Easter in Vienna

So, Easter, the time of frolicking lambs and, wait…there are no lambs in Vienna (or Austria). Or very few – different country, different traditions.

In fact, it’s the rabbits that rule the Easter menagerie – as you’ll notice if you enter any supermarket in the weeks leading up to the holiday.

Read on for details of Easter markets and events in Vienna, as well as tips on seasonal travel, weather, food, and traditions.

• See also:
  • What to do in April
  • Vienna at Christmas
  • Find a hotel for Easter

2023 dates

Easter 2023 covers the following days:

• Maundy Thursday: April 6th
• Good Friday: April 7th
• Easter Saturday: April 8th
• Easter Sunday: April 9th
• Easter Monday: April 10th (the only public holiday in Austria over Easter)

During the official Easter school holidays in Vienna (April 1st to April 10th, 2023), all kids aged 14 or less travel free on the transport authority’s subways, trams, and buses.

Easter markets

(Easter market on the Freyung)

Vienna has become a popular destination for an Easter trip: visitors swap places with the Viennese, who often head to the Alps for a final ski before the spring sun ends the fun.

The Easter markets head up the list of seasonal attractions. Think of them as top-quality arts and crafts markets with a truck-load of eggs and several high-calorie pinches of local cuisine.

As well as an enjoyable experience in their own right, the markets also make a decent source of unique souvenirs and gifts.

The top locations are:

• Schönbrunn: in front of the Habsburg summer palace
• Am Hof: very close to the city centre
• Freyung: usually includes an organic farmer’s market

A place to stay?

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Easter events

Specific events traditional during the Easter period include the Vienna Blues Spring music festival, which pulls together blues musicians from around the world and typically runs from late March.

Otherwise, I’d point you at the general concert and events pages and the specific activity suggestions for late March and early April.

(The Konzerthaus classical music venue)

In terms of exhibitions, it’s still a little early for full 2023 schedules. But the big museums had some spectacular events last Easter (Munch and Hockney, to name just two), so keep your fingers crossed.

Exhibitions already announced include, for example:

• A Kiki Kogelnik exhibition at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien

• A joint Klimt exhibition with Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum at Lower Belvedere focusing on the former’s artistic influences

• The special Brazil exhibition at the Natural History Museum

• The Theatermuseum’s Austropop exhibition on Austrian popular music

…explore your options nearer the time on the main exhibitions page

Easter traditions

(An Osterbaum or “Easter tree” with appropriate decoration)

As far as family Easter traditions go, you only need to know two words: eggs and rabbits.

You paint, colour, decorate, hang up, or eat the eggs, though large chocolate ones in the UK-style are fairly rare.

And the Easter rabbit brings the eggs in the first place. (Given my understanding of reproductive biology, I’m going to assume the rabbit doesn’t actually lay the things.)

Technically it’s the Easter *hare*. The German word for the animal is Osterhase, which derives from Ostern (Easter) and Hase (hare).

Learn more about Austrian Easter traditions here. In particular, discover why you hear the sound of a million hard-boiled eggs cracking in gladiatorial combat on the morning of Easter Sunday.

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Easter food

(Easter chocolate, including some imports from the UK: mea culpa)

There isn’t any. If you ignore the increase in the number of eggs appearing at mealtimes.

At least, the seasonal cuisine is nothing like Christmas, with its wide range of advent specialties.

(Supermarkets being supermarkets, I daresay you’ll find a few Christmas delights morphing into Easter shapes with a quick change of packaging.)

Plenty of rabbit and egg-themed chocolate and candy dominate the Easter table, of course. I will openly admit to a desperate love for Lindt’s Goldhase: chocolate rabbits in a golden livery, with a red ribbon and a little bell. A little bell!

(Osterpinze)

Apart from the chocolates and sweets, we have Osterschinken (Easter ham), which seems to be various varieties of normal ham with the word Easter added to the front. (But I might be wrong.)

We also have the Osterpinze (pictured above), which is a soft sweet pastry made from yeast dough. Supermarkets fill with other Easter-themed baked items, but most others seem to be Easter rebrands of products you get the rest of the year, too.

If I sound a little cynical, it’s because I am.

Easter weather

This is a difficult one to call.

March and April in Vienna can see warmth and bright sun, but also late flurries of snow. Back in 2021, for example, we had snow on April 6th (which was the day after Easter Monday).

With Easter early April in 2023, we should see spring-like temperatures. But who knows? Check (obviously) the forecast before you pack.

Travel advice

The Easter period is still relatively low key when compared to Christmas. The only formal public holiday is Easter Monday (on April 10th in 2023), when shops close. Otherwise, store opening hours are unchanged.

The same principle applies to public transport. A “Sunday service” operates on Easter Monday, but otherwise timetables remain unchanged.

However, since the week leading up to the Easter weekend is always a school holiday, the “Ferien” timetables apply to trams and buses. This largely means slightly longer intervals in the morning, when kids no longer need transport to school.

Have fun and enjoy those eggs.