{"id":63676,"date":"2023-09-28T05:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T04:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=63676"},"modified":"2025-05-30T16:59:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:59:22","slug":"cafe-schopenhauer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/cafespubsbars\/cafe-schopenhauer\/","title":{"rendered":"Caf\u00e9 Schopenhauer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauersmall.jpg\" alt=\"Caf\u00e9 Schopenhauer sign\" class=\"wp-image-63630\" style=\"width:150px;height:150px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauersmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauersmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Few locations recommend themselves more for conversations on life, the universe and everything than a Viennese coffee house. So what better than one named for a great German philosopher?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lovely mix of the old and new<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creative breakfast menu (in more ways than one)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Outside the centre, so cheaper coffees in comparison<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Book a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/food-tours-vienna-tickets-l205283\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_Coffee\" rel=\"sponsored\">culinary experience<\/a>* in Vienna<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/cafespubsbars\/coffee-houses\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7689\">Coffee houses<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/coffee-house-experience\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1947\">coffee house culture<\/a> in the city<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Traditional &amp; modern<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauer1.jpg\" alt=\"Wide view of a coffee house in Vienna\" class=\"wp-image-63628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauer1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauer1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The small space to the left has outdoor seating in warmer times)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vienna has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/mapsgeography\/viennadistricts\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"114\">23 districts<\/a>, but the higher the number, the less likely you are to bump into a tourist (with the 13th district a notable exception, thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sightseeing\/palace-of-schonbrunn\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1672\">one particular location<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 18th district (called W\u00e4hring), for example, covers some of the villa-filled nobler parts of the city, but sightseeing buses rarely trouble the locals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>W\u00e4hring has its attractions, though. And one is Caf\u00e9 Schopenhauer, located at the inner edge of the district not far from the G\u00fcrtel series of roads that splits Vienna into outer and inner rings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This coffee house lies on a corner of Schopenhauerstra\u00dfe, and both take their name from the philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who died in 1860.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/schopenhauer1860.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Arthur Schopenhauer\" class=\"wp-image-66611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/schopenhauer1860.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/schopenhauer1860-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(A photograph of Schopenhauer; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 44099; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schopenhauerstra\u00dfe apparently used to be called Wienerstra\u00dfe (literally: Vienna street), which presumably felt a bit silly once the suburb of W\u00e4hring became part of the actual city at the end of the 1800s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, the caf\u00e9 struck me as a perfect balance of the traditional and the new. What you might call contemporary traditional, perhaps? The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/culture\/wiener-moderne\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"28303\">Wiener Moderne<\/a> updated for the 2020s. A coffee house for today&#8217;s Vienna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those in pursuit of historical ambience, you have interior d\u00e9cor that feels and looks early 1900s in style and origin (though I could be wrong): brass lamp fittings, upholstered niches, marble table tops, tall ceilings, a wooden and glass vestibule, card tables crowned in green felt, and dark herringbone parquet flooring\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One wall even had a copy of Max Kurzweil&#8217;s <em>Woman in a Yellow Dress<\/em>, which he painted in 1899; see the original in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/wien-museum-karlsplatz\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"66174\">Wien Museum<\/a> . And our coffee arrived on the time-honoured silver-coloured metal tray.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"430\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/schopenhauerkurzweil.jpg\" alt=\"Painting by Max Kurzweil\" class=\"wp-image-72611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/schopenhauerkurzweil.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/schopenhauerkurzweil-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/schopenhauerkurzweil-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/schopenhauerkurzweil-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The woman in the painting was Kurzweil&#8217;s wife; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 117376; reproduced under the terms of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0<\/a>&nbsp;license; photo by Birgit and Peter Kainz, Wien Museum)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those in pursuit of modern ambience, you have waiting staff in ripped jeans and a t-shirt, world music playing quietly, a bar-like area, an integrated bookstore, orchids on the window pane, and plenty of sockets for your laptop or phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Caf\u00e9 Schopenhauer feels a little like Vienna in miniature. Looking forward and back. Keeping up with the times while steeped in the past. Fewer elderly gentlemen hidden behind giant newspapers and more tousled twentysomethings stooped behind a laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coffee prices, incidentally, seemed inexpensive compared to the traditional caf\u00e9s of the city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And any breakfast menu that has a strong organic element, plenty of creativity, and items named after philosophers has my instant approval.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauer2.jpg\" alt=\"Entrance to Caf\u00e9 Schopenhauer\" class=\"wp-image-63629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauer2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cafeschopenhauer2-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The entrance and logo)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might order a simple Immanuel Kant (roll or croissant with butter plus jam or honey) or push the boat out for a full stuffed pretzel croissant a la Friedrich Nietzsche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I tend to go for a Thomas Hobbes, where baked beans on toast and fried eggs (among more modern additions like avocado) hark back to my childhood in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/coffee-glossary\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1863\">cappuccino is still a cappuccino<\/a>, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The homemade cake options vary apparently, and included gluten-free and vegan choices on our last visit. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/gugelhupf\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"22711\">Gugelhupf<\/a> seems to be a regular, though, and the slice that appeared on my wife&#8217;s plate was a truly generous portion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like the place a lot and just wish it was nearer my home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get to Caf\u00e9 Schopenhauer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The coffee house lies just a short walk from the subway station W\u00e4hringer Stra\u00dfe-Volksoper (on the U6 line) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/opera\/volksoper\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1083\">Volksoper opera house<\/a> (so feels like a solid option for a post-opera tipple).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>W\u00e4hringer Stra\u00dfe-Volksoper also has tram and bus stops. So, for example, you can travel out from the central Schottentor station on trams 40, 41 and 42 or bus 40A; the journey takes 7-8 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Staudgasse 1, 1180 Vienna | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cafeschopenhauer.at\/\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1qxMhuM31vUOcHvWtm9QzWRPeiURPKwCX\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Probably the only coffee house where you can order a Simone de Beauvoir for breakfast<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-63676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cafespubsbars","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63676"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83843,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63676\/revisions\/83843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}