Imperial Riding School, Vienna, Austria 🇦🇹 – Wellness & Style in an old military riding school

Have you always wanted to know what an imperial military riding school looks like from the inside? All wrapped up in a cozy and shiny robe? Then you’ve come to the right place. Join us on a look at the Imperial Riding School in Vienna. Here you can relax and enjoy wellness after exploring the city. But read for yourself.

Review #112

All hotels that you can find on our homepage and our YouTube channel – and many more besides – can now be booked directly through us. In many cases, you can expect additional benefits such as upgrades, breakfast or hotel credit without paying more.

The Imperial Riding School currently offers you the following advantages:

• Daily complimentary breakfast for two guests per room

• Early check-in and late check-out (if available)

• Free upgrade – not from room to suite (if available at check-in)

In any case, you support us with your booking and – together with the other EVRYWHRE crew members – help us to continue our work to provide you with exciting flight and hotel reviews. A small part of the booking price remains with us as commission – without you paying a cent more for your stay.

Location

The Hotel Imperial Riding School is located in Vienna’s 3rd district, a quiet yet central area between the city center and the Prater. The district is characterized by classic residential buildings, wide streets and many green parks – a pleasant contrast to the lively city centre, which you can still reach quickly.

The Stadtpark and the Prater are just a few minutes’ walk away and are perfect for a stroll or a run. The historic center with St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Ringstrasse and Museumsquartier is also just a 20-minute walk away. The location is particularly suitable for all those who want to discover Vienna in a relaxed way and value a quiet environment with good connections.

Arrival

The Hotel Imperial Riding School is easily accessible from both the airport and the main train station. From Vienna International Airport (VIE), it takes around 20-30 minutes by cab to get to the hotel, depending on traffic. Alternatively, the City Airport Train (CAT) will take you to Wien Mitte station in around 15 minutes; from there you can take the streetcar or a short cab ride to the hotel.

If you are traveling by train, Vienna Central Station is the best starting point. From there, you can reach the hotel in around 10 minutes by cab or by public transport, for example by streetcar, bus or S-Bahn.

Parking is possible on site for a fee of currently 34 euros per day. An electric charging station is also available.

We took the regional train from Schwechat Airport to the hotel. The train starts right in the basement of the airport and runs every half hour during the day. The price is only 5 euros per person each way. The Rennweg stop is only a good 10 minutes drive away and is located right in front of the hotel. From there it is only a 2-minute walk to the Lobby.

Check-in

At the far end of the Lobby, in the right-hand corner, there are 3 check-in counters, only one of which was occupied by other guests as we arrived shortly after 3pm. So it was our turn straight away and were given a friendly welcome.

The friendly staff member informed us that we had been upgraded to a Junior Suite and gave us more information about the hotel and the bar, as well as the restaurant and breakfast. As Bonvoy Titanium guests, we could choose between 1,ooo points or a 10 euro food voucher as a guest gift and because all Autograph Collection hotels do not feature Lounges, we could also choose between breakfast or 750 points as a compensation gift. We opted for the first in both cases.

The formalities were quickly completed and after just a few minutes we were handed our room cards with a friendly smile.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t see a bellboy at the hotel entrance. This wasn’t a problem for us, but if you need help unloading your suitcases, it’s always a bit of a bummer.

Imperial Riding School at a glance

As part of the Autograph Collection, the Hotel Imperial Riding School combines Viennese history with modern design. The building was originally an imperial military riding school, which is still reflected in the architecture and, of course, the name. Instead of ostentatious nostalgia, however, the hotel now focuses on a contemporary look that subtly picks up on historical elements and combines them with clear lines.

The hotel extends over 7 floors and has more than 300 rooms and Suites, which are divided into different categories, whereby the rooms are actually all the same size and differ only in their location within the hotel. The rooms are modern, quiet and functional, with great attention to detail and a pleasantly warm atmosphere. The Junior Suites offer a little more space and are particularly suitable for longer stays or a more comfortable city trip.

The first floor houses the Lobby and the central lounge areas, which are open and spacious. The restaurant and bar are also located here and function as a meeting point for guests and locals alike. The upper floors are reserved for the rooms, while the fitness and wellness areas are located in the side wing and the basement of the main building. Overall, the hotel is well structured and clearly laid out – large enough to offer a wide range of services, but still with a personal feel.

Junior Suite

We had booked the smallest room category at the Imperial Riding School in Vienna – the Deluxe King. However, due to our Titanium status with Bonvoy, we were upgraded to the highest room category, a Junior Suite.

So let’s take a closer look at Suite No. 624.

Welcome

Already upon arriving at our Junior Suite, a sweet little surprise awaited us, accompanied by a handwritten welcome card.

Entrance

In the entrance area of the Suite, there are spacious built-in wardrobes on the right and left, which offer plenty of space for your clothes. There is also a luggage rack on the right with a drawer underneath. Bathrobes with slippers, ironing board and iron, as well as the safe and everything you need for shoe care and if you want to have your clothes dry cleaned are stored in the cupboards.

Living room

One step further and you are already standing in the living area, which is only separated from the entrance area by wooden slats. There is a very comfortable sofa here, as well as two armchairs and a fairly large table. The large TV is mounted on the opposite wall.

The minibar, which is included in the price, is located in the left corner of the entrance to the living area. On the upper shelf are glasses, water, the coffee machine and the kettle. The drawer below contains the capsules for the coffee machine, tea bags, cups and take-away mugs. At the bottom is a small fridge with water, beer, soft drinks, juices and potato chips.

There are also two Cocktails ready for you on the shelf, which are already pre-mixed and ready to serve – amusingly packaged in a cardboard square. True marketing, I would say. By the way, all the food in the Suite is also free to enjoy!

Bedroom

The sleeping area is separated from the living area by a room divider, where the TV sets are installed on both sides.

Naturally, the room is dominated by the incredibly cozy king-size bed. There are a total of four identical pillows and a blanket. The two bedside tables are quite large and offer plenty of space to store things. In addition to the lamps on both sides, there are also individually controllable reading lamps built into the headboard of the bed. On the left-hand table you will also find the remote control, the telephone and a pad with pen. Sockets and light switches are also built into both sides of the bed.

Bathroom

From the sleeping area, you enter the spacious bathroom. Straight ahead is the washstand with a large washbasin. Amenities, soap and body lotion can also be found there.

To the left is the extremely generous walk-in rain shower, which also features a hand shower. Shampoo, conditioner and body wash from Saint Charles Apothecary are provided for you here. The large bathtub is built into the right-hand side of the room and offers bath salts as well as other care products. The toilet is installed between the shower and washbasin.

The problems in the suite

At this point, however, I wanted to briefly draw attention to the blackout curtains. Although they block the light from outside, there is no overlap in the tracks where they are closed, so the sun shines into the room quite brightly in the morning.

We also noticed as we moved into the Junior Suite that it was super warm. The air conditioning was set to 35 degrees celsius and kept on heating up. Unfortunately, we were unable to change this setting until we moved out. We first tried to solve the problem ourselves and as we asked at reception, we were very kindly offered another room (the technician had of course already finished work on Friday evening and didn’t come back until Monday), but upon checking out the new room we discovered that it had the exact same air conditioning problem.

So we stayed in our Junior Suite and slept with the windows open. Basically, that’s not a problem, but with the train station right outside the window, it was a bit noisy.

View

Unfortunately, the view in this room is the downlight. As beautiful as the room is from the inside, you look through rather small windows directly at the train station in front of the hotel (currently still a construction site!) That’s just the way it is in a city, but somehow it’s a shame. All Junior Suites face this side. On the opposite side of the building, the view of the street would perhaps be a little nicer.

Hotel activities

Pool

The Hotel Imperial Riding School Vienna offers its guests a really great indoor pool with large windows overlooking the outside – even if the view is not that nice, we think it’s a really great feature. The heated pool is relatively large and invites to linger.

The number of loungers is quite limited at three and this area only offers three very cozy corners as alternative lounging options. This limited number of options for lying down is of course a little difficult if more than 6 people want to stay here.

However, the outdoor area only consists of an unmown lawn on which, unfortunately, there are no sun loungers or anything similar, obviously even in summer. We think this is clearly a really blatant missed opportunity. The area is also visible from the sidewalk. This could certainly have been solved better.

Fitness Center

The small room was really well frequented during our stay and offers a small handful of machines, as well as a small room for free sports activities.

Wellness

Unfortunately, the Imperial Riding School does not offer a real spa, but it does have a wellness area which, in addition to the pool and gym, also features two saunas and a steam bath located in the basement. However, the latter was not in use at the time of our visit.

Restaurants

All of the hotel’s restaurants and bars are located on the first floor of the main building right next to the lobby & reception.

Elstar Restaurant & Garden

The Imperial Riding School’s all-day-dining restaurant is located to the left of the main entrance. The spacious room with the great high ceilings was certainly once the place where the horses were stabled. The modern design gives a feeling of coziness and warmth. Steaks and the like with a strong local touch are served here.

The restaurant also offers a beautiful conservatory and, above all, a really great large terrace, which is certainly an excellent place to dine during the summer months.

The Farrier Bar

The adjoining bar at the front of the restaurant functions as a café during the day and as a cozy bar in the evening.

Cameo

The small café offers coffee and cake in the lobby during the day.

Breakfast

At the Imperial Riding School Vienna, breakfast is served at the all-day-dining restaurant Elstar and its garden. A rather standard buffet is mainly offered. Some egg dishes can be ordered from a small menu. Basically, you just get everything yourself from the buffet – including the coffee.

For special orders, such as cappuccino with oat milk, you will also be served the drinks – that worked really well for us. Otherwise, we both found the breakfast menu rather underwhelming to mediocre. There is everything you would expect, but really nothing more. I, for example, would definitely have liked Kaiserschmarren in Vienna – but was disappointed. The omelette and Egg Benedikt we ordered were okay, but far from really tasty. Very mediocre standard.

Check-out

The check-out was absolutely fine. Everything was well prepared and the formalities were completed quickly. We were asked how we enjoyed our stay and whether we needed any assistance with our departure.

Costs

For this one night at the Imperial Riding School Vienna in February 2026, we paid 167 euros for the smallest room category. Breakfast was included in the Marriott Luminous rate and the upgrade to the Junior Suite was made possible due to our Bonvoy Titanium status.

Departure and onward journey

From here, we continued on to the Ritz Carlton Vienna. We treated ourselves to a cab for the short journey and arrived at our destination in less than 5 minutes.

Conclusion

We really liked the Imperial Riding School in Vienna. The price is totally fine for what is on offer and we felt very comfortable here. The check-in and check-out experience was really good and the hotel is new with a great design and an extremely cozy general feeling. What’s more, there is a very good wellness area – most other hotels in this category absolutely cannot keep up with this. We found the poor breakfast a bit of a shame and of course the faulty air conditioning was annoying.

We can definitely recommend the Imperial Riding School to all groups of guests. Single and business travelers are just as well catered for here as couples and families. There is something for everyone here.

On our EVRYWHRE internal scale, we place the hotel in the lifestyle category.

Rating

We award the Imperial Riding School in Vienna a well-deserved 8 out of 10 possible points for this stay.

There is only one point deduction each for the problem with the air conditioning and the very standard breakfast.

Go there?

Absolutely. You can do it. The hotel is nice and new and offers really good value for money.

Booking with EVRYWHRE

Would you also like to spend your vacation at the Imperial Riding School? Then book via our Preferred Partner Rate! It won’t cost you any more, but will bring you real benefits:

✔ Free breakfast
✔ Upgrade subject to availability
✔ Early check-in & late check-out
✔ Collect points – on a regular basis

You can find all the details on our Booking Hub.

YouTube Review

Do you still want more information about this hotel? Then be sure to check out our YouTube review. Have fun with it.