Before Sunrise Vienna locations

BEFORE SUNRISE LOCATIONS

Before we deal with all the sites that Jesse and Celine have journeyed alongside Vienna, we should consider that the actual route causes some differences with the movie order of sites, and your one should be planned to be more flexible. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) perform their smooth and relaxed walk from one point to another, when the actual distance may be quite a long footpath or several transport stops. The journey to the Fridhof der Namenlos (Cemetery of the Unknown) will take 2-3 hours to complete, using the metro, then a bus, and a walk through the industrial estate next to the bank of the Danube.

After paying attention to the map of Vienna, you will probably build your journey along with the Before Sunrise Vienna locations without a strict plot order and save time and stamina. It also turned out to be wise to ignore the day-and-night schedule while we see the perspective of most sites after sunset. Vienna is a marvelous and charming city. Although Richard Linklater (Director) has distanced his characters from the crowds of tourists in the city’s very heart, the route gives a variety of extremely positive emotions and impressions as a gorgeous addition to the movie itself.

Within this article, I will follow the strict order of the Before Sunrise filming locations in Vienna, depicted in a movie by Richard Linklater.

 

BEFORE SUNRISE VIENNA LOCATIONS: WESTBAHNHOF TRAIN STATION

Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), the one-of-a-kind title characters of the Before Sunrise story, both take a chance to follow up with an unexpectedly involving chitchat beyond the train, which pulled in Vienna from Budapest a few moments before. The twosome gets off at platform № 7 and walks along the platform toward the railroad passenger terminal. A newly formed couple goes on with the chat, and finally, they get each other’s names: Jesse and Celine. Nothing more than a formality for the two blueprinted a romantic promenade across the streets of the heart of the vanished Habsburg monarchy. 

The WESTBAHNHOF RAILWAY STATION and the railway platforms, in particular, have been modernized since June 1994. As the world is beyond belief in the nonuse of mobile phones and being offline, we do not see the signs of the telephone set on the columns as it was depicted on screen. Nowadays, the terminal platforms are equipped with glass partitions, and the main building is being merchandised with dozens of shops and cafes. Nevertheless, one can experience a beloved cinematic atmosphere at the fingertips, and the Westbahnhof, within a touching distance from the city’s heart streets, could be appreciated as a perfect home point to start a day-long footing across Vienna in the footsteps of Jesse and Celine.

 

ZOLLAMTBRUKE BRIDGE

The premier walking point for Jesse and Celine to visit a few cinematic moments after the Westbahnhof station portrays itself as a cozy metal bridge of green tinctures over the river and the metro line. The nowhere-near-ambitions landmark has come to be known as the ZOLLAMTBRUCKE BRIDGE. The movie tweaks us as the last shot of the train station has just given place to a glimpse of a metro train beneath the pedestrian walkway. The two get acquainted with local amateur actors, the two semi-puzzling freaky figures, who invite Jesse and Celine to take advantage of some unprofessional theatre in Vienna later in the day.

The actual distance between the Westbahnhof Railway Station and Zollamtbrücke Bridge is to be experienced with 4 km and an hour of snail-pace walking. For this reason, a smooth interchange of perspectives between the railway and the metro line is just a pleasant movie illusion, deliberately introduced by Richard Linklater. An obstinate moviegoer should use the metro from the Westbahnhof station, taking the orange metro line (U3), and getting off at the Landstrasse (Wien Mitte) station. The desired bridge is just a few hundred meters away. The building of ‘Universität für Angewandte Kunst’ (University of Arts and Crafts) against the background of the movie camera angle has remained the same front side architecture for the past twenty-six years, as well as two columns of the Zollamtbrücke itself. The bridge is surprisingly short, with merely twenty meters of pedestrian walkway.

 

TRAM-UNIVERSITATSRING 1A

Jesse and Celine luxuriate in the quasi-iconic Vienna red tram by occupying the back spot and continuing their passionate dialogue as well as practicing an improvised outing tour. The cinematic narration unhurriedly renders delicate, picturesque, breathtaking panoramas of Vienna’s inner city in the sun of warm June weather.

The tram stop depicted in the Before Sunrise movie is located at Universitätsring 1A at the heart of a substantial transport junction at the arm’s end of Schottentor metro station. A considerate look could reveal a gorgeous ‘Votivkirche’ (Votive Church) in the dominant background. It takes half an hour to cover the distance from the Zollamtbrücke bridge on foot. Jesse and Celine take the tram, which follows the inner center ring of streets, historically appreciated as the Vienna Ring.

 

ALT & NEU MUSIC SHOP

Upon the earlier tram ride out across the heart streets of Vienna, the young twosome visits the ALT & NEU record store or music salon. Jesse and Celine pay attention to rare records and wonder about a music collection in this cozy temple of sound. A few moments later, the two take advantage of a small room by listening to the chosen records for free. Jesse and Celine feel a kind of artless closeness and an upcoming romance toward each other.

ALT & NEU Vienna music shop has once accommodated itself at Windmühlgasse 10, a stone’s throw from the very center of Vienna and indeed close enough to a tram line. A cozy street and the music shop sit next to a neighboring antique trade next door. The working hours welcome visitors at 1 p.m. at the earliest, and the early birds would find it closed, satisfying the ALT & NEU sign with a chance to take a few photos outside and another few through the dim glass of the showcase. 

 

MARIA THERESIEN PLATZ

A devoted audience is having a good time with a sequence of Jesse (ETHAN HAWKE) and Celine (JULIE DELPY), walking across a spellbinding Vienna with marvelous landmarks such as Maria Theresien Platz and the statue of Maria Theresia in the background. Fast on the heels of a brief admiration, the story gratifies with one-second tight perspectives of the monuments and statues within the spacious green-like square.

A leisure walk from the ART & NEU music saloon conventionally calls for an investment of 5 to 10 minutes. It stands to mention that the two museums, the ‘Kunsthistorisches Museum’ (Museum of Fine Arts) and the ‘Naturhistorisches Museum’ (Natural History Museum), appear like two peas and stand just opposite one another. One can still easily catch a glimpse of the exact perspective of the movie towards the 1888 statue of the Empress, who had once dominated a quarter of Europe. 

 

FRIEDHOF DER NAMENLOSEN – CEMETERY OF UNKNOWN

Jesse and Celine get on a tram again and, as depicted, make the benefit of a metro finding one’s way to another Before Sunrise Vienna location, to a lesser extent, a travel trademark than the previous ones. Celine regards the site as a restful place that makes a strong impression. As far back in history as 1900, the local officials set up a burial ground for the nameless bodies washed ashore on the bank of the Danube nearby. ‘Friedhof der Namenlosen’ is the most distant movie location: a journey to the site conventionally demands a little bit more than just a metro ride and a cozy walk.

FRIEDHOF DER NAMENLOSEN is the most distanced Before sunrise Vienna location. A journey there will demand more than just a metro ride.

• Take the metro to the Enkplatz station
• Take your way to the right side to reach a crossroad just a hundred meters away.
• Find a ‘’76 A-B” bus stop on the opposite side of the crossroad. It runs approximately every 20 minutes due to a strict schedule. A and B variants of the 76 bus have different final destinations, but you will get off at the last stop anyway.
• If the last bus stop is Alberner, you should use GPS and walk 20 minutes to reach Alberner Hafen bus station.
• If the bus destination is Alberner Hafen already (the best variant), we are almost at the place. The Austrian industrial estate makes an extremely positive impression, and the next 10 minutes to the cemetery will make your day. The only road will take you to the Friedhof Der Namenlosen.

CEMETERY OF THE UNKNOWN is, in fact, a secluded and isolated site next to an industrial harbor with some rare tourists, usually out of interest or bravery, even among those willing to visit iconic movie locations. The burying ground is only about 15*15 meters with two benches and a small erection, nowadays filled with equipment. Graves and trees are wreathed with old stuffed animal toys—an image that may be considered creepy, especially in the later hours.

 

VIENNA PRATER PARK AND RIESENRAD

Themed on a journey to a secluded resting place in the margins of Vienna, Jesse and Celine wander their way to the all-liked park with an amusement area. A young couple enjoys breathtaking sunset-wide angles from a cabin of the landmark-like ‘Wiener Riesenrad’ Ferris Wheel. Aforegoing hours of mutual activities all come to a peak with a kiss, heartily desired by both. 

Praterstern metro station is located across the street from the park, which impresses with its size and scale of entertainment activities. A single Ferris wheel circle takes ten to fifteen minutes to enjoy an overhead view of Vienna. The brown cabins remained very similar to the image depicted in Before Sunrise, with a chance to experience the same gorgeous viewpoint.

 

KLEINES CAFE

Jesse and Celine intuitively agree on spending time in a small street café. The twosome notices an old lady envisaged to be a palm reader. The one does not lose a chance to make some prophecies and grants a young couple with tips of general information and a piece of well-staged music for the hearing of every second girl.

KLEINES CAFE is oneself within arm’s reach of the heart of Vienna and only a five-minute walk to the StephansPlatz metro station and the iconic cathedral itself. This tiny, uncrowded square next to overpopulated main streets is favored as an islet of coziness. A cafeteria is still in place with the same front side and chairs on the square, which has changed slightly since 1994.

 

MARIA AM GESTADE CHURCH

The title characters of Before Sunrise romantic story go into the MARIA AM GESTADE church to find themselves the only visitors at that moment of the late hours. An easeful and soothing atmosphere welcomes an opportunity to maintain a conversation between the two. The gorgeous church’s interior fits well with the experience of walking the Vienna streets. 

The church is architecturally squeezed between the nearby buildings, and it takes 15 minutes to get here from the outdoor comfort of the Kleines café. One can enjoy the very same low perspective with stone stairs. Despite the maiden impression, the steps have little in common with a typical exit from the metro and serve to surpass the difference in height between the two streets.

While Maria Am Gestade granted us the exterior shots, the interior scene with Jessy and Celine was filmed inside another church: Kirche Mariahilf (Church of Mariahilf), a Baroque Parish church in the city center.

 

DANUBE PROMENADE AND A POET

Jesse and Celine enjoy their improvised walking tour across Vienna and make it to the DANUBE CANAL QUAY. A charismatic young man turned out to be an amateur street poet, volunteering to write a short poem, devoted to a couple. This scene is positively appreciated for the ‘Milkshake’ poem, awarded with some tips.

A pedestrian quay of the Danube canal extends for kilometers with early morning runners and bicycle riders. A moviegoer may be confused by dozens of stairs similar to those depicted in Before Sunrise. The exact movie location is easy to find considering the buildings in the background of the scene, a café which has remained pretty much the same since 1994.

 

ARENA CLUB AND PINBALL GAME

Before Sunrise Vienna lovebirds happen to find some grotesque club, painted with graffiti and accompanied by an arena of amateur musicians performing themselves in front of a small audience. JESSE and CELINE do a battle in a pinball game, followed by an intimate discussion of the former geek’s romantic relations.

ARENA CLUB looks the same as depicted in Before Sunrise, with even more graffiti outside and inside at present. The site is the second-farthest Before Sunrise movie location after the ‘Friedhof der Namenlosen’, 5 km from the center of Vienna, and a quay with an amateur poet. The nearest metro station is ‘Erdberg’ and it takes up to 15 minutes on foot to reach the Arena club complex: several buildings with the same graffiti style, the stand and geeks with dreads, yet unfortunately with no pinball machines.

 

A COBBLESTONE STREET IN VIENNA

A kind of slow-paced, melodious walking of Jesse and Celine along the narrow, cranking street, historically paved with block stones, ends with a perspective of a couple going down a cozy by-street. The location is rather far from the Arena Club and could be found in the heart of Vienna, with ‘Schottentor’ as the nearest metro station. A cobblestone street is squeezed between buildings on the other side of the street, facing Vienna University with a former ‘Beethoven’s house’, where a famous composer used to live in Vienna (now the building includes a museum of Beethoven). A few sectors of a street form a 100-meter walking route.

 

STREET DANCE OF BIRTH

The story’s cinematic narration keeps an illusion of one linear, ceaseless route. Jesse and Celine change one street with stone blocks to another of a similar kind and come across a woman performing a belly dance next to the corner. Celine (Julie Delpy) comments upon the show as some ancient ritual known as A DANCE OF BIRTH.

Once again, this movie location is well distanced from the previous one. One will need to take a metro for two stations and find one’s way on the fringes of the ‘Volkstheater’. The very sight of a movie dance preserved relatively the same look with a door, a stone pavement, and greenery. Moments after Jesse and Celine resume walking, a couple finds a place to have an improvised break within a by-street alley of the historic Spittelberg area. 

 

SPERL CAFÉ: A PHONE SCENE

Jesse and Celine come across Café Sperl and take advantage of a cute place at one of the tables with crimson sofas. The lovebirds put on a telephone call to France and the USA with their best friends on the act, thus expressing their emotions and mutual attitude using a played-in scene.  

SPERL CAFE stations itself within a restless intersection of Vienna streets, a little bit aside from the city center, yet at close range to the location of ‘A Dance of Birth’. At the lapse of a generation, the tables look about the same, as well as crimson-golden sofas against the wall. A passionate movie enthusiast can take the same table, the third from the bar counter.

 

ALBERTINA BALCONY

The leading characters are set in time within a marble balcony balustrade of ‘Albertina’ with a breathtaking viewpoint over ‘Wiener Staatsoper’ (Vienna State Opera). This all-absorbing place in the heart of Vienna is not generally overcrowded, so one can easily take photos of the exact perspective with a few tourists in the frame. Jesse and Celine ease up ten meters next to the Albrecht statue—another venue to appear towards the end of a story.

 

A BOAT CAFÉ ON THE DANUBE

A boat café, moored to a Danube canal pier, is located at a distance from the Albertina Gallery, yet a five-minute walk from a section of a quay to meet an amateur poet. Jesse and Celine play on another maiden conversation to soften an inevitable moment of saying goodbye.

As of 2017, the boat was still moored in the same place near the pier, and anyone can identify the exact location with the benefit of the buildings and a bridge in the background. The former float-boat and restaurant are now abandoned, covered with graffiti and sweeps of garbage, and for obvious reasons without any cafe tables and candles onboar,d with an entrance blocked with metal bars.

 

ROXY CLUB

The twosome comes across an underground nightclub, red-styled with lightning of the same color. Jesse succeeds in finding a bottle of wine to keep on probably the best day and evening of his life.

ROXY CLUB is located at arm’s length to the Karlsplatz metro station, yet distanced enough from the Danube canal quay and the depicted boat café. The working hours give the go-ahead to daytime visitors, yet anyone can still take a picture of the red entrance sign next to a closed door.

 

SCHWARZENBERG PARK

The movie location builds up that day of walking in Vienna in June 1994 to a climax for Jesse and Celine with a bottle of wine and an unrevealed scene of foretasted intimacy within a secluded urban park.

SCHWARZENBERG Park does not welcome tourists as well as the palace of the same name, being a fenced private property amid Vienna landmarks. While a majority of moviegoers consider themselves satisfied with the parking site nearby, having, in fact, no connection with a Before Sunrise actual Vienna location, one could still come across a spot at the fence to take photos of the park 20 meters from the actual venue of Jesse and Celine relaxing.

 

CLAVECIN MELODY

In the early morning, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy walk along the sleepy streets of Vienna and take a breath at an open ground-floor window of one of the buildings, no more notable than the others. The title characters are charmed by a clavecin melody, performed by a man with a luxurious interior. 

This site, among the locations, is 15 minutes distance from Schwarzenberg Park. A window with the same green metal bars remained the same, with a children’s play yard in the background of the cozy street.

 

ALBRECHT MONUMENT

Jesse and Celine deliberately savor the moment at the foot of the Albrecht statue, measuring minutes until an upcoming need to say goodbye. If one looks at the exact location, the two loving birds have found their way back to the Albertina gallery in the very heart of Vienna. Considering the semi-secluded nature of the balcony next to the iconic ‘Wiener Staatsoper’, passionate movie enthusiasts can take time beneath the statue without crowds of eager, though at noon. 

 

SAYING GOODBYE AT THE VIENNA WESTBAHNHOF

Jesse and Celine feel frustrated about needing to say goodbye to each other, as they just spent the best day of their lives up to this point. The two agree to reunite at the same spot in six months (December 16, 1994), without exchanging contact information. A few moments later, the character of Ethan Hawke leaves the platform and dips into the main building of the Westbahnhof (the starting point movie location) with a mix of factless anticipation and painful confusion in his eyes. The main building remained the same but has been impactfully modernized since 1994. The character of Julie Delpy tiredly and thoughtfully accommodates herself at the window seat of a train.

 

Also, I want to share my personal BEFORE/AFTER video journey to the BEFORE SUNRISE LOCATIONS.