Try at Tourotel Mariahilf, I have stayed there before.

Short walk from the Train Station (Westbahnhof), which is also U Bahn Station location, 4 stops to the centre or a 45 minute walk straight down Mariahilf Street

Plenty of shops and eateries, either direction from the station

Check the tourist site www.wien.info
and also have you looked specifically at these two places - directly in the very city center within just a very few minutes walk to major siights , restaurant areas too

Hotel Austria

www.hotel-austria.at

Pension Suzanne

www.pension -suzanne.at

We stayed at this apartment for Christmas 2010 and it was easily one of our top 5 apartment rentals.

http://www.styleapartment.at/en/the-apartment-2/

The location was an easy walk to the center.
The apartment was cozy and looked like the internet pictures except for the bathroom. The bathroom appears larger in the pictures. Though small, it was well designed and functional. The place was immaculate and the hot water was great for the shower.

I would recommend strongly the accommodation in the 1st district over the other one.

The Marien Theresien Strasse is near to the Schottentor metro station, and the University, a great central place to stay.

There are restaurants there, and you reach the centre in the 1st district on foot, it is actually a very nice walk. !!!

I studied in Vienna and was almost every day in the area !!

thanks everyone

yes I was looking for specific advice on the 2 locations I have narrowed down. I did check other sites such as Pension Suzanne but we need self catering, full kitchen and we have a dog with us. Four people. Big order!

so out of the two addresses I was just wondering which is best.

Clausar someone said the Marien Theresien has more banks and businesses and less shops etc than the other location but it sounds like you are saying it is nice and lively . Thank-you!

kpiepen

This is correct about the Marien Theresien Strasse, i was actually referring to the neighbourhood...

There are restaurants nearby, access to the inner city is very easy, even on foot, Schottentor is a very active place, it is a hub for quite many tram lines and there is also a metro station.

Don't forget to pay a visit to the main building of the University

Some info above is confusing and less than accurate.

Mariahilferstrasse is a main shopping street with all types of shops, restaurants, a few banks and various transport like UBahn and bus.
It passes the Westbahnhof and is close by to the Museum Quarter , Fine Arts Museum.
It is not particularly near to Schottentor, University as stated above.

This area has various hotels, pensions etc.
you do not mention a name but a location by the arsenal on Mariahilf is well located- easy walk to major sights , dining and transport

The first district is the very city center - Innere Stadt- easily identified by postal code - 1010

most convenient but generally more expensive.

molker
the other accommodation is at Neustiftgasse 66, which is not exactly next to Mariahilfer Strasse, but closer to Lerchenfelder Strasse....

I still consider Marien Theresien Strasse as a more central location, with the 1st district being in walking distance.

Hello again I think there was confusion because someone mentioned a Mariahilf apartment.

Our choice is between MariaTheresien strasse and Neustiftgasse which I know is not near Mariahilf.

I am leaning towards the Maria Theresien based on Clausar's input and the fact that it is handy to transport. The other location is only close to a bus line so I imagine that limits our choices.

Are there any Christmas markets near to Maria Theresien? And any grocers/markets/cafes you can recommend?

thanks so much!

The closest Christmas Market is at the Rathaus, which is in walking distance

Cafes : Votiv Cafe and the famous Cafe Landtmann are nearby, there are more Cafes in the vicinity of the Marien Theresien Strasse.

Restaurants : there are restaurants nearby, i can recall at the Schottengasse a few , :Melker Stiftskeller, zum Leupold.

There are many more as you enter the Schottengasse, a short walk from the Marien Theresien Strasse

Maybe a somewhat different view, but only from a tourist's (not a local's) perspective...

If you wanted a more lively neighborhood with restaurants and pubs left and right your doorstep, I would prefer Neustiftgasse. Your place is only 1-2 mins walk from a tram stop on Lerchenfelder Str, so you would not only have to rely on one bus line. But as proximity to the 1st district has never been that high on my list as I usually roam other parts of Vienna when I want to go out for dinner or drinks, I am definetely a bit biased.
Vienna is not small and dozens of sights require you to take public transport regardless where you stay in the more central parts of town. The difference in time you need from either place to, for example, Schönbrunn palace, the Belvedere or the Hundertwasser house will boil down to 5 or 10 minutes more or less this way or that way.

If walking distance to the 1st district was your prime objective, then I would probably choose the other place. Though you don't have to walk very far to restaurants etc. in the 7th.

But as neither option is really a choice of ghastly versus perfect, it is more a matter of personal preferences or which apartment you like better, IMO.

Also from a tourists perspective, i would prefer to be in the centre of a city, where everything happens, and where i have the possibility to reach many of the main sights in walking distance or take the public transportation.

The Marien Theresien Strasse is in immediate vicinity of the U2 metro line, you can reach Schoenbrunn easily, with a change at Karlsplatz. With the TRam Line D you can go straight to the Belvedere.....or take the ring tram that travels around the Ring .

The other location that you mentioned is actually pretty dead in the evening, especially after shops are closed.... ( this applies mainly to the Mariahilfer Strasse, which is a street with many shops)

Whatever. I often stay on or off Mariahilferstraße and while the shops are obviously closed at night, I find the residential neighborhoods north or south of the shopping street quite nice as there are many, more "normal" restaurants and pubs there which do not charge tourist rates for a Schnitzel or else
I just wanted to contest the impression that this location was somewhere in a godforsaken Nowhere-Land.
P.S. The Ringstraßen tram is now a pretty pricey tourist line. If you want to the loop trip around the 1st district, you can still do it with a regular ticket, though, if you make one or two changes with the regular lines.