeliterviertel (around Karmelitermarkt) providing the after-work spillover.
U-Bahn: Praterstern (U1 + U2 interchange), Schwedenplatz (U1 + U4) on the canal, Nestroyplatz (U1) in the heart of the Karmeliterviertel, and Messe-Prater (U2) at the trade-fair grounds give the district four U-Bahn stations.
Train: Wien Praterstern is one of the city's busiest mainline stations, connecting S-Bahn lines and ÖBB long-distance services to the Vienna airport in 18 minutes via S7.
Tram + bus: Lines 1, 2, O and 5 cross the district on Praterstraße and Lassallestraße. The Donaukanal cycle path runs continuously from Schwedenplatz east to the Reichsbrücke.
Walking: The Innere Stadt is 5 minutes south on foot across Schwedenplatz; the Riesenrad 8 minutes east of Praterstern.
Airport: Vienna International (VIE) is around 18 minutes by S7 direct from Praterstern.
Wiener Prater — the 6 km² public park including the Wurstelprater funfair, the Hauptallee chestnut-tree avenue, and the Krieau trotting course. Vienna's defining green space east of the centre.
Wiener Riesenrad — the 1897 Ferris wheel at the entrance to the Wurstelprater, 65 metres tall, immortalised in The Third Man.
Donaukanal — the canal that separates Leopoldstadt from the Innere Stadt, with the redeveloped riverside promenade hosting summer bars, a continuous cycle path and street-art murals.
Karmelitermarkt — the small organic-leaning food market in the Karmeliterviertel; Saturday is the market day for the post-coworking lunch crowd.
Viertel Zwei — the 30-hectare mixed-use development around the Krieau trotting course, with the OMV and Vienna Insurance Group headquarters.
weXelerate — the 8,000 m² startup hub in the Design Tower at Praterstraße 1, opened summer 2017.
weXelerate opened in summer 2017 in the Design Tower at Praterstraße 1, a 8,000 m² startup hub that became the largest of its kind in Austria and one of the largest in Europe. That set the tone — fintech, gaming, sustainability and creative-tech founders followed, and the district's mix of lower rents (vs. the Innere Stadt), Donaukanal lifestyle and 5-minute walking distance to the centre kept the trend going.
Around 18 minutes by S7 directly from Wien Praterstern — the closest U-Bahn-served station to the airport on the city-centre side. Praterstern is also a U1/U2 interchange, so coworking members can be at any of those U-Bahn stops in 5–15 minutes.
Leopoldstadt is younger, more tech, more flexible and noticeably cheaper. The Innere Stadt is denser with legal, finance and family offices in heritage palais. The two districts share the Donaukanal and are 5 minutes apart on foot — many members work in Leopoldstadt and host clients in the Innere Stadt.
weXelerate is one of the largest startup hubs in Europe — 8,000 m² across the first four floors of the Design Tower at Praterstraße 1. Opened in summer 2017, it hosts hundreds of startups alongside large companies, incubators, venture partners and investors. It anchors the Vienna startup scene the way Berlin's Factory or London's Second Home do for those cities.
Yes — the redeveloped Donaukanal promenade runs continuously from Schwedenplatz east to the Reichsbrücke, with summer bars, street art, and a bicycle path. Most Leopoldstadt coworking buildings are 2–8 minutes' walk from a canal access point.
The Karmeliterviertel — around the Karmelitermarkt and the 17th-century Karmeliterkirche — is the historic Jewish quarter of Leopoldstadt. Today it's the most concentrated cluster of independent bars, organic produce, kosher and Israeli restaurants, and small design studios in Vienna. Saturday morning at the market is the social peak.
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