Temporary Living · 6 min

A temporary apartment in Vienna, the gap between two homes

In the hallway a few wooden hangers dangle from a string off the ceiling, slightly crooked, and there is a small shell on the cabinet, a table lamp with a concrete base, a magazine left half open. None of it shouts. And yet it already tells you that someone is meant to live here, not merely to wait. A temporary apartment in Vienna thrives on exactly these small things. It is the phase between two homes, the old lease is running out, the new one does not begin for another six weeks. And the question is where you spend those weeks without them feeling like storage and a suitcase.

Why the gap between two homes is so tricky

Most moves do not fit neatly into one another. The sale drags on, the renovation takes longer, the new home only comes free in autumn. And then suddenly there is this gap, a few weeks or months in which you have to be somewhere.

And this is exactly where the mistake often happens. You take the first thing that comes along, a room with strangers' furniture, a hotel for the first nights, then the next one. The boxes stay packed. You live out of a suitcase because it does not seem worth it to truly arrive.

The makeshift arrangement eats away at your energy. You sleep worse, you do not cook, you invite no one over. Living like this for six weeks, you feel it in your shoulders. A temporary apartment in Vienna is meant to be the opposite. A place where you can unpack, even though you know you will move on again.

Furnished does not mean random

Furnished is just a word to begin with. It can mean that there is a bed and a table, nothing more. But it can also mean that someone has thought it through. That the kitchen cupboard holds not only four glasses but also a few small saucers, a jar of apricot jam from Vienna, espresso cups that actually make you want coffee in the morning.

That is the difference between a storage room and a temporary home. In the one case you are constantly missing something, in the other the essentials are already there. You do not have to buy a champagne flute for the evening you celebrate the new lease. It is already on the shelf.

With a temporary apartment, pay attention to such details. How the kitchen is stocked, not just whether there is a stove. Whether there are proper towels, a real table lamp instead of overhead light, a place where you can work. These are the things that decide whether the weeks feel carried or merely endured.

Ready to live in, how to check it

Ready to live in is a promise that is easy to verify. Imagine arriving in the evening, tired from handing over the old apartment. What do you need so that the first evening is not exhausting.

A made bed with fresh linens. Warm water that runs straight away. A lamp you can switch on without first hunting for bulbs. In the bathroom a bar of soap, a mirror, a hook for the towel. The small guest toilet with the pale tiles and the simple table lamp on the ledge looks unremarkable. But it is exactly this matter of course that is the point.

Ask specifically before moving in. Are bed linens and towels provided. Is the WiFi available on the first day. Does the kitchen work from the very first evening. A good interim apartment answers these questions with a calm yes. If the answers are evasive, you know what awaits you.

Unpacking allowed, even for a few weeks

It sounds trivial, but it is the heart of the matter. Unpack. Hang the shirts on the hangers that are already waiting. Put the jam in the fridge, set your books on the table. A person does not arrive in a suitcase, but when their things find their place.

That does not mean you have to unpack everything. The winter coat can stay in the box if it is summer. But what you need every day belongs out. The toothbrush in the cup, not in the toiletry bag. The coffee beside the machine.

When you do this in an interim apartment, something shifts. Waiting becomes living. You cook yourself something on Sunday instead of standing in line at the bakery downstairs. You invite a colleague over for a glass of wine. And suddenly those six weeks are no longer a hole in the calendar but a small time of their own.

What to look for in the location

In a transitional phase the location matters differently than in permanent living. You are not here for years, so you do not need the perfect neighbourhood. But you need short distances. To work, to the new apartment, to the supermarket.

Especially in the gap between two homes you often commute to the future address, check on the tradespeople, measure the floor again for the rug. If your interim apartment is well connected, you save yourself a great deal of back and forth.

Look too at the Graetzl you land in. A café around the corner, a market on Saturday, a park bench for the end of the day. That turns the waiting into something you remember fondly. In the end it is not the address that counts, but that you felt briefly at home in the neighbourhood.

A short checklist for the search

So that you do not grab the first thing in your haste, here are a few concrete points. First, ask about the minimum rental period and whether it is flexible. Moving dates love to shift, and you do not want to fall into a second gap.

Second, ask them to send current photos, not just the prettiest three. Request a picture of the kitchen from the inside and of the bathroom. That way you see whether furnished really means complete.

Third, clarify the additional costs. Are electricity, heating and internet included in the price. With a temporary apartment this should be settled as a flat rate, so that you do not receive a final bill once you have long since moved elsewhere.

Fourth, ask who is reachable if something goes wrong. In six weeks little tends to break, but if it does, you want a number that answers. A good host is reachable without you having to beg.

And fifth, trust the first impression. If the pictures already tell you that someone has furnished with care, then the rest usually adds up too. The hanging hangers in the hallway, the stacked crockery, the small lamp in the bathroom. These are not coincidences, this is an attitude.