Christmas in Vienna Austria

I went to Vienna for a Christmas market break from 20th-23rd December 2018. I have to be honest in saying that Austria never appealed to me before as a country to visit. However, many people told me that Vienna is an amazing destination. I wanted to go somewhere in central Europe for Christmas markets and already visited Germany the year before. So I thought I would give Vienna a try.

Day 1- Thursday 20th December

(please note: if you are viewing from a mobile device, you can swipe right on the photo above to see more)

I arrived in Vienna at 3pm. I flew out of London Heathrow in the morning and had a 4-hour connection in Switzerland. All the direct flights to Vienna were £300+ despite me booking 4 months in advance. So I decided to just take a connected flight and pay half the price (£150)

After checking into my hotel at 3pm, I wasted no time getting straight outside to explore! My first destination was St. Stephen’s Cathedral. There was a  €5 charge to take the lift to the top. Then I headed out to the main Christmas market in the city (Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz) The decorations were beautiful! I had a mug of Weihnachtspunsch to warm myself up and ended up talking to a couple from Australia who were travelling around Europe. Anyway…that one cup of Weihnachtspunsch sent my head into the clouds. I just assumed it would be like mulled wine. Noooooo…this drink is a Christmas punch made with both rum and red wine. It was around 5pm at this time so I decided to go and get something to eat at Knödel Manufaktur restaurant. I went for the traditional pork and cabbage dumpling. These dumplings come in both sweet and savoury flavours, but I personally prefer savoury ones.

Day 2- Friday 21st December

I woke up refreshed from a long rest and went out early to Naschmarkt, one of Vienna’s most popular markets. To be honest…I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Nothing stood out to me here. The atmosphere was quite “grey” and half of the stalls were closed. I didn’t see many people there either. Maybe I came on the wrong day or something. After this, I moved on to visit Karlskirche which is the church pictured in the photo above. I really like this church…it looks very unique and stood out to me. After this, I went to try a Wiener Melange which is a traditional Austrian coffee.

Then I headed to Schönbrunn Palace’s Café Residenz for a strudel making demonstration. You get a plate of Apfelstrudel with your ticket. This is the kind of thing that you need to book in advance for. I booked the ticket 2 months in advance and the room was full for the demonstration. After it ended, I wandered around some Christmas market stalls that were set up outside the palace. Then it was time to visit the Natural History Museum, which I feel is the best one I have ever seen in Europe! it’s just so beautifully decorated with black and white flooring and chandeliers everywhere. This place was definitely one of my highlights of the trip. The day was ended with a Wiener Schnitzel for dinner.

Day 3- Saturday 22nd December– I did a day trip to Bratislava Slovakia. Click here to see my day trip.

Day 4- Sunday 23rd December

Today was my last day and probably my favourite day of the whole trip. I started my day with a trip to Hundertwasserhaus. This is a colourful building with a very unique mosaic design. There was also a little shopping centre inside with pretty Christmas ornaments. I found a café next door where I tried Sachertorte which is a traditional Austrian chocolate cake.

In the afternoon I went to the Jewish museum which was interesting. They were selling religious shaped lebkuchen for Hanukkah. There was also a horse and carriage rider that I came across after leaving the museum. This really does add something nice to the atmosphere of the city. I wandered around until I came across another Christmas market. This is where I ordered my final mulled wine of the trip from a stall that had a beautiful festive mug. I decided to keep this and still have it at home. In Germany and Austria, you pay a deposit for the mug when you buy hot drinks at Christmas markets. If you return the mug, then you get your deposit money back. But if you want to keep the mug as a souvenir then they will just keep your deposit money.

Writing this post has put me in the festive spirit again. Where do you think I should go for my next Christmas market break?