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The Prater has something to offer for the whole family: take a ride with the children on the fairy-tale railway, the children’s dodgems and the scenic railway. The Vienna Prater is a modern adventure world, offering Action and Fun with 250 different attractions, from casino automats to auto-drome rinks, ball toss and shooting booths, exciting roller coasters and ghost trains to flight simulators. Plummet down the extra-long slides, laugh yourselves crooked, bent, fat or thin in the hall of mirrors, savor the romantic nostalgia of an old merry-go-round or the great variety on offer from the Prater caterers: from pickled gherkins to boiled beef. The Wiener Prater is a large public park in Vienna’s second district. The name Prater derives ultimately from the Latin word pratum meaning meadow, possibly via Spanish Prado. The term Prater is often used to mean the Wurstelprater amusement park which stands in one corner of the Prater and includes the Riesenrad. “Green Prater” – the spacious forest and meadow area which was once an imperial hunting ground and was opened by Emperor Joseph II to the public. As a consequence, the first coffeehouses and restaurants opened their doors.The Prater comprises 6 million square meters. Expansive meadows and forests as well as a great deal of water offer the ideal surrounding for relaxed walks, spirited hikes, extensive jogging, skating and bicycle tours, and much more.

The Prater also accommodates the oldest entertainment park in the world – the Viennese Wurstelprater. Not only children and kids find attractions to their taste: Ferris wheel and roller coaster, torture chamber and a leisurely train and lots of other fun are here to choose from. The public attractions are opened in summer well into the night. Children especially enjoy merry-go-rounds, Punch and Judy Shows, the old Viennese grotto train and much more. This varied entertainment program is complemented by more than sixty cafes and restaurants, and ice cream and snack stands.

The most popular and famous attraction of the Prater is the Giant Ferris Wheel. Since 1897, the “Riesenrad” has taken its turns – in a leisurely and quiet manner. Today the tempo of the times has changed and one finds faster rides at the Prater: Turbo Boost and Bungee Jump, Ejection Seat and Space Shot are but a few of the examples of extreme speed. The Giant Ferris Wheel has been a symbol of Vienna’s Prater district, and with its famous silhouette seen from far off it has become the city’s trademark.
At the entrance area, a “Panorama” tells the history of this monumental Ferris wheel and the City of Vienna – with nostalgic installations that drift past you in giant Ferris wheel cars. The memory of the old Viennese Prater lives on in the figure of “Calafati” – the giant statue of a Chinese man in the center of the amusement park. Originally the 27-foot-high statue, which has become somewhat of a modest landmark of the Prater, was the central figure of a merry-go-round owned by the magician and restaurant owner Basilio Calafati (1800-1878) in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Star Flyer ascends the tower at Vienna’s Prater Park. Guests are seated in seats suspended by chains from the center ring, which looks like a star. The vertical movement is provided by a large motor which operates much like a passenger elevator and utilizes a counterweight and fail-safe brakes. As the winch vertically moves the rig motors on the ring spin it forwards and backwards, giving passengers quite a thrill.
The wonders of the heavens await you in the Planetarium. And the Prater Museum you shows mementos of the old Wurstelprater amusement park, which was destroyed in 1945 during the last days of World War II. A local Viennese historian, Hans Pemmer, amassed a huge collection of memorabilia and donated it to the City of Vienna.