A little guide for the pre-Christmas season
The time before Christmas starts at the middle of november with various beautiful Christmas Markets in Vienna. Either you are more into tradtition or modern types – Vienna has it all.
Christmas Markets in Vienna start at the 3rd of November with „Winter at MQ“ at the Museumsquartier. Fans of modern and arty kind of pre-Christmas season will be delighted with its various program. There you can enjoy every day not only hot punch but also delicious specialties at the colorful ice pavilions. But there is also something for the eye: You can gaze at spectacular projections from „Lichttapete“ at the front entrance and on the Leopold Museum. If you are looking for some special presents, you can stop by Wintershopping at MQ Point.
Traditional Christmas Markets in Vienna
For everyone more into tradtitional Christmas Markets in Vienna, there will be many choices to make from the 11th of November. On this day two Christmas Markets open their gates – one at St. Stephen’s Cathedral and one „am Hof“. Both of this markets impress with their contemplation, tradition and high-class arts and crafts. Just on the next day, the 12th of November, 3 more highlights will start. Especially younger people love the Christmas Market at Altes AKH, where you can enjoy hot punch and food. There are also two curling tracks, a little rail for kids and a pretty nostalgic carousel. Another nice Christmas Market is the one at Spittelberg, where you can buy a special Spittelberg-Christmas stamp at the Christmas post office. An alltime classic and tourist favorite is the Christmas Market at the townhall square. You can find everything your christmas heart adore at 150 kiosks: christmas tree decorations, arts and crafts, sweets, hot punch and many specialties.
Romantic atmosphere and imperial settings
Another beautiful market is located between the museum of art history and the museum of nature history at Maria-Theresien-Platz, where you can find 70 kiosks with traditional arts and crafts and special presents for your loved ones. On November 18th, another three charming Christmas Markets in Vienna open. Both, the Art Advent in front of the Karlskirche and the old viennese Christmas Market at Freyung are worth a visit.Not far away from there, you should stop by the Christmas Market at Schloss Belvedere. The castle grounds are even more beautiful at pre-Christmas season.
The last two Christmas Markets in Vienna open at the 19th of November. If you love a romantic atmosphere you should visit the Christmas Market at Schloss Schönbrunn, which offers a pretty motive for making pictures because of its imperial setting. For those of you who are more into action, you can stop by the Wintermarket at Prater. This year’s slogan is „The Prater rocks“ – which includes musicians, Live Acts and fun rides for children.
Our little guide including 8 Christmas Markets
To visit all Christmas Markets in Vienna at one day is something we really wouldn’t recommend, but we composed a tour with 8 markets included. As it is easy to walk by foot from our apartments, we start at the Art Advent in front of Karlskirche. The second stop is the Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which you can reach by walking up Kärntner Straße. After that we would recommend to walk down Graben – a perfect motive with its nice decoration during this season – to Adventmarkt am Hof. Just a few steps ahead, via Heidenschuss, you will reach the old viennese Christmas Market at Freyung. Grab yourself a hot punch before walking down Teinfaltstraße until the end of Löwelstraße. Now you will be right at Universitätsring and therefore at the Christmas Market at townhall square. If you still have enough energy you should walk down Universitätsring until you find yourself at the Christmas Market at Maria-Theresien Platz. As the MQ is just towards, we advise you to finish there – with its opening hours until 11 p.m. we are sure there is still enough time to grab yourself a hot punch there.