Hi, I'm pretty much searching in the dark for a cheap, safe area, nice hotel in Vienna. I've found Hotel Anna and Art Hotel to look at - has anyone any experience of either of these? I looked at the other posts on Viennese hotels and it's hard to find much of a board favourite. I'm travelling alone. And I'm a girl. <BR><BR>Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First things first, living here I would never recommend any tourist to stay outside first (central) district in Vienna, unless you have a very strict budget or a specific place to go. The centre is easily the nicest place to just wander around at any time. To me it is just a hassle to go two stops even if not far - so others may say Admiral Hotel etc not so far, but I would never go along with it given the general pleasantness of being in the first - I live here and am a centre snob.<BR>Checking out your hotels - Anna Hotel seems to have only one ref - concierge.com. It is 3 stops from centre, one stop from Westbahnhof. Westbhf is simply crap unless you like busy roads (main belt road goes next to it - the G&uuml;rtel -, general big station rubbish and its assorted down market porno bars etc. Zielglergasse is going the right direction and is on one of the main shopping streets, which is akin to a down market Oxford St - busy with some OK stores and a fair bit of rubbish.<BR>Art Hotel - forget it. I could not believe that these guys come out with in &quot;downtown Vienna&quot;. What bull! This place looks like a 10 minute walk minimum to one of two stops. One of these stops is awful -an area of big DIY warehouse shops and an unpleasant busy road. This is a totally inconvenient and charmless location. I am simply astonished Golden Tulip would go for the location. If you go there for price - OK, but do not expect to come away enjoying Vienna.<BR>Overall even in Westbhf, Vienna is safe - probably most dangerous place is wandering through Stadtpark at night - druggies around, especially if not too cold. Regarded as safest capital city in Europe - stats justify this.<BR>For me best value I found for my mum coming tomorrow has been without doubt Starlight Suites (www.starlighthotels.com). They have 3 locations and all have same quality rooms- best one is Renngasse, worst is Heumarkt - central (actually opposite side of Stadtpark!) which is just on the wrong side of the ring (which you can think of as the boundary of the dead centre).. I am paying 100euro for a suite - proper 2 rooms with microwave oven and fridge, fitness room and sauna. All modern rooms (a littel Ikea like actually), black leather couch and chairs, big bathroom etc. Actually Heumarkt location has 82 euro via internet. Similar price - 100-115 for bigger rooms in Pensions Nossek, Pertschy - 2 well favoured Pensions in centre. If you like olde world, pink wall paper with little roses - Pertschy is the place. Nossek in spite of good reviews (has great location) left me cold - smelly reception and rubbish single room shown - euro60, but very down market and they told me was &quot;untypical&quot; and for students. OK willing to check out other rooms - but reception was still tatty compared to Pertschy. Starlight Hotels had great young girls as receptionists - ring them up if need be if you cannot get good price on net - Barbara at Renngasse, Bettina at Salzgries (other good location). Say Nick Fortune recommended it and see if you can use the &quot;single girl&quot; in Vienna need safe place to good effect. May get better rate than I did!

Wow! Thank you so much for all of that. I'm going to paste it onto a word document and go through it all slowly - I meant to apologise for posting the query when there's another budget Vienna question below, but I'd done a search on Vienna hotel and the accommodation thing didn't come up, so I apologise for the duplication.<BR><BR>And again, thank you very very much, Nick, that's superbly helpful.

I still think that the Admiral Hotel is a great value and a great location. It really is only a short walk to the Ring and the center. It is also located right off Mariahilferstrasse which is a busy shopping street so there are always lots of people milling around. I mean, it only takes 10 minutes to walk from the hotel to the Ring and you are right at the Museums, Ubahn, etc. Also, lots of great restaurants within a few blocks. <BR><BR>I have never felt unsafe in Vienna. When I lived there in the early 80's there was hardly ever any crime, especially violent crime. I know that has changed with the increased population, but when we visited there last year, I still felt very safe walking the streets at night.

Bettyk, <BR>you are right about closeness re: Admiral and convenience for Museum Quartier, but Mariahilferstrasse is actually not that active at night - specific places off it can be busy, but street itself given its importance as a shopping street is still pretty dead - compare it to Graben and Karntnerstrasse (especially those two streets in summer). There are a couple of specific bars nearby (e.g Bar Italia), but little wandering around - people park closer to where they are going. With increased pedestrianisation in centre, people have to walk. As I said, I am a centre snob and from a tourist point of view it still wins hands down -although value for money accommodation may be better found at Admiral - I can't judge that.