
Every now and then, an Austrian province makes camp in Vienna to convince us of their local culinary delights. Consider the Genuss Festival a “best-of” equivalent; it showcases high-quality regional food and drink from throughout the country.
- Open-air event with dozens of booths
- Excellent place to try (or buy as gifts):
- Regional wines
- Local delicacies
- Unusual foods
- Activities for kids, too
- Located in the central Stadtpark park
- 2025 dates: May 9-11
- Book a food or drink experience* in Vienna
- See also:
Quality meets tradition

(Translates roughly as “come on in”, a message I can endorse)
Vienna is quite the anomaly for Austria as a whole.
Most of the country actually consists of mountains, forests, vineyards, and small farm holdings. Often all at the same time. And each province is fiercely protective of its local character.
So while “industrial” food production certainly exists, Austria still has a strong regional and small-scale agricultural tradition with a range of food and drink specialties.
The Genuss Festival brings them all together in one place: consider it a gourmet trip around the country.
At the event, numerous small booths line the footpaths inside a city-centre park normally known for its monuments to Strauss, Schubert and others who worked with bows and batons rather than beans and barley.
All these participants bear the AMA GENUSS REGION quality seal, which marks family-owned farm shops, manufacturers and restaurants with a focus on high-quality regional food using traditional skills.
On the beverage front, expect vatfuls of wine (including contributions from Vienna’s own vineyards), but also schnapps, fruit juices and beer, for example.
As for food…sausages and cured meats; breads and pastries; bottles and jars filled with special vinegars, chutneys, oils, dressings, jams, mustards, honeys, herbs, spices and spreads; glass containers of pesto, sugo, goulash, curries and chili con carne (or con tofu).
Many of those might make good gifts for back home. Not that everything is to take away; many stalls sell food and drink for immediate consumption, too.
Organic (“Bio” in German) products are common. As are vegetarian and vegan alternatives alongside meat dishes and products.

(Minister for Agriculture Norbert Totschnig and Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig at the 2024 Genussfestival; press photo courtesy of and © BML/Hemerka)
And the food often has an innovative or unusual touch to it.
On one visit, for example, I spotted rare breed sausages and deer salami, vegan ice cream, sea buckthorn spreads, black garlic, and mountain shrimp. Not to mention wasabi from the province of Burgenland.
A couple of tented activity stations typically keep the kids engaged, too.
Dates, tickets & tips
The Genuss Festival is free to wander around and pops up for three days in May. Dates for the 2025 edition are May 9th to 11th. Opening hours are:
- Friday: 11am to 9pm
- Saturday: 10am to 9pm
- Sunday: 10am to 5pm
Given the joys of taking a culinary journey through rural Austria, the event attracts a lot of visitors. We try and get there just after opening, even if it means an earlier glass of wine than we’re used to (all in pursuit of accurate journalism).
If you miss the Genuss Festival, you might still catch one of those province-focused events mentioned in the introduction. For example:
- Waldviertelpur: the Waldviertel area is well known for its poppy seed products and beer
- Styrian Spring: Styria is a mountainous province particularly famous for pumpkin oil dressing, apples and wine (and beer)
- Burgenland Kultinarium: the flatter province of Burgenland has a strong wine tradition, too. Look for Uhudler
How to get to the festival
The Stadtpark has a U4 subway station at the western end usefully called, um, Stadtpark; the station pavilion is one of the Jugendstil white & green designs by the famed architect, Otto Wagner. The eastern end has the U3 Stubentor station.
(The event stretches from one end of the park to the other.)
Alternatively, jump on the 2 tram to the Weihburggasse stop.
Address: Parkring, 1010 Vienna | Website