Vienna: Hotels serving organic breakfast
To find a hotel serving at least partially organic breakfast is nowhere easier than in the Austrian capital – a simple search on the web, and off you go. To book a room in the impressive ivy-covered zero energy building of the Boutiquehotel Stadthalle however, may prove more difficult during holiday seasons. The certified Bio-Hotel serves 100 percent organic breakfast and offers rooms both, in a renovated villa and a modern recently build passive house, right in the vicinity of the Westbahn train station.
With family-run hotel Gilbert (formerly known as "ViennArt") there's a second hotel with a green plant-covered facade next to the Museumsquartier art district. They not only offer organic breakfast but also sport a fashionable restaurant using organic produce.
Eco-consciousness isn't enough to make the world a better place – so why not stay at a place which actively works on the transformation of the economy? Henriette Stadthotel in the city center, located on busy Praterstraße boulevard, is the first Austrian hotel certified as Economy for the Common Good (ECG) company. The family-run boutique hotel formerly known as "Hotel Capri" offers predominantly organic breakfast, and the staff is genuinely, not only professionally friendly and helpful – looks like they really enjoy their workplace. All rooms are decorated individiously, with each floor sporting a different aspect of Viennese culture – and a bench or two seats illustrating the theme, e.g. with nicely restored historic seats from Viennese teatres or garden chairs from the beginning of the 20th century. There's complimentary organic tea and instant coffee on the room.
Even the standard rooms are spacious and un-perfumed, decorated with dried flowers. All bedclothes are made from natural, organically certified materials, and the rooms are eco-friendly cleaned with steam-cleaners. Liquid soap and shampoo are certified eco-friendly, but neither certified natural nor organic. Defininitely a place to recommend.
Social responsibility combined with eco-consciousness are also the pillars of another centrally located hotel: Magdas. The name of this place, opened in 2022, is a pun: "mag das" means "I like this", and Magda is a common female name. If you love being surrounded by people and furniture of all colours, this is the place for you: The hotel offers work and qualification for refugees, and the entire place is equipped with upcycled furniture. There's a garden instead of a parking lot, and organic, partially fairly traded food and drinks at the restaurant where you, in a positive sense, can "eat the world". Needless to say that locally generated renewable energy is part of the concept. Do not be confused if you find sources stating Laufbergergasse as the (no longer valid) address: The place was located in the Prater until it re-opened at its present location near the University of Music and Performing Arts.
Traditional Viennese hotel luxury certified against the eco standards of the Austrian Eco label for Tourism can be found at the hotels of the Schick family, Viennese hoteliers of the fourth generation and owners of Vienna's oldest hotel "Stefanie". Use of organic and fairly traded as well as local agricultural products in the kitchen are part of the requirements, but don't expect too much. Three of the five hotels have restaurants on premise: At Stefanie only the courses from the separate menu based on pork of the Labonca farm are guaranteed to include certified organic meat. In addition the wine menu offers a few organic ones. For other organic ingredients or drinks you have to ask the waiter/waitress. The gourmet restaurant Das Schick does not mark anything organic on its menu, but being a 3-toque restaurant one may expect frequent use of organic ingredients. The menu of the third restaurant, Wiener Wirtschaft marks an assortment of wines and a beer as organic, and use of Zotter chocolates hints a few more organic ingredients in the kitchen, but here you are on your own, too.
A carefully yet sparingly decorated, not over-designed semi-eco conscious modern business hotel a few steps from the main train station (Hauptbahnhof), the Zeitgeist is for you if you prefer a professional, suitably semi-anonymous design hotel with a small outdoor workout space and garden in the backyard (the green lawn however is artifical). The breakfast here offers organic bread, eggs, milk, coffee, tea and cheese (not the slices though, only the Austrian "bio" cheeses served in cubes) – neither organic yogurt nor fruit nor preserves. The Pergola hotel bar (open to the public between 12 and 23) allows you to combine four different gins and four different tonics, among them the Austrian O gin and the Red Bull Organics tonic which make for a 100 percent organic lightly herbal and refreshing combination. If you buy refreshments at the vending machines you'll find organic soft drinks of the Höllinger and Vöslauer brands. There are free bicycles, but check the brakes before setting out for a ride as the staff does not seem to.
For single travellers the three Ruby design hotels Sofie in the Weißgerber neighbourhood, Lissi in the inner city and Marie in Neubau offer zeitgeist-compliant luxury and probably still partially organic breakfast (the keyword "organic" disappeared from their self-descriptions somewhen between 2018 and 2022). Rooms can be booked on-line only, with credit cards as the only payment option, and even at the bar they won't accept cash. There are no family rooms available.
If you prefer to stay away from the urban buzz in quiet surroundings head for the family-friendly Umwelthotel Gallitzinberg about 40 minutes from Stephansplatz if using public transport. Take tube no. 3 to Ottakring and change to bus no. 46b in direction Wilhelminenberg to Hansl-Schmid-Weg. The European ecolabel certified hotel's organic breakfast buffet is open not only for hotel guests but also for those heading out for a walk in the Wienerwald, from 6:30 on weekdays and 7:30 on weekends and public holidays.
Temporarily closed
The bike-friendly hotel "Am Praterstern" is currently being transformed into an environment-friendly apartment house. It is expected to reopen as the Urban Jungle in June 2023, including a vegan-friendly vegetarian cafe which is expected to be using herbs and greens from vertical farming on premise.
2023-03-05 13:00:00 [Vienna, Wien, organic, hotel, accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner, bar, restaurant] [direct link · table of contents]
