Sports enthusiasts – those who enjoy engaging in them as well as those who just prefer to be spectators – will definitely find Vienna with a wide variety of choices. The city itself boasts of a good number of sports facilities and green spaces for a variety of recreational and professional sports – from fitness clubs, indoor sports centers, spa salons, swimming pools, climbing halls to ice rinks during the winter and many more. Moreover, Vienna has more than 1,200 kilometers of cycle paths and over 500 kilometers of city hiking trails. Even extreme sports enthusiasts can get their kicks in the city – there’s bungee jumping that is occasionally offered from the tallest building in the country, the Danube Tower.
For spectator sports, Vienna also has many enjoyable events that bring in hundreds of thousands of fans. The city is home to a good many sports teams: there are the football clubs First Vienna FC (Austria’s oldest football team), FK Austria Wien and SK Rapid Wien; one of Europe’s leading volleyball teams the Aon hotVolleys Vienna; the ice hockey team Vienna Capitals; the 2009 Austrian Baseball League winner Superfund Wanderers; and the rugby clubs of Vienna Celtic, RC Donau and Stade Viennois.
The city has hosted major sporting events such as the 2005 Ice Hockey World Championship, the 2008 European Football Championship, the 2011 European Volleyball Championship, the 2011 American Football World Championship and the European Maccabi Games and this year’s International Tournament of Hockey Legends. An ongoing popular event is the annual Vienna City Marathon.
Traditionally taking place in May, Austria’s biggest and most popular running event attracts over 30,000 participants from all over the world.
