Possibly my favourite month in Vienna. December is, of course, the Christmas season.
The aroma of Glühwein and Punch courses through the streets, and the city glistens under thousands of seasonal (energy-saving) lights.
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Vienna in December 2024
We have all the usual museums, concerts, tours and similar. But let us explore December’s unique offerings, beginning with…
The Christmas season
(The lights on the pedestrianised Graben in the city centre)
May I simply direct you to 9 things to do in Vienna at Christmas?
Those are my top tips for enjoying a truly Viennese advent experience: from the best places to see the lights to the joys of Christmas classical concerts, roast chestnuts and sausages.
Alternatively, browse the big Christmas 2024 overview.
The markets
(The Altwiener Christkindlmarkt on the Freyung square)
The Christmas markets dominate the Viennese December. The main ones typically open around the second and third week of November and stay open until December 23rd (or later in some cases).
Popular with locals, too, many are long-established traditional markets: these are not gimmicks to keep tourists amused.
Colleagues, friends, and families collect together to share a mug of Advent cheer and enjoy a bowl of goulash or a pair of frankfurters and then take home a chocolate-coated strawberry or two. Or three.
Or four.
(The lovely Art Advent market with the Karlskirche church behind)
I should mention that most of the markets deserve their reputation. Atmospheric, packed with local food and beverages, and stuffed with stalls selling arts, crafts and enough Lebkuchen to delight a hungry whale.
If you only have limited time, these tips should help you choose which of the many markets to visit.
A couple of bonus markets and similar events tend to also pop up during December or late November. For example:
- An alternative to the traditional open-air markets for finding gifts and handicrafts is the Edelstoff X-MAS edition (2024 dates TBA): an indoor design fair in the Marx Halle
- The Weihnachtsquartier at the MuseumsQuartier opens its doors for three days of art and design from independent creatives (next dates TBA)
- The hughely-popular Medieval Advent market sells its
plague cures,smock fashions, suitably historical crafts, wares, food and beverages behind the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (2024 dates TBA)
- Palais Niederösterreich hosts the lovely So Schmeckt NÖ Adventmarkt, with food, drink, crafts and other items from the province of Lower Austria (2024 dates TBA)
- The WAMP design market Christmas edition dropped into the MuseumsQuartier for the first time last year and looks set to repeat on December 7th
Art & film in December 2024
(The Albertina art museum has a Chagall exhibition)
The more prestigious art museums save up their best exhibitions for the later part of the year, presumably to catch the December crowds.
I await full schedules, but prospective highlights already announced include:
- The Albertina reveals the genius of Marc Chagall in a huge retrospective
- The Kunsthistorisches Museum blesses us with a major Rembrandt exhibition, notably in dialogue with one of his students (Samuel van Hoogstraten)
- Completing a trio of artistic greats: Paul Gauguin at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien
- The Albertina also has a Robert Longo exhibition, a rather intriguing exhibition that promises to bring Schiele’s lost paintings back to life in the form of copies by Adrian Ghenie, and highlights from the Othmar Huber Collection
- The Albertina Modern has solo exhibitions for Alfred Kubin (suited to dark winter days) and the great Erwin Wurm
- For something a little brighter, the Heidi Horten Collection has the multisensory Light, Sound and Senses exhibition
- Staying with seasonal themes, the Wien Museum looks at various aspects of Winter in Vienna
- Ever wondered what it’s like managing a contemporary art collection in 2024? The Wien Museum MUSA has some answers
- Lower Belvedere has solo exhibitions for the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela and the Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo
- The Leopold Museum turns its attention to Rudolf Wacker and New Objectivity, but also to the designs and artistic collaborations of the Backhausen company (eminent producers of decorative fabrics and furniture)
- Among the many exhibitions at the MAK museum: Aut Now with leading examples of 21st century Austrian design. Also discover current trends in fashion photography and one of the Wiener Moderne’s creative geniuses: Dagobert Peche (from December 11th)
- Grasp the importance of camels and other domesticated camelids for history and culture in a special exhibition at the Weltmuseum. They also, for example, present indigenous art of the Amazon and take a look at the influence of Islamic scripture on the development of European ideas
- Discover the life and work of the great composer Anton Bruckner at the National Library’s State Hall, while their Literature Museum presents the acclaimed writer Friederike Mayröcker
- Ditto, but this time for Johann Strauss II at the Theatermuseum (expected to start sometime in December)
- Finally, the Jewish Museum looks at the legacy of the Holocaust through the eyes of the third post-Shoah generation and also explores various dimensions of the term “fear”
See the main exhibition listings for more suggestions as schedules continue to expand.
And, if you prefer screens to canvas, consider the VIFA Vienna International Film Awards (December 1st to 8th).
The power of voice
Voice Mania (November 8th to December 8th) is an international A Capella festival that brings together enough vocal talents to brighten the December gloom with song. You might even encounter a few performances out and about in the pedestrianised centre.
New Year’s Eve
(A stop on the Silvesterpfad in a previous year)
A huge number of folk spend December 31st on the Silvesterpfad, which involves a trail of locations through the city centre with temporary stages and all sorts of entertainment: from public ballroom dancing lessons to DJs and funk bands.
No need to pack sandwiches, either: numerous food and drink stalls line the route.
The days leading up to the big night also feature the natural successor to the Christmas market as one or more New Year markets spring up (often in the same locations as their predecessors). You miss the Advent ambience a little, but the big ones still remain rather fine.
Catch the New Year’s concert(!)
Yes, you read that right.
Should you wish to catch the prestigious and globally-recognised January 1st New Year’s Concert from the Wiener Philharmoniker orchestra, you can do so in December: the orchestra plays the full programme on December 30th and December 31st, too.
The only problem is you need to have applied for tickets via a lottery system much earlier in the year.
Seasonal tip(s)
Escape the cold
(One of our traditional coffee houses)
The bracing December weather means you may wish to take advantage of Vienna’s classic cafés, where coffee is an art form, and time stands still long enough for you to warm your toes on strudel and your hearts on sachertorte.
And, if you want to make a point of staying warm, Vienna has its own thermal spa. You can reach Therme Wien easily on the U1 subway.
The spa also lives next door to a branch of one of the more famous Viennese confectioneries: Kurkonditorei Oberlaa. So if you do choose to swim, rather than soak, you can earn yourself a slice or two of cake afterwards.
Another less time-consuming and more central warm water option is the Schwerelos Floating Centre, where you float (and, more importantly, switch off and relax) in a broad tub of saltwater.
Dance on ice
(The ice skating association has a long and prestigious history)
The huge Vienna Ice World outdoor complex only opens in January. But we have other notable open-air ice rinks in Vienna. For example:
- The Eislaufverein holds a special place in the history of the city (and of ice skating), and the rink normally opens throughout December
- The Christmas on the Rathausplatz festivities include 3000m2 of lighted ice trails through the park as a taster for that larger Ice World event
Dress warmly & time your market visit
December is winter time in Austria. And the Christmas markets look best at dusk and later, so you don’t even have the sun to keep you warm.
The markets are also popular (to say the least), particularly the nearer you get to December 24th. So consider going midweek in the late afternoon, when you probably get the best tradeoff between atmosphere and crowds. Find some more tips for visiting the markets.
Book early
December is typically one of the two most popular months for visitors in Vienna alongside August. So plan and book accommodation early, especially if you want to stay in the city over the Christmas and New Year public holidays.