Now, April is quite a decent time to visit Vienna.
Why?
Well, spring should definitely have sprung. So you have a fair chance of avoiding the cold. Equally, it’s not high summer and there are no Christmas markets… so the city’s busy, but not peak busy.
Which makes April as good as March, but with a higher probability of sun and Easter.
Top April activities in 2022
So what might you do in April 2022 beyond the usual year-round delights that Vienna has to offer the enthusiastic visitor?
Do check the latest on COVID nearer the time, since the situation and relevant regulations may affect some or all of the below.
Easter markets
With Easter falling in mid-April in 2022, the chances of bumping into seasonal holiday activities are high in the first half of the month.
Easter does not have the same impact in Vienna as the Advent and Christmas period. But it has its traditions. And, most importantly, it has the seasonal Easter markets.
In 2022, expect these markets to open from the beginning of the month to around April 18th.
These Easter markets offer a colourful mix of arts, crafts, food, and drink. This includes more decorative eggs than you can lay in a century and enough Austrian delicacies to keep your cholesterol and sugar levels high throughout your stay.
The main venues are Schönbrunn, the Freyung and Am Hof. All three are wonderful, but Schönbrunn has perhaps the most glorious setting because it’s in the courtyard of the huge Habsburg palace.
Enjoy some food
(Wine from the Steiermark)
Talking of Austrian cuisine, one of the country’s more Alpine provinces is the Steiermark. Each year, the region’s tourist folk, farmers, wine growers, and musicians turn up in Vienna for the Styrian Spring festival (provisionally April 7th to 10th).
As well as offering a taste of the traditions of that beautiful part of the country, the festival offers a taste of the tastes, too. Like all Austrian provinces, the Steiermark has a proud culinary heritage. Look, particularly, for their wine, beer, and pumpkin products.
Exhibitions in April 2022
Exhibition highlights will grow as museums release their programmes. So far, it looks good for these particular highlights among the many exhibitions on at any one time:
- The design giant, Josef Hoffmann, gets a major exhibition at the MAK museum
- The Albertina has two particular jewels for us. The museum throws the spotlight on Edvard Munch with works by the master and those inspired by him. And rather wonderfully, the Albertina Modern looks to have an Ai Weiwei exhibition
- Examine a Hockney or two at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien
- A Lower Belvedere exhibition explores the impact of a certain Sigmund Freud on the art of Salvador Dalí. Upper Belvedere has, for example, the intriguing Face to Face installation featuring Marc Quinn’s sculptures and the Baroque Messerschmidt character heads
- The Jewish Museum looks at the history of the Rothschilds in Vienna and the remarkable story of the pre-WWII Kindertransporte
- The National Library presents the Emperor’s Most Beautiful Animals: four centuries-worth of paintings, illustrations, etc. from the library’s imperial collections
- The Kunsthistorisches Museum introduces us to to creativity and cuirasses with the Iron Men exhibition of renaissance armour
- The Kunst Haus Wien’s When the Wind Blows photo exhibition brings together works sharing the theme of air
- The Foodprints exhibition at the Technical Museum takes a fascinating look at food technology and its role in the issues that confront modern society. Be sure to visit the tasteLAB
- A similar contemporary approach colours the Weltmuseum’s exploration of the silk roads
- Also catch the last days of three intriguing exhibitions:
- The KinoSaurier exhibition at the Natural History Museum (until April 18th), which explores dinosaurs at the movies
- The Vienna Falls in Line exhibition at the Wien Museum MUSA (until April 24th) on Nazi art policies
- The Home Stories exhibition at the Furniture Museum, highlighting key moments in the evolution of interior design (all month)
- For more possibilities, consult the broader exhibition listings
Enjoy music and film
(The Reigen hosts most of the Vienna Blues Spring gigs)
The Vienna concert season is normally in full swing in April, of course, but if you fancy something a little different…
- The Vienna Blues Spring (2022 dates TBA) features performances from both local and international musicians, with a focus on (guess?) blues
- The (free) Electric Spring electronic music festival took a break recently, but will perhaps return at some point with its wide mix of styles and performers across open-air and indoor venues at the MuseumsQuartier
On the movie front, the Jewish Film Festival (from April 24th in 2022) features works from around the world that address aspects of Jewish life in all its facets and contexts.
Enjoy the running (and cycling)
April hosts the weekend of the Vienna marathon (April 23rd to 24th), an international event with added kudos: part of the course for the race is the same stretch of road where Eliud Kipchoge became the first human to run the marathon distance in under two hours (at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge).
The month also wears a cycling helmet. The Argus Bike Festival (April 2nd to 3rd in 2022) is a lovely two-day event with information stands, bike-related exhibitors and lots of two-wheeled show action.
Enjoy the April sun
(The Stadtpark)
Unlike in March, you’re more likely to find spring flowers peeping up from Vienna’s numerous parks and gardens in April (and enough sun to enjoy them).
If you want to enjoy the fresh green on the trees and/or fruit tree blossom, then head for places like:
- The Lainzer Tiergarten – an extensive nature protection area with wild boar and more (the lovely Hermesvilla is here, once a summerhouse for Empress Elisabeth)
- The Vienna Woods – lots of cycle paths and hiking trails through the hills and forests that surround Vienna’s west
- The Stadtpark park in the centre, with its musician memorials (look for Strauss, in particular)
- The Prater park with its 11km hiking trail that starts and ends in an area rich with restaurants and entertainments
- Of course, don’t forget the sculpted gardens attached to the various palaces, too, such as at Schönbrunn, Belvedere or the Volksgarten next to the Hofburg palace. You’ll see these as you pass through the usual sightseeing areas, anyway
Several protected or private areas usually open up in full to the public end of March. For example:
- The Cobenzl city farm – just as it says on the label. Kids can get up close to farm animals
- Hirschstetten – part of the city’s horticultural nursery complex. If that sounds relatively uninspiring, it’s actually quite beautiful. They’ve turned it into a landscaped botanical gardens, with a palm house and a fair few birds and animals in there, too. It’s a bit of a secret and off the usual tourist trails. Oh, and it’s free
Go for an ice cream
If that sounds banal, it’s not meant to. The local ice cream season typically begins at the end of March, and we’re not talking about lollipops in the freezer aisle of the supermarket.
Vienna hosts a fair few remarkably high-quality ice cream parlours, so fill a cone with your choice of delicious flavours. Or take a seat and enjoy something off an extensive ice cream menu that might set your diet back a few weeks. Oh, and vegan options are usually available.