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VIENNA

The best Christmas Markets to visit this week in Vienna

We are still a bit far from December, but some of Vienna's most famous Christmas Markets are already opening up for visitors. Here are the best ones.

Published: 11 November 2022 16:48 CET
Updated: 14 November 2022 16:25 CET
The best Christmas Markets to visit this week in Vienna
The Christmas market just by one of the symbols of Vienna: Stephansdom. (Photo: MAGMAG Events & Promotion GmbH.)

At the approximately 200 stands at the Viennese Christmas Villages, Christmas goods and gift ideas are offered again this year, and atmospheric events inspire the young and old visitors of these traditional markets.

Nostalgic rides for children and the finest delicacies from sweet to savoury round off the programme and make the Christmas villages so unique. 

READ ALSO: Discover Austria: How to explore Salzburg in one weekend

This year, not only will Austrians be able to enjoy the markets without any Covid-19 restrictions (previously, they had been either closed or required proof of immunity against the disease), but it’s also a special occasion: 300 hundred years ago, the first Christmas Market opened in Vienna.

Even with the current energy crisis, the season is set to be just as beautiful and enchanting as it has been for centuries. Some of Vienna’s most well-known markets are open from Friday, November 11th, so that you can join the spirit already.

Here are the best ones:

Christmas Village at Stephansplatz

Experience enjoyment, inspiration and Christmas anticipation at the Christmas market on Stephansplatz, with its fantastic location directly at the foot of Vienna’s landmark, the Cathedral of St. Stephen, up to and including 26 December. 

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The glow of lights and the scent of gingerbread, steaming mulled wine and freshly roasted nuts, just in front of festively lit huts. Those who love atmospheric Christmas markets with a perfect atmosphere and ambience, with a great range of art and food, will be thrilled by the Christmas market on Stephansplatz.

November 11th – December 12th, 2022
Daily from 11 am – 9 pm
December 24th, 11 am – 4.00 pm, December 25th and 26th, 11 am – 7 pm
Stephansplatz, 1010 Vienna
www.weihnachtsdorf.at

The Christmas village market at the University of Vienna campus (Fotocredit:MAGMAG Events & Promotion GmbH.)

Christmas Village at the Campus of the University of Vienna/Altes AKH

The Christmas Village at the Campus of the University of Vienna has been known and loved for its cosy atmosphere since 1999.

It invites visitors to get to know and experience the Austrian regions, culture and joie de vivre.

Craftsmen and businesses from all over Austria transform the Christmas Village into an impressive world of enjoyment, pampering and experience. Traditional Austrian Christmas can be experienced and enjoyed with all its facets.

November 11th – December 23th, 2022
Mo-We 2.00 pm – 10 pm, Th-Fr 2 pm – 11.00 pm
Sa 11.00 am – 11 pm, Su 11 am – 8.00 pm
Alserstrasse/Spitalgasse, Hof 1, 1090 Vienna
www.weihnachtsdorf.at

READ ALSO: Seven common myths about Austrian food you need to stop believing

Christmas Market on Spittelberg

This year, the beloved market on the streets of Vienna’s seventh district has an ecological theme and will be an “eco-event”. You can expect a “good ecological footprint, fairly traded or produced, local, regional and/or organic, vegetarian or vegan, resource-saving and sustainable.”

Due to concerns about the pandemic situation, the popular special children’s and cultural programme will not take place this year. However, there is still a wide range of culinary specialities, handicrafts and beautiful Christmas decorations.

November 11th – December 23th, 2022
Mo-Th 2 pm – 9 pm, Fr 2 pm – 9.30 pm
Sa 10 am – 9.30 pm, Su & hols. 10 am – 9 pm
Spittelberggasse, Stiftgasse, Schrankgasse, Gutenberggasse, 1070 Vienna
www.spittelberg.at

Check our complete guide to see all Viennese Christmas markets and more information about them.

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VIENNA

Could be wurst: Vienna sausage stands push for UN recognition

From top bankers and politicians to students and factory workers, Vienna's popular sausage stands heaving with bratwurst and meaty delicacies are a longstanding cultural legacy they hope to have recognised by UNESCO.

Published: 23 June 2024 08:31 CEST
Could be wurst: Vienna sausage stands push for UN recognition

The owners of 15 stands in the Austrian capital have formed a lobbying group and applied last week to have the “Vienna sausage stand culture” inscribed as intangible cultural heritage by the UN agency.

“We want to create a kind of quality seal for Vienna sausage stands,” said 36-year-old Patrick Tondl, one of the association’s founders whose family owns Leo’s Wuerstelstand — Vienna’s oldest operating sausage stand.

“At the sausage stand, everyone is the same… No matter if you’re a top banker who earns hundreds of thousands of euros or if you have to scrape together the last euros to buy a sausage… You meet here, you can talk to everyone,” he adds.

High inflation driving consumers looking for affordable meals, plus a new wave of vendors with updated flavours, have helped keep the stands busy.

Tondl’s great-grandfather started their business in the late 1920s, pulling a cart behind him and selling sausages at night.

The family’s customers have included former chancellor Bruno Kreisky, recalls Vera Tondl, 67, who runs the shop together with her son Patrick.

Leo’s is one of about 180 sausage stands in Vienna today, out of a total of about 300 food stands, selling fast food at fixed locations and open until the early hours, according to the city’s economic chamber.

Whereas the number of stands has remained similar over the last decade, more than a third have changed from selling sausages to kebabs, pizza and noodles, a spokesman for the chamber told AFP.

‘Momentum’

But sausage stands have seen a “mini boom” in customer numbers recently, according to Patrick Tondl.

Many have been drawn back to the stands by high inflation, where a meal can be had for less than 10 euros ($11) with lower overheads than restaurants.

New stand operators have also brought a “bit of momentum”, said Tondl, bringing the likes of organic vegetarian sausages with kimchi.

Tourists are already drawn in droves.

“When you come to Austria, it’s what you want to try,” 28-year-old Australian tourist Sam Bowden told AFP.

The cultural legacy of Vienna’s sausages is far-reaching, including the use of the term “wiener” for sausages in the United States, which is believed to have derived from the German name for Vienna, Wien.

However Sebastian Hackenschmidt, who has published a photo book on the stands, said the legacy of the “Vienna phenomena” is more complex.

He says that for many in multicultural Vienna, the sausage stands hold little appeal — equally for the growing number of vegetarians — and their universal appeal is something of a “myth”.

“Vienna is a city in great flux… With the influx of people, cultural customs are also changing,” Hackenschmidt told AFP.

Some 40 percent of Vienna’s two million inhabitants were born outside the country, where the anti-immigrant far-right looks set to top September national polls for the first time.

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