Tür 7 hides behind a plain Josefstadt door marked only with a brass 7, with a 35-seat parlour room, no printed menu, and bartenders building bespoke cocktails to each guest in turn.
Tip: Ring the bell and wait; if full nobody enters. Reserve by email for groups over two and brief the bartender on a spirit you like.
Address: Buchfeldgasse 7, 1080 Wien, Vienna
Loos opened in 1908 on the Kärntner Durchgang off Kärntner Strasse as Adolf Loos's American Bar, a 27 square metre room of yellow marble, mahogany and mirrors that still serves the canonical Vienna cocktail list.
Tip: Walk-in only; 27 square metres means standing room after 22:00. Order a classic; the room rewards a Negroni and a slow drink.
Kruger's has run at Krugerstrasse 5 since the 1920s as the oldest cocktail bar still trading in Vienna, with the original Chesterfield leather, 1920s lamps, two long bars and a list that runs over 100 cocktails.
Tip: Daily happy hour to 20:00; cigar smokers go to the back room. The whisky and rum stock is the deepest in the 1st district.
First Floor anchors the Bermuda Triangle on Seitenstettengasse with a giant planted aquarium behind the counter and an Eichinger oder Knechtl interior, running over 300 cocktails and a live jazz set on Thursday evenings.
Tip: Climb the staircase from Seitenstettengasse; the bar is on the first floor as the name promises. Thursday jazz draws a packed counter.
Eden has run on Liliengasse since 1916, kept by the Schimanko family for nearly five decades, with a live band, parquet dancefloor and a guestbook that once held Romy Schneider, Liz Taylor and Helmut Newton.
Tip: Live band most evenings from 21:00; book a table for the dancefloor. Closed Sunday to Tuesday; Wednesday is reserved for special events.
Why Not opened on Tiefer Graben in 1980 as the oldest queer dance club in Vienna, with three floors, a darkroom and a regular weekend rotation of drag and go-go nights pulling a mixed gay and straight crowd from the 1st district.
Tip: Free entry before midnight Friday and Saturday; the dancefloor fills after 01:00. ID checks at the door, ages 18 plus.
Felixx opened on Gumpendorfer Strasse in 2004 in the heart of the Naschmarkt gay village, with crystal chandeliers, life-sized portraits, a wine and cocktail bar upstairs and a club room with sound rig in the cellar.
Tip: Outdoor tables in summer; the basement opens for events. Cocktails are stronger than the price suggests.