Vienna might be the most beautiful city in the world to visit during the Christmas market season. It has a fantastic atmosphere, tons of Christmas markets and beautiful lights everywhere.
Those who love a city with Christmas markets will love Vienna. If you haven’t been to the city before, you must visit it during the Christmas market season. We have been to Christmas markets all across Europe, but nothing can compare to the city of Vienna before Christmas. It isn’t just a city with Christmas markets; it is a big Christmas market in itself. You will find stands everywhere where you can buy hot wine, there are lots of markets, and there are some unique markets entirely different from the markets you find elsewhere in Europe (for example the Spittelberg market).
The goal of this article is not to tell you about the different Christmas markets in Vienna. If you want to read more about the Christmas markets in Vienna, click the link and read that article. In this article, we will give you some recommendations and tips that will help you as you visit Vienna in November/December with the intention of visiting the Christmas markets.
Vienna Christmas market recommendations
Be ready for crowds
Vienna is fantastic before Christmas. As a consequence, you should prepare yourself for crowds everywhere, especially during the weekends. The most famous Christmas market in Vienna, the one in front of the City Hall (Rathausplatz), is the most crowded of them all. It can sometimes be hard to look at all the products at different stands because of the amount of visitors. Some people enjoy the crowds, but if you do not particularly enjoy them, try visiting the Christmas markets during day-time on weekdays (not weekends). In the afternoon/evening, there will be crowds every single day of the week.
Walk around on foot
As we mentioned in the introduction, Vienna is a fantastic city in the Christmas market season. There are Christmas fairs everywhere. As a result, we recommend you to discover the city center of Vienna on foot. Walk around, feel the smell of the city, and discover Christmas fairs you did not read about in our Vienna Guide or elsewhere on the Internet. Stop to taste some hot wine at a stand somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Bring a GPS (or have Google Maps ready) so that you will find your way back home after walking up and down streets in the center of Vienna because you might not actually know where you are!
Buy a hot wine mug
As you visit the Christmas markets in Vienna, you are most likely to fall in love with the city. By the time you return home, you will be eager to plan your Christmas market trip to Vienna next year. One of the nice traditions you can create is to buy the annual Christmas market cup at the fair in front of the City Hall. Every year they produce a new cup, and thus this can be a nice souvenir to bring with you back home.
Bring warm clothes
Do not forget that Vienna can get quite cold in November and December. You might not feel it at once, but if you plan on walking around the city for several hours, you might get cold feet, or your ears might get red. Bring some extra warm clothes instead, ensuring you can stay outside for hours without feeling miserable because of the cold.
Eat at the Christmas markets
You might not want to eat all your meals outside at the Christmas markets, but make sure to eat at the Christmas fairs a couple of times. There are so many interesting things to taste, and you will probably have the chance to eat some food you haven’t tasted before. Maybe you are a skeptic who only loves food you love from before, but sometimes you had to fall in love with that food as well, so why not try something new, and maybe you will fall in love once again? If you taste something you do not like, so what? You spent a couple of Euro tasting something, which makes you a few Euro poorer, but an experience richer. We think you will say that it was worth it!
Live in the heart of Vienna
There are Christmas markets everywhere in Vienna. Most of them are located in the heart of Vienna, with some exceptions, for example, the Christmas fair by Schönbrunn. Still, you will save a lot of time if you live in the heart of Vienna, which will give you immediate access to the shopping opportunities Vienna has to offer during this period. You should know that living at a hotel in Vienna is quite expensive, at least if you compare it with Budapest and Prague, but that is a part of what you need to calculate as you plan your trip to Vienna.
There are many hotels to choose from, but here you have some recommendations: Hotel Sacher, Hotel Am Stephansplatz, Hotel Zur Viener Staatsoper.
Be early with your bookings
It can get really crowded in Vienna during the Christmas fair season, but not only on the Christmas markets but also in restaurants. As a result, you should book your table at your favorite Vienna restaurant as soon as possible. The same is true if you want to book an airport transfer in Vienna, enjoy a concert or take part in a guided tour of some sort.
Bring your camera
You probably have a good camera on your phone, but if you want to travel back home with some fantastic pictures, you might want to bring your real camera as well. As you visit the Christmas markets you will have plenty of chances to make some awesome pictures, especially in the evenings. But, making a good photo in the evening can be a hard task, so if you have a stand for your camera, bring that with you as well.
What is your advice?
Have you been to Vienna for the Christmas markets before? Do you havesome experience or piece of advice to give? We would love for oyu to share whatever comes to your mind!
