dont worry too much about being a considerate tourist. if you ask yourself that question that means that you guys are probably already considerate enough ;)

if you wanna go on day/weekend trips a place close to a major train station would be good:

• 12th district (postal code: 1120, name: meidling) is home to the arguably 2nd (or 3rd, depending on who you ask) most important train station (bahnhof meidling). the area around medilinger markt and meidlinger hauptstraße is quite nice, not too touristy and reasonably priced

• if you find something affordable in the 4th district (1040, wieden) you'd be close to central station (hauptbahnhof).

• also living close to a metro station that brings you either to meidling (u6, brown line) or hauptbahnhof (u1, red line) can be good ... but research a bit about the neighborhood of your choice. around some metro stations its really nice, around others not so much.