Steiermark Frühling is a celebration of one of Austria’s mountainous regions: its culture and (particularly) its culinary delights. One year, for example, featured a 30-metre apple strudel.
- A feast of rural cuisine, music, and tradition from the Alpine province of Styria
- Always a lively atmosphere
- Many people in traditional garb
- 2026 dates: TBA (was Mar 26-30 in 2025)
- Book a food or drink experience* in Vienna
- See also:
A spring festival
(The central Rathausplatz hosts the event)
Once a year, the Rathausplatz square in front of city hall turns into a little piece of Styria, with booths and wooden cabins, turf, mulch and floral displays adding rural charm to the urban landscape.
Many people appear in traditional dress, from senior citizens with imperious moustaches to youngsters sporting Lederhosen and sunglasses: not just booth staff, but visitors, too.
Incidentally, that rustic gear is not a display for the Viennese and tourists, but the continuation of an authentic tradition.
Numerous booths cover the food, culture and attractions of the region, and you can often enjoy demonstrations of traditional crafts like basket weaving.
(Styrian wine has an excellent reputation)
As you wander around, two things strike you:
First, Styrians are a happy folk. All smiles and laughter, and full of regional pride. But not the “we’re better than you, so leave your money here and get out” type of pride. More of the “come and share in our luck” variety.
Second, Styrians do like their wine and beer.
An awful lot of booths, tents and cabins seem to sell Styrian wine and schnapps. A very distinctive regional wine, for example, is the Schilcher rosé made from the local Blauer Wildbacher grape.
And the last time I went, beers from the big regional Styrian breweries like Gösser and Murauer were flowing in copious quantities.
(Alpine skiing world cup medallists Nici Schmidhofer and Conny Hütter tapping the beer back in 2023 with Brau Union sales director Bernhard Mitteröcker and Austrian Chamber of Commerce division chairman Johann Spreitzhofer; press photo © Steiermark Tourismus | Jürgen Hammerschmid)
They like their food, too.
Austrians associate apples and pumpkins, particularly, with Styria. But the culinary offerings extend far beyond those two options.
You can, of course, buy pumpkin seed snacks in a multitude of flavours, as well as pumpkin seed oil (a distinctive dark green dressing that goes well on salads).
But typical fare at the Steiermark Frühling might also include sausages and small dumplings with melted cheese, dark bread garnished with air-dried ham, local cheeses and horse radish, fried meat and potatoes, sweet rolls (Buchtel), funnel cakes, and giant pretzels.
The grounds have plenty of seats and benches to sit around to enjoy all the above.
Or you can flop onto some straw and enjoy the spring sun: the surrounding Rathauspark is normally in fine form, too, with fresh green carpeting the trees and displays of spring blooms in the flower beds.
(Rustic dark bread accompanies many a meal)
Among the chatter and laughter, you’ll also hear music, and not just as a core element of the many presentations, demonstrations, performances and other activities on the main stage.
Often a booth or cabin has its own traditional folk group from the mountains, perhaps with a portly gentleman in leather trousers swinging his accordion with gusto, pausing only for another sup of Styrian beer and a satisfied smile at the assembled audience.
The festival has a great atmosphere and perhaps makes a good place to eat as you wander the more traditional city sights. Though it can get extremely busy. On our last visit, we had to retire to the nearby Sluka café-konditorei to recharge with coffee and cake.
2026 dates & tickets
There is no entrance fee. I don’t have dates yet for 2026, but the previous event ran March 26th to 30th. Opening times were:
- Wednesday: preopening from 5pm
- Thursday: 11am to 10pm
- Friday & Saturday: 10am to 10pm
- Sunday: 10am to 6pm
How to get to the spring festival
You can reach the Rathausplatz easily enough, given the central, convenient location. Chances are you’ll run into it by accident on your sightseeing travels.
Subway: U2 line to Rathaus.
Trams: Lines 1, 2, D or 71 to Rathausplatz / Burgtheater or line 2 to Stadiongasse / Parlament.
Address: Rathausplatz, 1010 Vienna | Website