3 days Experiencing Vienna in Winter
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I take holidays way to seriously. Like, WAY too seriously.
So when I found myself in Europe, living with a host family and unable to host gatherings or partake in any of my usual traditions during the Christmas season, I was a little blown. Granada did Christmas well, but it wasn’t extravagant enough for my taste. In light of this, I set out to research where i could find the best Christmas in Europe for the lowest price.
After some sifting through Skyscanner and Pinterest, I settled on Vienna, Austria.
As a competitive pianist who loves Mozart, as a holiday enthusiast, as someone who’s family thinks The Sound of Music is a Christmas movie, you could say I had high hopes for my Christmas weekend in Vienna.
And boy, did it DELIVER.
Vienna in Winter is what my Christmas dreams are made of, everything I wanted and more.
Here’s what we got up during 3 days in Vienna, Austria, and why it should be your next holiday destination.
After my 7 friends and I checked into our Vrbo meant for three, I immediately left them in the dust. Thanks to a crazy night out the night before, none of us were feeling 100%, but I was not going to allow myself to waste a second in this city. The rest of us decided to take a much-needed nap but I chose to settle for a double shot espresso and cut straight to the chase.
3 days Experiencing Vienna in the Winter:
I had a list of what I thought were the best things to do in Vienna in winter, and I was determined to see everything. After reviving myself, I decided to head right to the Palais De Justice which weirdly, is just a really impressive government building with a grand lobby and a beautiful rooftop. This was the first stop on the itinerary because when I went, they closed at 3:30, so if you choose to add this to your itinerary be sure to account for that!
We left our bags with the security guard and had the place entirely to ourselves. It was so gorgeous, and the view from the roof primed our excitement for the rest of our stops that day.
Between landing at the airport, getting a car to the Vrbo (a mildly expensive nightmare), finding coffee and meandering through the Palais de Justice lobby, the daylight was already starting to fade. Our best bet was to stroll through the streets and hit some sights that we didn’t plan on paying an entry fee for. We made a quick stop at the Hofburg Imperial Palace, which at the time was surrounded with smaller Christmas markets selling sausages, mulled wine, ornaments, and sweets.
That was as far as we had planned for that day, so to get our bearings and to make a plan, we set out to find Cafe Central for some strudel and some schnitzel.
I ended up getting neither lol, I was too tempted by the viennese take on the cappuccino, called a melange — and the cakes in the display case were calling my name. Dinner = coffee and sweets and I was totally okay with that. While we indulged, we hatched our game plan for the rest of the stay. I’m normally great at planning but the fact that we took our backpacks to the club in Spain and left them with the bouncer and set alarms on our phone for when we needed to leave for the airport really threw me off for this trip LMAO
Read more: Amsterdam in Winter
Of course, Vienna in winter is all about the Christmas Markets, so we hurried back to the airbnb to don some warmer clothes and then headed back out to what is possibly the most famous Christmas Market of all: Wiener Christkindlmarkt am Rathausplatzs. We only had 3 days in Vienna, so we decided to only tackle the most famous Christmas markets. Without a doubt, this is the best thing to do in Vienna during the winter.
It was my Christmas FANTASY OMG. omg.
The exquisite city hall as a backdrop, the glowing hearts and snowflakes hanging from the trees, the winding ice rink, the countless stalls packed with gorgeous ornaments and delicious treats, the mulled wine kiosk that handed it out in heart shaped mugs instead of paper cups…. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.
I think I found my way back to this winter wonderland every single night.
And every day for lunch. Those sausage rolls go SO HARD.
Sorry about the picture overload but how could I even choose which ones to post. I had to do all of them.
When we were in severe danger of our fingers freezing off, we reluctantly headed back to our tiny airbnb and settled in for a much deserved night of sleep.
The next morning, we decided to make the hike to Schonbrunn palace. This palace used to be the summer residence for the Hapsburgs, so, in similar fashion to most other summer houses in Europe, it is located just outside of the city, but the metro makes the trip very simple and fairly quick.
This Palace is massive, but the grounds are even bigger. The gardens stretch so far, there’s even a whole zoo on the property (which isn’t open in the winter, something to keep in mind). We toured the gardens, the greenhouse, and the desert /cactus house, but if I could go back and do it again I would 100% buy tickets to see the inside. Although there are no photos allowed of the inside of the property, I think it would have been breathtaking.
The gardens were beautiful, and I can’t even imagine how much moreso they would be in spring and summer. The greenhouse was gorgeous, but I’ve seen my fair share of greenhouses much rather would have spent my money on tickets to the interior of the palace, but majority rules and the group voted on the greenhouses!
The desert themed one actually made for one of the funniest moments of my whole study abroad experience: in the lobby, they have a tank of fish that eat dead skin cells off of you, and we were rolling on the floor laughing at Mary’s reaction to putting her hand in the tank! We probably spent 30 minutes not even paying attention to the flora but instead dying over these fish. It made it all worth it haha!
Schonbrunn Palace is well worth a trip, although if I could do it again, I would make this half day trip at night, as there is a beautiful Christmas market that pops up in from of the palace during the evening in particular.
For the rest of the day, we headed back to city center just to browse, window shop, and see the beautiful lights that lined the streets. along the way we ran into Peter’s Church and St. Stephens Cathedral, both of which surprised me. Peters Church was nestled in with department stores in the middle of the city, and St. Stephens Cathedral had a modern chevron print that adorned the rooftops. I’m a SUCKER for classical art so the inside of Peter’s Church had me mesmerized for a good 15 minutes; I think I got a cramp in my neck from looking at the gorgeous ceilings.
I wish I had gone up in the tower at St. Stephens Cathedral for a view of the city! Oh well, next time.
From there, we went back to the Christmas markets for some sausage rolls and ice skating.
Of course, one of the best things to do in Vienna in winter - or no matter what time of year you visit - is to see an opera. When I made the decision to come to Vienna, I just KNEW that I couldn’t leave without seeing an opera, but I definitely was working with a college budget. I had done some prior research about standing room tickets, and vowed to make it happen. Unfortunately, the group I came with had literally 0 interest in attending an opera in one of the worlds most famous opera houses (what?? some people make no sense to me) so I put on my nicest outfit (which was mediocre at best, I brought a backpack with me so options were limited) and set out on my own.
The opera was so fab. If you want to see an opera and can only afford standing room (I paid 30 dollars), here is my advice to you:
GET THERE EARLY. I thought I was getting there early but by the time I found the side entrance for standing room tickets it was definitely later than I expected and I got one of the LAST TICKETS. it was that close. (that door is kinda hidden. I’d ask around before you circumnavigate the entire building twice — its a large building). Bring a scarf or a coat to save your space. once you find a spot to stand tie the scarf or coat on the rail in front of you so that nobody steals your spot!
If you want a picture on the stairs, make sure you do it before the show; if you try after they won’t let you back up! learn from my mistakes:(
There are devices that translate the opera into any language, so don’t worry about not understanding. I saw a tragedy I had never even heard of but ended up loving it!
I also recommend staying for the whole opera. Many people leave at intermission because they end up being nearly 4 hours long and standing for that long does get painful. But once all the WEAKLINGS are weeded out you can move your scarf to a much better spot and finish out the show with an amazing view.
10/10 experience the people I traveled with were stupid for not going with me.
And that concluded my whirlwind 3 days in Vienna, Austria! We left early the next morning. It was a whirlwind experience in this Christmas wonderland and I would love to come back for another holiday season! Maybe I'll get to see another opera one day, this time with a fancy dress and an actual seat;)
We did everything we came to do, and fit all the best things to do in Vienna into 3 days. You can definitely spend way more time in the city and not run out of things to do, but if you have to pack it all into a weekend, it’s definitely do-able.
bonus picture:
Somewhere along the way we visited St. Francis of Assisi Church, which was so gorgeous, definitely worth a stop!
GO TO VIENNA IN WINTER AND LMK HOW IT IS!!!
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