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?
The sunniest spots are in Hietzing, Donaustadt and Floridsdorf.
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 neighbouring buildings and terrain take the sun away. wohnwahn calculates exactly that for every inhabited spot in Vienna, from the official building model of the City of Vienna and the sun path.
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.
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.
- 1Hietzing113097 %sunny homes
- 2Donaustadt122096 %sunny homes
- 3Floridsdorf121096 %sunny homes
Hours of sunlight per location from the official building model of the City of Vienna, the terrain horizon and the sun path, for a typical 3rd floor · as of: September 2026
- 4Liesing123095%sunny homes
- 5Simmering111091%sunny homes
- 6Döbling119089%sunny homes
- 7Favoriten110085%sunny homes
- 8Hernals117085%sunny homes
- 9Penzing114084%sunny homes
- 10Währing118079%sunny homes
- 11Leopoldstadt102077%sunny homes
- 12Meidling112073%sunny homes
- 13Ottakring116069%sunny homes
- 14Brigittenau120058%sunny homes
- 1543%sunny homes
- 16Landstraße103042%sunny homes
- 17Alsergrund109027%sunny homes
- 18Innere Stadt101025%sunny homes
- 19Wieden104010%sunny homes
- 20Margareten10506%sunny homes
- 21Mariahilf10604%sunny homes
- 22Neubau10704%sunny homes
- 23Josefstadt10800%sunny homes
Method: direct sun on a typical 3rd floor per inhabited 250 m cell, computed from the official building model of the City of Vienna, the terrain horizon from the official elevation model 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 homes
Currently 1907 listings sit on wohnwahn in a spot with real sunlight, sunniest first. The badge says how sunny it is.
very sunny1220 DonaustadtRarety on the market | Own land | Exclusive semi-detached house directly on the 1st row at the Old Danube | unobstructed view...€ 1,490,000 · 6 rm · 150 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNew Build Townhouse on 3 Levels – Garden, Balcony & 28 m² Roof Terrace with Far-reaching View€ 479,000 · 3 rm · 83.8 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNo Agent Fee! 3-Room Apartment with Balcony – Green View & Perfect Room Layout€ 343,500 · 3 rm · 55.8 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNo Agent Fee! 4-Room Family Apartment with Large Terrace in Green Location€ 555,500 · 4 rm · 82.4 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNo Agent Fee! 4 Rooms with Terrace in a Beautiful Location!€ 418,800 · 4 rm · 71.7 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtFreehold apartment in a green quiet location with optimal infrastructure€ 421,000 · 3 rm · 72.6 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtFeel-good house with pool, garden & wellness | very well maintained€ 785,000 · 6 rm · 201.1 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNew Build Project - Dream Houses in 1220 Vienna - No Agent Fee on Freehold Land€ 799,900 · 5 rm · 120 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNew Build Project - Dream Houses in 1220 Vienna - No Agent Fee on Freehold Land€ 749,900 · 6 rm · 115.1 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtDream apartment at a great price in high-quality new build! No agent fee€ 655,560 · 5 rm · 130.7 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtSpecial Price! No Agent Fee Early Bird Offer!€ 359,820 · 3 rm · 69.5 m²
very sunny1220 DonaustadtNew! Dreamlike 5-room semi-detached house on private land near Marchfeld Center!€ 598,890 · 5.5 rm · 127.7 m²Showing 12 of 976See listings with measured afternoon sun →
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 the official building model of the City of Vienna, the terrain horizon and the sun path.
Only inhabited cells are coloured: where nobody lives, we do not calculate. Tap the map for the hours of sunlight at that exact spot, in summer and in winter.
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 the centre (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
Inhabited spots only
We calculate where people live: the buildings come from the city’s official building model. Where no building is recorded there is no cell, and a missing cell means “not calculated”, not “no sun”. For a single address the sun check works regardless.
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.
Buildings and mountains, no diffuse light
We calculate DIRECT sun: what neighbouring buildings block and what the horizon blocks, terrain included. Diffuse skylight and reflections are not counted, so a north-facing room is bright but unlit by the sun. Trees are not counted either.
Frequently 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, the terrain horizon and the sun path.
Related topics
More honest data on where to live well in Vienna and the surrounding area.
Cool living →Where the summer heat bites less, from the official climate map.Green living →Districts with real parks, woods and meadows nearby.Wine & Heuriger →Vienna’s real wine areas: Heuriger taverns and vineyards within walking distance.
This topic inGrazSalzburgLinzSt. PöltenInnsbruckBregenzKlagenfurtEisenstadt
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: buildings from the official building model of the City of Vienna, terrain horizon from the official elevation model, sun path (astronomy) · transit: own routing on the Wiener Linien and ÖBB timetables · prices: immopreise.at / derStandard-Preisspiegel. Refreshed monthly.