Vienna Christmas Markets

In late Autumn 2024, I was sent by Jet2 on one of their Christmas Market breaks weekends, to Vienna. I went with my friend Laura, and you can learn more about our trip in general here. Also, while we were there, we took the opportunity to take a night at the opera. But checking out the Christmas Markets was the main reason for the trip.

A selfie of two people, one in a bobble hat with purple hair, the other with long dark hair, in front of a collection of market stalls.

The two of us, at Am Hof Market.

Now, one of the issues I’ve certainly had with British Christmas Markets is that they’re … not very inspiring. They tend to be quite small, lined with the same old tat sold by slightly different people, and a strong focus on mulled red wine. They also tend to look and feel pretty similar – transplant the stalls in Birmingham to Leeds and no-one would really notice the difference. Many people, both within and without the travel blogging scene, rave about European Christmas Markets, and I was keen to see for myself if this would prove true, or if it was just a case of Instagram v Reality.

What is a Christmas Market?

I guess it helps to define what is meant by ‘Christmas Market’. In the simplest form, it’s a street market, with stalls selling warm drinks, warm food, and trinkets, that takes place in the month or so leading up to Christmas. However they have a very long tradition in Central Europe, notably in the German-speaking areas; indeed Vienna was one of the earliest cities to have one and can date the tradition to as long ago as the late 1290s. Even today, it’s considered the best markets to visit are in Germany and surrounding cities (like Strasbourg).

People milling about around market stalls in the weak sunshine. Behind them, dominating the background, is Schönbrunn Palace.

Stalls in Schõnbrunn Market, with Schönbrunn Palace in the background.

Originally designed to provide a way for city-folk to buy and sell wares (mainly meat) to prepare for Christmas, they developed over time into full and all-encompassing marketplaces, including artisanal products. They also became a ‘tradition’, so even when supermarkets and modern shopping practices made it much easier to do Christmas ‘prep’, the markets remained and became associated with history and tourism, rather than, well, markets.

Opening times and dates tend to vary across the world; most open up in mid-to-late November, and close around Christmas – Manchester’s seem to close a couple of days before Christmas, while some stay open until just after New Year’s Day. As for opening times; the ones in Vienna we noticed opened late morning – before midday, certainly – and closed sharp by 10:30pm. Not a place for late night drinking.

A very colourful scene with a highly-lit market stall selling punch below a tree with Christmas lights, and in front of a lit-up town hall building.

The colourful lights at Rathaus Market.

How many Christmas Markets does Vienna have?

As one of the most notable and most historic centres for Christmas Markets, there’s a lot of them in and around the city centre. I’ve genuinely no idea how many the Vienna city region has; I’ve seen some websites mention upwards of 20. In the time we had available to us, we visited six – a couple of ones close by we didn’t make it to include the popular and notable one at Belvedere Palace, and a couple around the Universities. They vary in size, popularity, and facilities, from the really narrow Schrankgasse, to the huge complex set up outside the Rathaus. They each have their own personality, their own style, their own reason for visiting, and while the chances are you ‘d by-and-large find the same kinds of food, drink, and trinkets on offer, I thought they felt different enough to make them all worth a trip.

What are the Christmas Markets in Vienna?

Stefansplatz

Where: very centre of the city, outside and alongside the cathedral.
How to get there: walk. Or there’s a U-Bahn (Stefansplatz) just right there.
Size: It’s not that big, but it occupies the full width of the pedestrian area around two sides of the cathedral. It fades out into the main shopping area of the city; as such it gets very crowded, more so even than Rathaus, even with fewer people.
Facilities: None, save convenience.
Feelings: It’s the first of the markets we went to, and it was a nice introduction. It was quite hard to find a sensible place to stop and eat – we ended up leaning against the side of one of the stalls. It’s a really nice setting though, especially at night as the Cathedral gets all lit up.

Wide view of Christmas Market stalls at the foot of a large stone cathedral.

Stefansplatz Christmas Market, cathedral behind.

Market stalls at the foot of a lit-up cathedral in purple lights.

Stefanplatz at night.

Am Hof

Where: On the north side of the city centre, close to Judenplatz.
How to get there: Nearest U-Bahn is Herrengasse though the quickest way between them is down a side-alley (Haarhof). If you don’t know it’s there, it’s not an easy one to come across accidentally.
Size: Small. Of all the markets we went to, it probably has the fewest stalls.
Facilities: None.
Feelings: Its size made it feel quite comfy and friendly. It’s a good shape, in that it takes up most of a small city square, but the stalls are quite far apart so it feels like there’s a lot more space than there actually is. It’s not all that touristy either.

One of the entrances to the Am Hof market.

Inside the Am Hof market. Pedestrianised cobbled floor, single-storey stalls on either side and lined with Christmas lights, 19th Century five-storey office building behind.

Inside Am Hof market.

Marie-Theresen-Platz

Where: Outside the Marie-Theresen building. On the edge of the city centre, on the inner Ring Road, close to the Rathaus and several museums.
How to get there: A nice little walk down Heldenplatz, through very Imperial Vienna. Closest U-Bahn is Volkstheater.
Size: Bigger than it looks when you walk in. It goes back quite a long way.
Facilities: None.
Feelings: I liked this one. It had the nicest array of kitchen-food (jams, pestos, bottles of liqueur) which we sadly couldn’t take back. It’s also, whisper it quietly, the nicest location – from the centre of the square there’s three grandiose Imperial buildings (now museums) clearly visible.

Overview of Marie-Theresen market; people wandering past stalls with triangular blue roofs. A fountain is in the background and imperial buildings are in the background and on the right.

Wide view of Marie-Theresen Market.

People milling about in front of a couple of market stalls with Christmas lights hanging down from the triangular roofs. An imperial-looking building is in the background.

Market stalls at Marie-Theresen Market

Spittelberg

Where: Southwest of the city centre ring road, just beyond the modern art museum.
How to get there: It is quite hard to find. The nearest U-Bahn is Volkstheater, then head west along Burggasse and the northern entrance is on the left, just past the Duke pub/sports bar. We came at it from the South side, on Stiftgasse, next to the S-Bahn stop of the same name.
Size: Small. It’s a long narrow pedestrian road with a couple of bends in it. If you start on Stiftgasse, the initial walk-through feels very small and very local-market-like, but turn the corner and it keeps going.
Facilities: None.
Feelings: It felt very much like the ‘locals’ market; it was very chill and we had almost no sense of tourism. Most of the stalls were cash-only. It was a good place to sit and drink while the sun went down and the lights went on on the stalls, as it was a very ‘close’ and intimate atmosphere. It had the most unique and specialised mugs, and it was also the only market we went to that we noticed a Greek food stall.

View long a narrow street, looking at a drink stall and a bare tree covered in Christmas lights. Dusk is falling.

Spittelberg Market as dusk falls.

Close-up of a glühwein mug that says 'Weihnachtsmarkt Am Spittelberg'.

Mug at Spittelberg Market.

Rathaus

Where: On the west side of the city, on the Ring Road, outside the Rathaus, funnily enough. You can’t miss it.
How to get there: There’s several U-Bahn stations convenient, including Rathaus itself (when they finish the work on the U2/U5 lines), otherwise the nearest is Schottentor, a short walk north on the Ring Road. Or just walk from the city centre.
Size: Huge. Massive. Like a small city.
Facilities: Woodland walks, light shows, large ice-rink, ferris wheel.
Feelings: … okay, so this is odd, but I didn’t think it was actually all that good. It’s definitely the biggest of the markets we went to, but most of it was ambiance rather than the market itself. It’s certainly the most visually impressive, but ultimately there’s not a lot ‘there’, in terms of stalls, or it didn’t feel like that anyway. I will say though this is probably the best market for children; there’s a lot of displays and dioramas geared towards the wee ones.

Rathaus Christmas Market at night, with the Rathaus itself in the background.

Overview of Rathaus Christmas Market – lit-up stalls across the picture, above people's heads, and below a lot of trees.

Rathaus Christmas Market in the trees.

Schönbrunn

Where: Schönbrunn Palace, 5km west-south-west of the city centre.
How to get there: U-Bahn to Schönbrunn is probably the easiest.
Size: Reasonable. It fills up the whole of the front courtyard of the Palace
Facilities: Small ferris wheel, small ice rink. The only market we noticed that had covered stalls set up to stand and eat at.
Feelings: We went at lunchtime so it didn’t feel as crowded as the others. It felt quite calm. Maybe it’s an afternoon thing. Of all the markets we went to, it also felt the most ‘artisanal’, in the sense the craft stalls here were more varied and ‘crafty’ than the other venues.

Overview of the entrance to Schonbrunn Market, with a huge five-pointed star central in shot. The Palace is in the background.

The main entrance to Schõnbrunn Market.

People milling about around market stalls in the weak sunshine. The ground is gravel.

Stalls in Schõnbrunn Market.

What can you eat and drink at Vienna’s Christmas Markets?

Before we went, Laura had this plan that everything we’d eat, apart from breakfast, would be at the markets, because she was already expecting the food to be lush. We didn’t stick to that rule in the end, but we certainly had a good selection and range of nibbles and drinks.

Close-up of one of the market stalls at Marie-Theresen market, selling all manner of different types of Pesto.

With regard to the drink, and this is the same everywhere, you have to pay not just for the drink but also a deposit for the mug, which tended to be about half the price of the drink. You could either keep the mug, or hand it back when you’d finished and you get your deposit back. Regardless of whether you pay in cash or on card, the deposit comes back in coins. The mugs themselves can vary, although they usually have a Christmassy theme. The ones at Stefansplatz, for instance, were red and in the style of a Christmas stocking. Conversely, the ones at Spittelberg were more like mugs, and had quotes from, and images of, Immanuel Kant on them. I don’t know why.

Close-up of a glühwein mug that has a long quote from Immanuel Kant on it. In the original German.

Immanuel Kant mug at Spittelberg Market.

Food we found across the Christmas Markets

Soup in a bread bowl. These are large crusty ‘cobs’ of bread, hollowed out and filled with a hot stew, including garlic cream, goulash, and pumpkin. Very warming, not as difficult to eat as you’d imagine, and no the bread doesn’t disintegrate.
Large pretzels. The ones we had were Laugenbrezel – made specifically of lye bread, and then topped with various spices and flavours.
Spätzle – the classic. An Austrian version of mac-and-cheese, with a variety of toppings available, including crispy onion.
Waffles on a stick – battered waffles but eaten like ice-lollies rather than with a knife & fork. They are dipped in all manner of sweet flavours; we had caramel and cinnamon.
Currywurst – the archetypal Christmas Market sausage. Served chopped up with curry powder, sauce, and a bread roll (but not *in* the bread roll).
Sausages in a bun. More Bratwursts than you can wave an innuendo at. The speciality in Vienna is the Bosna, a grilled sausage served with onions, sauce, and curry powder.
Almost everything you could ever want to do with a potato, including what seem to be potato versions of Spätzle, Potato Cakes (Kartoffelpuffer, as sampled at Marie-Theresen), and of course a million and one different types of Knödl, or potato dumplings. Mine was Selchfleischknödl – smoked meat – but at the stall I went to at Schönbrunn, mushrooms or beef were also available.
Roasted Chestnuts (Maroni), of course, were everywhere
Lots of things made with Gingerbread (Lebkuchen). I’ve never been fond of it to be honest. Don’t diss me!

Two bread rolls on a wooden table, one open and showing the stew inside.

Bread Roll Soup.

Close-up of one of the market stalls at Marie-Theresen market, selling all manner of different types of Laugenbretzel.

Close-up of a cardboard plate of food on a wooden table. The food is a mixed-up mess of chopped meat, chopped cheese, and chopped onion.

Spätzle.

Waffle on a stick.

A small cardboard plate on a wooden table contains a pile of chopped sausage, covered in a sauce and curry powder. Below is a bread roll.

Currywurst.

A bratwurst sausage in a long bun, with sauce, curry powder, and onions, on a wooden table.

A Bosna, or Viennese Hot Dog.

Someone with a non-binary bobble-hat, purple hair, glasses, and a blue denim jacket is eating a potato dumpling covered with crispy onion.

Selchfleischknödl.

Drink we found across the Christmas Markets

Glühwein – the traditional Christmas Market drink. Available made from either red or white wine, which caused a bit of a cultural-discovery moment between us as I’ve only ever come across red, but Laura felt white was much more common. Anyway, we had both. For science. And blogging. I preferred the white but then I’m not fond of red wine anyway. Or hot wine in general, I must say.
Fruit punches – similar to glühwein in the sense they’re hot and alcoholic, but made with fruit liqueurs. We had apfelpunsch (apple) and it had bits of apple in it.
Schnapps. We had a shot of pine liqueur, slightly accidentally, at Marie-Theresen. It was a drink we have now had.
Austrian (and German) beer. Because obviously.

Top—down view of two mugs of gluhwein on a wooden table. The mugs look like Christmas stockings.

A couple of mugs of glühwein.

A mug, looking like a Christmas stocking, in front of a stall selling children's toys. The mug contains a liquid and a slice of apple.

Apple punch, complete with apple.

Close-up of a woman holding a mug of drink, in front of a drink stall and a bare tree covered in Christmas lights. Dusk is falling.

Laura drinking glühwein at Spittelberg Market.

We did not try the Kinderpunsch, the non-alcoholic version of glühwein. Because why would we?!

What else can you do at Vienna’s Christmas Markets?

Aside from eating & drinking, we didn’t do a lot else at the markets. We were only travelling with hand luggage so we weren’t in a position to buy a load of pine liqueur or Austrian smoked cheese (although clearly we were tempted by both). Plus we don’t have any reason to buy Christmassy trinkets or pastry cutters in the shape of a foot. Even if that would be highly on-brand for, well, one of us at least. It was very chill to just wander around and see what was on offer though.

A small ferris wheel in front of the large palace building.

The ferris wheel at Schõnbrunn Market.

One thing that we did do though was ice-skating. As mentioned above, the market outside the Rathaus had a large skating rink. Well, it’d be more accurate to say it was a skating circuit – covering maybe a third of the entire market, it was a weaving route through the trees rather than a circular or rectangular arena. Laura had been keen that we try it out, and after much indecision (and several glühweins), we did.

View looking straight down the ice-skating path. Several skaters are on the ice. Lit up stalls and unlit big buildings are in the background. There are lit bare trees to either side of the iceweay.

Some people on the ice, skating better than I would be.

Well, one of us did. I’ve never been ice-skating, for very good reasons, and this was absolutely not the right time to start. So while she channelled her Minnesotan heritage and sauntered around the ice for the best part of an hour, I stayed the other side of the fence and watched people skating past. Some of them were majestic, as if they’d been born on skates. Others staggered along, holding onto the fence for dear life. Reader, you know exactly where I would have been.