Mariahilfer Strasse

Mariahilfer Strasse is Vienna's principal shopping street, running 3.7 kilometres between the Museumsquartier and Westbahnhof station across the 6th and 7th districts. The route follows an old road out of the city in use since Roman times and developed into a commercial thoroughfare during nineteenth-century industrialisation; Vienna's first shopping centre, the Generali Center, opened on it in 1968. On 16 August 2013 the central section between Kirchengasse and Andreasgasse became a pedestrian zone, and from May 2014 the remainder became shared space with a 20 kilometre per hour limit, giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists while allowing deliveries. International and Austrian retailers line the street alongside department stores, with smaller boutiques on the side streets of Neubau. Four underground stations serve it along its length: Museumsquartier on the U2, Neubaugasse and Zieglergasse on the U3, and Westbahnhof on the U3 and U6. It is busiest on Saturday afternoons.