Like all Easter markets, the one on the Freyung has a challenge to compete with the Christmas market on the same spot, but it does have one major advantage…
Eggs.
- Great for finding decorated eggs
- Typically adjoins a small organic food market
- Close to the Am Hof Easter market
- Expect about 45 stands
- 2026 dates: TBA (was April 3rd to 21st in 2025)
- Book a concert experience* for your Vienna trip
- See also:
- Vienna in April & March
- Easter markets overview
- Guide to Easter in Vienna
The Freyung Easter market
(The “Altwiener Ostermarkt”)
When I say the Freyung market has eggs, I mean more eggs than an omelette factory that’s just opened new production facilities. Eggs in a myriad of colours and designs, ready to hang on your Easter tree (an Austrian tradition).
The Ostereistand normally dominates the centre of the square, offering box after box of painted eggshells and egg-shaped decorations.
Take a few moments to browse the displays and appreciate the variety of egg designs: painted scenes; Easter, imperial, floral, and animal motifs; lacework decor etc. etc.
(Find plenty of decorated eggs at the stall that usually occupies the market’s centre)
I was impressed by the sheet-music themed eggs I spotted one year. They seemed particularly appropriate for a city like Vienna, given the concert & music heritage.
The egg-filled centrepiece typically has a giant painted egg at one end: a gift from the Croatian county of Koprivnica-Križevci. All of which certainly gives the market a genuine Easter feeling.
On my 2025 visit, other market booths featured arts and crafts that included the usual ceramics, glassware, jewellery, clothes, soaps, Easter decorations made from a variety of materials, and other items. One or two places sold specialty chocolates, cheeses, sauces, and similar.
(Craft stalls in the lee of the neighbouring Schottenkirche church)
No seasonal market in Vienna is complete without its food and drink, of course. I spotted such traditional fare as Langos, Lebkuchen, pretzels, Baumkuchen (spit cakes), pastries and Kaiserschmarren.
And some less traditional food & drink, too…arancini, macaroons and even a sparkling wine bar to help toast the season.
Be sure to also cross the road to the small organic farmers’ market that commonly adjoins the Easter event. Youthful acolytes and wizened old mountain folk (not really, but I wanted to get the word wizened in an article) serve up, for example, hams, cheeses, sausages and salami.
Austria has a strong small-scale traditional agricultural landscape, so the Ostermarkt makes a good spot to sample the efforts of the farmers’ endeavours.
(And those of the winemakers, too: try a glass of Austrian wine, which always seems to dominate proceedings at both markets.)
I’ll admit to being particularly partial to the sharp Bergkäse alpine cheese they always seem to sell on the Freyung. And when I say sharp, I mean eye-poppingly so: the kind of cheese that leaves a visceral lasting memory.
My last purchase had apparently matured for a year in a mountain cave (I kid you not).
(Appropriately musical eggs for a city like Vienna)
The Freyung square actually represents one of the oldest parts of the city.
The wall marking the upper boundary of the market, for example, is the Schottenkirche. They consecrated this church in 1200, many centuries before chocolate reached the shores of Europe and not long after the first chickens did.
The next square down also hosts another major Easter market: the Ostermarkt Am Hof tends to open across the same time period. And one of my favourite coffee houses is just up the road: Café Diglas im Schottenstift.
2026 dates & times
At the time of writing, I don’t have dates for 2026 yet. The previous market ran from April 3rd to April 21st. Daily opening times were 10am to 8pm.
A small stage usually hosts kids entertainment most workday mornings and live music most afternoons and weekends. Or you can take in the market by day and enjoy an evening concert at one of Vienna’s many central historical venues.
How to get to the Freyung
(The host square with the Schottenstift church at the back)
The market is very central, about a five-minute walk from a sizeable station (Schottentor), and not far from the cathedral and main tourist trail. So you might come across it on your travels anyway.
Subway: take the U2 to Schottentor (go south down Schottengasse) or the U3 to Herrengasse (go north up Herrengasse).
Tram: the lines 1, D, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 71 all stop at Schottentor.
Bus: take the 1A bus to Teinfaltstrasse (the stop is practically in the middle of the market).
Address: Altwiener Ostermarkt, Freyung, 1010 Vienna | Website