New Accommodation Concept in Vienna

We couldn't believe our luck when, during a business trip to Vienna, we stumbled (via Hotel Tonight) a savvy new accommodation concept created by a group of young, local architects.

Urbanauts Street Lofts currently operates five properties located in an around Widen, one of Vienna's oldest districts. Located in the 4th District, it's also a stone's throw away from the new Central Station.

We sampled two lofts - one a former tobacco shop and the other a former artists loft.

What we loved? The chic picnic baskets in the rooms, the comfy beds, the giant Mac desktop (with Apple Air TV!), the tropical shower heads, the black out curtains and the quiet. The lofts are roughly all the same size; these are studio apartments but they offer plenty of space. We also appreciated the local tip sheet provided by the Urbanauts staff - info on local establishments for dining, drinking and the like. The company makes brightly coloured green bicycles available to all guests. The idea here is to live like a local - so don't be surprised to get an invitation to a pop-up event during your stay. We took a shine to Opocensky - a bistro-like venue which creates awesome seasonal dishes and sells wine for in-house consumption or take-away.

The Urbanauts team describe their concept this way: "With a passion for challenges in city planning we have gone to work on solutions for the urban ground floor. Our vision is a sustainable reactivation of the city. In search of new purposes for former shops we realised travel is the perfect fit. It is on the street where the city reveals its true face. There we start discovering. It’s a city experience without detours through the hotel lobby."

The rooms are about 120 Euros- in our opinion a heck of a deal! And the staff are incredibly friendly and laid-back - Theresa even offered to take our rental tux back to the shop after our departure.

Opocensky is one of the eateries recommended by the Urbanauts team