The Kirche am Steinhof: Otto Wagner on the hill
A white-and-gold Jugendstil church above a pavilion hospital, at the edge of the Vienna Woods. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Ottakring (U3) and bus 48A
The catch with this walk is the approach: there's no U-Bahn to the hill. Take the U3 to Ottakring, then the 48A bus up the slope to the hospital gate. Verify the stop before you set off — the route is the one weak link in an otherwise straightforward morning.

2. Otto-Wagner-Spital gate and grounds
In through the gate of the former psychiatric hospital, now the Klinik Penzing. Otto Wagner laid the whole campus out from 1904 — symmetrical pavilions stepped up the hillside in their own parkland. Walk up the central axis; the church is the climax it was designed to be.

3. The Wagner pavilions
The matched pavilions climbing the slope are the unsung half of the site — the same architect, the same year, far fewer visitors. Some now hold other uses; you walk between them on the way up. The Jugendstil theatre near the top is part of the ensemble.

4. Kirche am Steinhof
The masterpiece. Otto Wagner's church of 1907 crowns the hill in white marble and gold copper, with Kolo Moser's coloured glass and a tiled floor that drains — designed, unusually, around the needs of psychiatric patients. Opening hours are limited; check before you climb, because the inside is the whole point.

5. The terrace and the view
From the church terrace the city falls away east and the Vienna Woods rise green to the west — you're standing on the seam between them. Give it a few minutes. This is the edge of Vienna, and it looks like it.

6. Bus 48A back to Ottakring
Down the axis to the gate and the 48A back to the U3 at Ottakring. There's no clever loop here — it's an out-and-back to a single great building, and worth it. Time the church's opening and the rest takes care of itself.

The Kirche am Steinhof: Otto Wagner on the hill