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Wiener Riesenrad

Wiener Riesenrad

Recommended by 744 hikers out of 761

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Location: Vienna Woods, Lower Austria, Austria

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Best Hikes to Wiener Riesenrad

4.7

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1,386

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1. Prater Main Avenue – Prater Tower loop from Praterstern

14.0km

03:33

30m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

4.9

(39)

461

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2. Prater Main Avenue – Prater Main Avenue loop from Wien Praterkai

11.0km

02:47

20m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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5.0

(3)

199

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3. Prater Main Avenue – Liliputbahn Prater loop from Vorgartenstraße

9.67km

02:28

30m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

Tips

Andreas Platzl

October 26, 2016

You turn exactly one lap and not more. Having arrived at the top, one understands why Vienna is often called the most beautiful city in the world. From the old wooden cabins you can shoot great pictures of the city, especially at dusk. But also the Ferris wheel as one of the landmarks of the city is worth a photo in any case!

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Paul

October 26, 2021

Wiener Riesenrad 1897
The Wiener Riesenrad in the Prater in the district of Leopoldstadt is a sight and a landmark of Vienna. It was built in 1897 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph I's throne and was one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world at the time.
The Ferris wheel was planned in 1896 by the English engineers Walter Bassett Basset (1864-1907) and Harry Hitchins and built with 30 wagons on a plot of land on the Prater site leased by Gabor Steiner, the actual "father of the Ferris wheel". Hubert Cecil Booth was actually the executive chief designer. Walter Bassett Basset himself advanced the construction costs of 500,000 kronor and later securitized the financing costs in shares (£45,000) and a £10,000 bond (divided into 40 pieces of £250) in the English company "Wiener Riesen Rad Limited" (Vienna Gigantic Wheel). Ltd.). On June 25, 1897, the wheel was set in motion for the first time, but it only performed half a revolution so that the upper part could be brought down and assembled. It was opened in 1897, a year before the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The official inauguration of the Ferris wheel took place on July 3, 1897, a hot summer day when the Viennese visited the Prater grounds in large numbers. However, only very few were likely to have been able to raise the eight guilders that a ride on the Ferris wheel cost at the time. At that time, a civil servant earned 30 guilders a month.
During the First World War, in 1916, the British owner of the Ferris wheel, Walter Basset, was expropriated and the attraction put up for auction. It was not until three years later, in 1919, that the Prague merchant Eduard Steiner, who was not related to Gabor Steiner, acquired it. He originally wanted to tear it down, but eventually leased it.
In 1938 the Ferris wheel, like all of Eduard Steiner's property (and also that of Gabor Steiner), was "Aryanized" by the National Socialists. A year later it was listed as a historical monument. During the Second World War, the Ferris wheel was almost completely destroyed by fire and bombs and burned out in 1944. In the same year Gabor Steiner died in his exile in Beverly Hills. Eduard Steiner, the last legal owner before "Aryanization", was murdered in 1944 in the Auschwitz concentration camp. In 1953 the Ferris wheel was restituted to three Steiner heirs.
After 1945, it was assumed that the stability of the Ferris wheel had suffered due to the fire damage caused by the war. As a result, only 15 of the 30 wagons were hooked up again. For cost reasons, only 4 instead of the original 6 windows were installed. As recently as 1957, when the owner had the old carriages replaced to mark the 60th anniversary of the ride, the number of 15 carriages was retained because the frequency was too weak.[3] The Ferris wheel with 15 wagons became a symbol of reconstruction. Since 2002 there has been an exhibition hall by the Ferris wheel called the "Panorama Museum" with eight replica wagons in which the history of the Vienna Prater is presented.
Text/Source: Wikipedia
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Riesenrad

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JR56

October 20, 2019

Anyone who has not even made a spin on the Ferris wheel in his life and never enjoyed the magnificent view over the rooftops of Vienna, was never really in Vienna!
The Viennese Riesenrad, a landmark of the Austrian capital and a symbol of the world-famous Viennese Prater, with its widely visible silhouette is a special attraction for all visitors to Vienna.
A round trip with this important and at the same time fascinating building and the unmistakable view over Vienna make the Riesenrad a cultural and architectural duty experience for every visitor to Vienna.

wienerriesenrad.com

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Elevation 220 m

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Location: Vienna Woods, Lower Austria, Austria

Wiener Riesenrad

1. Prater Main Avenue – Prater Tower loop from Praterstern

2. Prater Main Avenue – Prater Main Avenue loop from Wien Praterkai

3. Prater Main Avenue – Liliputbahn Prater loop from Vorgartenstraße

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