From an oasis of tranquility into the untamed jungle in under 40 minutes.

The Viennese love to take walks in surroundings which bring the world to their city. Several parts of the city have their own Japanese gardens for people to relax in. The example built in 1913 in the grounds of Schönbrunn palace, the Takasakigarten at Kurpark Oberlaa laid out according to plans by Kinsaku Nakane and the 4,000m2 Setagayapark in Döbling, where cherry trees and ponds provide ample opportunity for quiet contemplation.

The horticultural life of far-away countries is also on show at Hirschstetten Botanical Garden. Covering around 60,000m2, it is the perfect place for visitors to experience nature’s bounty, with  Indian and Mexican gardens, a popular wedding garden, a palm house and a small farm with chickens and rabbits. Meanwhile, the Alpine gardens inaugurated in the grounds of the Belvedere Palace around 200 years ago feels slightly closer to home. And this makes the 11,000 plants from six continents at the nearby Botanical Gardens seem even more exotic.

The only place to venture even deeper into the natural world is the Lobau wetlands, known as the ‘Viennese jungle’ and part of the Donau-Auen National Park. The Lobau, one of the last landscapes of its kind left in Europe, is home to 100 species of bird and 60 species of fish.