What is the Vienna outdoor escape game?
The Vienna outdoor escape game is an escape room turned inside out: the puzzles sit in the open air, worked into the detail of Vienna's landmarks, and you tackle them from your smartphone. Count on roughly 2 hours, of which 64 minutes go on walking the 5.2 km between the 10 stops, and choose whichever day suits you.
Puzzles are waiting at the Anker Clock on Hoher Markt, at St Stephen's Cathedral, at the Hofburg and in front of the State Opera, and each one stands alone, with no storyline linking them. Vienna rewards this kind of looking: roughly 230,000 glazed tiles pattern the cathedral roof, and twelve figures from Austrian history cross the face of the Anker Clock. Three levels of hints are there when a puzzle holds you up.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 64 min · 5.2 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the escape game
Work it out
Each stop sets a puzzle you answer from what stands in front of you, with logic instead of background knowledge.
Look twice
The clues hide in reliefs, inscriptions, statues and the shape of the square around you.
Walk the Ring
Google Maps takes you from stop to stop: 64 minutes of walking, 5.2 km in total.
Set your own pace
Nothing counts down. Ask for a hint when you want one, break for coffee and carry on later or on another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends with a free afternoon
Everyone argues for their own answer, and nobody has to have been to Vienna before.
Couples
A challenge you work on together, at your own speed, with the imperial centre as the board.
Colleagues and team building
Teams of up to 5 each play on their own phone, so a department can set off together.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Puzzle route: from the University of Vienna to the Stadtpark
10 stops · about 64 min walking · start: University of Vienna · finish: Johann Strauss Monument
The opening puzzle is set at the main building of the University of Vienna on the Ringstrasse, the closing one at the Johann Strauss Monument in the Stadtpark. In between come the Anker Clock, St Stephen's Cathedral, St Peter's Church, the Hofburg, the Natural History Museum, the Mozart Monument, the State Opera and the Albertina. Daylight is the better choice, since all of it happens outdoors and wind or rain slow you down. Google Maps covers the navigation, the order is yours to rearrange in the app, and no entry tickets come into it.
Open the route map ↗
1University of ViennaStart
Founded by Duke Rudolf IV in 1365, the University of Vienna is the oldest university in today's German-speaking world. Its main building on the Ringstrasse was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel and opened in 1884, and its arcaded courtyard is lined with busts of famous scholars such as Sigmund Freud and Erwin Schrödinger.
2Anker Clock (Ankeruhr)
The Anker Clock on Hoher Markt is an Art Nouveau clock set on a bridge between two buildings of the Anker insurance company. The painter Franz von Matsch designed it and it was completed in 1914: twelve figures from Austrian history move slowly across its face, and at noon all of them parade to music.
Read the full story →
3St Stephen's Cathedral
St Stephen's Cathedral has stood in the centre of Vienna since the Middle Ages, and its Gothic south tower, 136 metres high, is the tallest church tower in Austria. Look up at the steep roof: about 230,000 glazed tiles form the double-headed imperial eagle and the coats of arms of Vienna and Austria.
4St Peter's Church (Peterskirche)
St Peter's Church is a Baroque church modelled on St Peter's Basilica in Rome, built from about 1701 and consecrated in 1733, with Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt among its architects. Inside, Johann Michael Rottmayr painted the dome fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin, and a relief outside recalls the legend that Charlemagne founded the first church here.
Read the full story →
5Hofburg
The Hofburg was the main residence of the Habsburgs and the seat of the emperors of Austria until 1918. Over the centuries it grew into a vast complex of wings, courtyards and squares, including the Spanish Riding School and Heldenplatz, and since 1946 it has been the official seat of the Austrian Federal President.
6Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum opened in 1889 and faces its twin, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, across Maria-Theresien-Platz, both planned by Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer for the imperial collections. Its best-known treasure is the Venus of Willendorf, a small stone figure about 30,000 years old.
7Mozart Monument
This white marble monument to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was created by Viktor Tilgner and unveiled in 1896 on today's Albertinaplatz. Damaged in the bombing of 1945, it was restored and moved to the Burggarten in 1953, where you can study the reliefs on its pedestal.
Read the full story →
8Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera opened on 25 May 1869 with Mozart's Don Giovanni. Its architects, Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg, died before the opening after harsh public criticism of their building, and after bombs destroyed most of it in 1945 the house reopened in 1955 with Beethoven's Fidelio.
9Albertina
The Albertina is a former Habsburg palace at the southern tip of the Hofburg, standing on one of the last surviving sections of Vienna's old city walls. It is named after Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, son-in-law of Empress Maria Theresa, who founded its collection in 1776, and it holds Albrecht Dürer's famous Young Hare.
10Johann Strauss MonumentFinish
In the Stadtpark stands the gilded bronze statue of Johann Strauss the Younger, the Waltz King who composed The Blue Danube. Designed by Edmund Hellmer and unveiled in 1921, it shows Strauss playing the violin in front of a white marble arch.
Read the full story →
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Denis– Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Des petites énigmes simples qui sont le prétexte pour aller d’un point d’intérêt à un autre. On aurait aimé que les commentaires soient plus fournis et dispos en version audioguide, mais c’est quand même sympa.
Matasa– Romania –
Collected on GetYourGuide
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Sehr gutes Preis-/Leistungsverh?ltnis. Man kommt durch die Stadt und hat kleine Aufgaben zu l?sen.
Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ce jeu permet de visiter certain monument et les ?nigmes qu’on a d? r?soudre ?taient int?ressants mais nous avons trouv? cher pour seulement 10 ?nigmes et surtout que si on voyage ? deux, les deux participants doivent payer le jeu alors que un seul suffit largement. Je trouve que par soit m?me on visite plus de choses dans la ville.