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 well over 2.5 million visitors
- Loads of other festival activities
- 2021 dates: TBA (usually 3 days in June)
- See also: Events in Vienna | Where is the Danube?
The music festival
(Photo by Andreas Jakwerth | Click photo for copyright info etc.)
Technically, the 21 km long and 250 m 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 every June, a chunk of it turns into a huge open-air music festival: the Donauinselfest (Danube Island festival)
And entry is free.
(Photo by Andreas Jakwerth | Click photo for copyright info etc.)
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 are from Austria, the roll call of international stars from past events includes 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).
The Donauinselfest normally features around 13 stages, 600 hours of music, and 17 themed activity areas. It pulled in some 2.7 million visitors across all three days last time the full event took place. Curiously, a political party organises everything: the SPÖ has more or less formed the city government for decades.
Get a feeling for a typical festival from this video:
The 2021 Donauinselfest
We’ll have to wait and see if the 2021 event can follow the traditional format or whether we have a repeat of the 2020 version: instead of a mammoth 3-day event at one location, the festival took place across 80 days all over Vienna. A double-decker bus with a built-in open-air stage toured the city to give over 200 short concerts in parks, tram depots and other locations.
The festival ended with three “big” shows on the Danube Island, but with a limited audience.
2021 dates and tickets
You don’t need to buy a ticket to the standard annual event because entrance is free. Which also means an awful lot of people attend across the three days.
Dates are usually in June and I’ll post them up here as soon as I get them. Or just check the official website (which will also have programme details).
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: