The largest (free) open-air music festival in Europe takes place on an island in Vienna, a city not exactly famous for its ocean vistas.
Ah, but Vienna does have the mighty Danube river, whose long artificial Donauinsel island hosts the Donauinselfest: a weekend of music, fun and bleary-eyed Monday mornings.
- Annual music festival with mainly local performers and the occasional international star
- Typically attracts around 2.5 million visits
- 2022 event had 600+ hours of music on 11 stages
- Loads of other festival activities
- 2023 dates: Jun 23-25
- See also:
The music festival
(Photo by Andreas Jakwerth; reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC BY-SA 2.0 license)
Technically, the 21km long and 250m wide Donauinsel (Danube island) is a flood regulation measure, a description which has all the sex appeal of a broken exhaust pipe.
However, this artificial island also serves as a recreational park, where you can hike, swim, cycle, trampoline, climb, eat, drink and generally be merry. For one weekend each year, a chunk of it turns into a huge open-air music festival: the Donauinselfest (Danube Island festival)
And entry is free.
As you can imagine, the word “free” next to the word “festival” has a certain attraction to it; the Donauinselfest pulled in over 2.5 million visits across all three days in 2022.
(Photo by Andreas Jakwerth; reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC BY-SA 2.0 license)
The music typically covers various genres, including rock, pop, rap, hip hop, electronic music, swing (yep), folk, metal, and all things in between.
Although most performers ply their trade in Austria, the roll call of international stars from past events includes the likes of Mando Diao, Lisa Stansfield, Amy Mcdonald, Michael Bolton, Sean Paul, Bob Geldof, as well as a who’s who of the wider German-speaking music worlds.
All sorts of other activities help keep you occupied between performances, too, not to mention a host of stands to ensure you stay fed and watered (not free, obviously).
(Curiously, a political party organises everything: the SPÖ has more or less formed the city government for decades.)
The 2023 Donauinselfest
In 2021, only four stages with local acts opened with strict limits on audience size. I don’t need to explain why. You could only visit one stage on a day and access was limited to pre-registered visitors who had won tickets in a lottery.
The organisers returned to the traditional format in 2022 with over 100 acts, 11 stages, and 600+ hours of music, not to mention various other activity and service areas. Get a feeling for a typical festival from the video at the bottom of the page.
2023 will be the 40th edition and plans are afoot to make it a special anniversary. I await details nearer the time…
Dates and tickets
A June weekend is traditional and the 2023 Donauinselfest is scheduled for June 23rd to 25th.
You don’t need to buy a ticket because entrance is, as mentioned, free. Look to the official website for access and programme details, as well as full visitor info, once available.
How to get to the Donauinselfest
For the events on the island, don’t take a car. Jump on the subway to the Donauinsel or Handelskai stations.
The Donauinsel subway station is on the U1 line that traverses the city centre. Use the U6 line to reach Handelskai. The trains run at very short intervals into the night during the standard 3-day festival.
Address: Look for the long, wide watery object that passes through Vienna:
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