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
- Hugely popular
- Typically attracts around 2.5 million visits
- 2023 event had over 1000 artists and 13 stages
- Loads of other festival activities
- 2024 dates: Jun 21-23
- See also:
The music festival
(Photo © 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 can pull in over 2.5 million visits across all three days.
(Photo © 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 The Backstreet Boys, Anastacia, 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. (Bonnie Tyler appeared in 2023.)
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). The last event, for example, included a pop-up version of the Edelstoff design market.
Get a feeling for a typical festival from the video at the bottom of the page.
(Unusually, a political party organises everything: the left-wing SPÖ has more or less formed the city government for decades.)
The 2024 Donauinselfest
(Photo © Markus Sibrawa; reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)
After COVID-related limitations, the organisers returned to the normal format in 2022, and the 40th edition in 2023 featured 13 stages and around 700 hours of programming.
Dates and tickets
A June weekend is traditional, and the 2024 Donauinselfest takes place June 21st to 23rd.
You don’t need to buy a ticket because entrance is, as mentioned, free. Look to that 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 3-day festival.
Address: Look for the long, wide watery object that passes through Vienna:
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