South
The most winter and year-round sun. Great for a living room you use during the day, but a south-west flat overheats in summer without shading.
Living · Topic
Sunny living in Vienna: which location really gets sun?
Hours of sunlight per location from official building heights (building model) and the sun path, for a typical 3rd floor · as of: August 2026
A south-facing label on paper does not mean sun in your living room. In a Europe-wide RE/MAX survey, about half of Austrians said they pay particular attention to light and natural brightness when buying, ahead of the location itself. What actually matters is whether the neighbouring buildings take the sun away. wohnwahn calculates exactly that for every inhabited spot in Vienna, from official building heights and the sun path. The sunniest district is Hietzing (1130), where 98% of homes get good sun.
And because a district is not an address, and the floor often matters more than the compass direction: the map shows the sunny row of houses and the shaded courtyard three streets away. For the exact address, the sun check calculates each floor separately.
The sun map of Vienna
Gold means sunny, blue means shaded. Every square is an inhabited 250 m cell with its typical hours of sunlight on the 3rd floor, from official building heights and the sun path.
Only inhabited cells are coloured. The official building heights cover Vienna; for the towns around the city they are not available everywhere, so there the sun check calculates each address from open building data. Tap the map for the hours of sunlight at that exact spot, in summer and in winter.
Vienna’s sunniest districts
Ranked by the share of homes that get good sun. For large districts the range matters, because dense centres and loose edges lie far apart within the same district.
- 1Hietzing113098%sunny homes
- 2Donaustadt122095%sunny homes
- 3Liesing123094%sunny homes
- 4Döbling119093%sunny homes
- 5Floridsdorf121092%sunny homes
- 6Penzing114091%sunny homes
- 7Simmering111088%sunny homes
- 8Hernals117086%sunny homes
- 9Favoriten110082%sunny homes
- 10Währing118079%sunny homes
- 11Leopoldstadt102075%sunny homes
- 12Ottakring116071%sunny homes
Method: direct sun on a typical 3rd floor per inhabited 250 m cell, computed from the official building heights (building model, City of Vienna) and the sun path, clipped to the real boundary. Winter discriminates most (a dense courtyard gets near 0 hours, a loose row 8). Even a shaded district has sunny attics: the map shows the exact spot, the sun check each floor. Prices: asking prices per m² (condos), immopreise.at / derStandard-Preisspiegel, as of Dezember 2025.
Sunny and still central
Sun usually means the edge of town. These districts prove otherwise: a high share of sunny homes AND within 25 minutes of Stephansplatz by transit.
Which way should the flat face?
There is no universal best direction, it depends on the room and how you live.
West
Afternoon and evening sun, lovely after work. The downside is summer heat late in the day: check the heat load too.
East
Morning sun, bright at breakfast and cooler in the afternoon. A calm choice for bedrooms.
North
Bright but without direct sun: even light for working, cool in summer and good for sleeping. Not dark, just not sunlit.
The floor decides as much as the direction
A ground-floor flat can get almost no sun despite facing south, if the neighbouring buildings block it, while the attic above has light all day. Our map calculates a typical 3rd floor. For your exact address and floor, the sun check shows when the sun arrives and leaves, and which neighbour takes it away.
Honestly
Vienna only
The official building heights cover Vienna. For the towns around the city there is no full-area model, so the ranking is Vienna only; the sun check still works there from open building data.
A typical 3rd floor, all around
We calculate the sun a 3rd-floor spot receives from all directions, not the window orientation. The ground floor is darker, the attic sunnier, a south window sunnier still: the sun check is floor and direction specific.
More sun is not only good
A south-west flat overheats in summer. Sun and heat go together: the cool-living page shows the heat load and the trees around the address.
Building shading, not slope
We measure how the neighbouring buildings block the sun, on flat-terrain geometry. South-facing hillsides (Döbling vineyards, Kalksburg) can look underrated because the slope itself is not modelled.
Sunny homes
Current rentals on wohnwahn, sunniest location first. A badge shows how sunny the spot is.
very sunny1220 DonaustadtRarität am Markt | Eigengrund | Exklusives Doppelhaus direkt in der 1. Reihe an der Alten Donau | freier, unverbaubarer…€ 1,490,000 · 6 rm · 150 m²
very sunny1140 PenzingCharmantes Reihenhaus in 1140 Wien – 5 Zimmer, Garten und Terrasse erwarten Sie!€ 498,000 · 5 rm · 108 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtGepflegtes Haus mit Garten, Pool und Wellness€ 850,000 · 6 rm · 128 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtExklusive Doppelhaushälfte mit großzügiger Dachterrasse direkt am Mühlwasser | Eigengrund | Schlüsselfertig€ 925,000 · 176 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtWohnen, wo Wien am schönsten ist | Exklusive Doppelhaushälften am Mühlwasser | Belagsfertig€ 650,000 · 6.5 rm · 150 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtWohnen, wo Wien am schönsten ist | Exklusive Doppelhaushälften am Mühlwasser | Schlüsselfertig€ 680,000 · 6.5 rm · 150 m²Frequently asked questions
Which compass direction is the best?
There is no universal best, it depends on the room. South brings the most winter and year-round sun, west the afternoon and evening sun (but summer heat), east the morning sun. North is bright but without direct sun: cool in summer and good for sleeping.
Is south-facing always good?
No. A south-west flat overheats badly in summer, and without external shading it gets uncomfortably hot. More sun is not automatically a plus: for the summer heat, wohnwahn shows the heat load and the trees around the address.
Does the floor make a difference?
Yes, often more than the compass direction. A ground-floor flat can get almost no sun despite facing south if the neighbouring buildings block it, while the attic above it has light all day. Our map calculates a typical 3rd floor; the sun check calculates each floor separately.
How many hours of sunlight should a flat have?
As a rule of thumb, the DIN 5034 standard asks for at least 1 hour of direct sun on a winter day (17 January) and around 4 hours in spring and autumn, and only one living room needs to be sufficiently sunlit. In dense period courtyards, near 0 hours on the 3rd floor in winter is realistic; on loose outer locations, 6 to 9 hours in summer.
How can I tell at a viewing whether a flat is sunny?
Best to view at two different times of day, or check the real hours of sunlight per floor in advance with the wohnwahn sun check. It shows, for any address, when the sun arrives and leaves, and which neighbouring building takes it away.
Why don’t the portals show the sunlight?
They rely on the provider’s entry, usually a rough tick for “south-facing balcony”. No one calculates the actual shading by neighbouring buildings floor by floor. wohnwahn does exactly that, from official building heights and the sun path.
Related topics
More honest data on where to live well in Vienna and the surrounding area.
Find a sunny home, honestly.
See the real hours of sunlight, the heat load and the shading by neighbouring buildings before the viewing. Free and independent.
Check the sun at any address →The flip side of sun: cool living in Vienna →How wohnwahn rates locations →Quiet living →Commuting to Vienna →Affordable living →Green living →Living by the water →Family-friendly →Near the metro →Wine & Heuriger →
Sources: building heights from the City of Vienna building model, sun path (astronomy) · transit: own routing on the Wiener Linien and ÖBB timetables · prices: immopreise.at / derStandard-Preisspiegel. Refreshed monthly.