Time to swap Christmas baubles for palace balls, punch for sparkling wine, and sausages for…nope, keep the sausages. It’s New Year’s Eve in Vienna.
Discover the delights of December 31st in Austria’s capital, what to expect at the New Year markets and any official city celebrations, plus local tips on getting the most out of your year-end trip. Warning: may include waltzes.
- Book a classical concert experience* for your Vienna trip
- See also:
Jump to:
- How local’s celebrate
- The Silvesterpfad city entertainments
- New Year markets
- Other New Year events (e.g. the New Year’s Concert)
- Typical weather
- Seasonal public transport
- Useful phrases
We begin with how the locals welcome in the New Year…
Celebrating New Year’s Eve
(Waltz your way along the Graben street in the centre below giant chandeliers)
The German word for New Year’s Eve in Austria is Silvester. The term comes from the same-named pope and saint, who died on December 31st, AD 335. None of which has any relevance, though, to how Vienna celebrates the turn of the year.
People party just like the rest of the world. However, Vienna has one or two extra traditions not shared by such cities as New York, London or Tokyo.
In the hour before midnight on New Year’s Eve, for example, the main national TV station plays Dinner for One, a short comedy sketch recorded in 1963 (in English!).
At midnight itself, the giant Pummerin bell of Vienna’s Stephansdom cathedral rings in the New Year with the chimes simultaneously broadcast across TV and radio.
Once the last echoes of the Pummerin fade away, firework displays across the city burst into action.
Broadcasters then switch to the Blue Danube waltz and everyone dances in the New Year as lights explode across the night sky.
Then, just to add that special touch of romance to the evening, we all swap little model pigs.
Yep, no celebration is complete without the exchange of pigs in one form or another. Marzipan versions top the popularity stakes, for example.
Our porcine friends count as lucky charms here. Although life as a pig in Austria might be considered less than fortuitous given the locals eat pork in vast quantities: see the Schnitzel.
(Expect lots of this at midnight)
The firework shows make quite a sight, leaving Vienna a smoky haze redolent with the smell of gunpowder (possibly just my overwrought imagination).
To get a good view of the lights over the city, head up into the surrounding hills. Alternatively, find your way to a place known for great views of Vienna (at least those that open late at night). Inevitably, you’ll need to reserve a place/seat at the commercial locations and book well in advance.
→ More: Vienna’s New Year traditions
The Silvesterpfad
(One of the stages at a previous Silvesterpfad)
As far as parties go, the city itself has its own grand version enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people: New Year’s Eve in Vienna is all about the Silvesterpfad, which translates literally as the “New Year’s Eve trail”.
The name covers a series of interlinked stages put up throughout the centre. Over 800,000 people celebrated along the Silvesterpfad last time out.
In 2025, expect the fun to begin around 2pm on December 31st and run through to around 2am on January 1st, 2026. Though I await confirmation of the details.
Live singers, bands, orchestras, and DJs on the Silvesterpfad stages entertain everyone until midnight and beyond. Dozens of food stands ensure you don’t go hungry or thirsty.
A lot of the route still features the Christmas lights, which remain on though the New Year and into early January.
These lights include the giant chandeliers hanging along the Graben (the pedestrianised zone leading away from Stephansdom cathedral); a ballroom dancing school usually offers public waltz courses below them.
Finally, at midnight, people gather on Stephansplatz square to hear the Pummerin’s midnight chimes.
Folk also commonly assemble on the Rathausplatz square in front of the Rathaus (town hall) at the same time for a waltz.
→ More: Vienna’s Silvesterpfad
New Year markets
(The Silvesterdorf New Year market on Maria-Theresien-Platz)
Vienna is, of course, famous for its Christmas markets, but why stop there?
A couple of these markets typically morph into New Year alternatives (known by various German words, including Neujahrsmarkt, Silvestermarkt, and Silvesterdorf) from around December 27th.
At the main ones, you get all the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that make the Christmas versions so popular, but without the nagging sense of guilt that you ought to buy a few presents while there.
Even after around 30 years in the city, I still love browsing these seasonal markets before enjoying a warming mug of Glühwein or similar.
I have a soft spot for the Schönbrunn version. It’s a little away from the centre but has more space than most seasonal markets. And the setting in the palace forecourt is magnificent.
→ More: Vienna’s New Year markets
New Year events
(The Albertina always blesses our year-end with a top special exhibition)
Numerous historical venues host classical concerts* for visitors across the holiday period, often with special New Year events to mark the date.
A lot of hotels and prestigious locations have Silvester gala evenings for the 31st, too. Prominent events include the gala at the Rathaus city hall.
Find activity and event suggestions on the December and January “what to do” pages.
I should mention the art exhibitions, of course: enjoy a dose of culture as you wait for the evening festivities to start.
The museums always pull out their best efforts for the end of the year, so some mouthwatering names make an appearance.
It’s early days for full New Year 2025/2026 schedules, but I already know about such highlights as:
- An exhibition of baroque masterpieces centered on the 17th-century painter Michaelina Wautier at the Kunsthistorisches Museum
- The remarkable character busts by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt over at Lower Belvedere, along with an exhibition of works by the French impressionists (think Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, etc.)
→ More: concerts and exhibitions in Vienna
The New Year’s Concert
(Christian Thielemann conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker at the most recent New Year’s Concert in the Musikverein. Not a bad venue, is it? Press photo © Wiener Philharmoniker / Dieter Nagl)
The most prestigious and well-known traditional event at this time of year is, of course, the New Year’s Concert given by the world-famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the Musikverein.
What few people know is they actually hold three concerts with the same programme:
- A “preview performance” on Dec 30
- A Silvesterkonzert on Dec 31
- The New Year’s Concert on Jan 1st
Good luck getting tickets for any of these. And I don’t mean that sarcastically: a lottery system decides who can buy a ticket. You need to register at a special page on the orchestra’s website much earlier in the year to have a chance.
You’d think tickets would be astronomically expensive and some are, but prices typically start from €35 for the main January 1st concert (and less for the two before that).
Vienna has a strong tradition of ensuring access for (almost) anyone to cultural activities like opera, theatre and classical concerts. Standing tickets at the Staatsoper, for example, cost as little as €4 at the time of writing. That’s not a typo.
→ More: the New Year’s Concert
The weather
(One day of snow back in the days before the climate crisis)
If you’re out and about at New Year, dress up warm. Obviously, nobody can say quite what the weather will be, but you’re on safe ground if you assume “cold”. Temperatures below 0°C are not unusual, especially late into the night.
Having said that, December 31st has felt unseasonably warm in recent years.
Public transport
(Expect tram, bus and subway lines to extend their normal operating hours)
At New Year’s Eve last year, public transport switched to a Saturday schedule and extended operations during the night: the subway lines and many daytime tram lines and bus lines operated into the early hours.
Subway trains did not, however, stop at the central Stephansplatz station from 9pm because of the huge crowds gathering there on the Silvesterpfad and/or waiting for the midnight chimes of the cathedral bell.
In 2026, January 1st is a public holiday; holiday travel in Vienna is usually better than many city’s normal timetables, frankly, so you needn’t worry about getting around on public transport.
Useful German phrases
Finally, to end this little guide, how about a couple of useful New Year phrases in German:
- Happy New Year / “guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr” (often shortened to just “guten Rutsch”)
- Sorry, I can’t hear you over the noise of the fireworks / “Ich kann Sie wegen der Kracher nicht hören”
- A marzipan pig. How delightful / “Ein Schwein aus Marzipan. Wie nett”
So…guten Rutsch!