Private Christmas Markets Tour
Where are the Christmas markets in Vienna?
The 10 best Christmas markets in Vienna are at City hall square, Maria Theresien Platz, Spittelberg, Karlsplatz, Schönbrunn, Belvedere, Prater, Freyung, Am Hof und St Stephan’s square.
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- A nice evening with a nice local guide in Vienna at dusk lit by Christmas lightings.
The scent of candles, Christmas snacks and Glühwein.
A driver and a local live guide who speaks english and german.
Pick up by car and private transportation.
Drive from Christmas market to Christmas market starting with the largest Christmas market on Vienna’s town hall square followed by the markets on Maria Theresien Platz, Spittelberg, Karlsplatz, Schönbrunn, Belvedere, Prater and Freyung.
Watch and taste traditional Christmas snacks, such as Austrian farmers‘ donuts mit apricot jam being prepare in front of you.
A ride in the Prater on the famous Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel festively decorated for the Christmas season.
Guided walk from the Christmas market on Am Hof through Vienna’s most sparkling Christmas lights on Graben to the Christmas village at St Stephan’s square.
A mug of Glühwein in the Christmas village at St Stephan’s square.
Return by car to the pick-up point
- Arrival We pick up guests from all Viennese accommodations, from railway stations and from Danube cruise ships that dock in Vienna. If the hotel or the landing stage cannot be reached by car, we will pick you up from a nearby location that is within walking distance.
- Return The return journey is to the original pick-up point.
- Bookings can be made at short notice by telephone or whatsapp on +43 680 301 7720 or by e-mail to office@fasten-tour.com.
- This tour is a private tour for 2 to 4 people.
- Pick-up time is at 16:00.
- Most travellers can take part.
- Duration approx. 5 – 6 hours. The exact duration may vary, including pick-up and return journey.
- The private Vienna Christmas market tour for 2 persons costs € 668,00 and for 4 persons € 790,00.
- The amount is due at the end of the tour and can be paid in cash or by card.
If you have any questions about this Vienna Christmas market tour just give us a call. The telephone number is +43 680 301 7720 and you will speak directly to Mr Schlappack, the organiser of the tour.
What sets this tour apart?
This private Christmas market tour takes you to the 10 best Christmas markets in Vienna. You will have a driver and a guide who is an artist by profession and lives in Vienna, because arts and crafts are strongly represented at the Viennese Christmas markets. We start with the largest Christmas market on Vienna’s Rathausplatz, which has been there since 1975.
However, already in 1298, the Habsburg Albrecht I granted the citizens of Vienna the privilege of holding a December market. In addition to the Christmas markets in the city centre, we will also take you to the outskirts to Schönbrunn Palace and Belvedere Palace as well as to the Prater, where you will have the opportunity to take a ride on the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel.
Your physical well-being is also catered for. You will be served a typical, freshly prepared, wonderfully fragrant dish, such as a farmer’s doughnut with jam, which you can watch being prepared. We round off the tour with a cup of punch on Stephansplatz.
1. Vienna Christmas market on Rathausplatz
Vienna’s Rathausplatz is named after the town hall, a freestanding neo-Gothic building built in 1872-1883 in historicist style after the fall of the bastion fortifications on the former Josefstädter Glacis, a parade ground. Most of the Rathausplatz is taken up by the Rathauspark. Only the central axis between the Town Hall and the Burgtheater is free and provides space for the stalls.
In 1298, the Habsburg Albrecht I, Roman-German king, granted the citizens of Vienna the privilege of holding a December market, which subsequently took place on Vienna’s Graben, on the Freyung and at Am Hof. When the market moved to Am Hof in 1842, it was renamed the Christkindlmarkt. In 1918, the Christkindlmarkt was moved to Stephansplatz.
From the 1980s onwards, smaller Christmas markets than the Christmas market on Rathausplatz were established at other locations in the city.
2. Christmas Village on Maria-Theresien-Platz
Maria-Theresien-Platz is located on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, opposite Imperial Palace. It is bordered to the north-west by the Natural History Museum and to the south-east by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in mirror image and of the same dimensions. Both museums were commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I at the end of the 19th century and built in the style of Viennese Historicism on the grassy strip around the former fortifications.
To the south-west, Maria-Theresien-Platz is bordered by a street running parallel to Vienna’s Ringstrasse, on which the MuseumsQuartier is located, which Emperor Charles VI originally had built for the court stables. In the centre of Maria-Theresien-Platz stands the Maria Theresa Monument, the most important monument to the Habsburg monarchy in Vienna, which commemorates Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria. The Christmas village on Maria-Theresien-Platz offers rustic arts and crafts, handmade Christmas decorations and a wide selection of culinary delights.
Spittelberg is a hill that rises steeply from the Ottakringerbach stream to the south-west of the city centre.
3. Christmas market at Spittelberg
The former suburb of Spittelberg, which was located between Vienna’s city fortifications and the Linienwall, a somewhat more peripheral fortification, is now a trendy neighbourhood behind the MuseumsQuartier that is well worth a visit due to its narrow, romantic alleyways, which give an impression of the original village, as well as the charming, well-preserved, revitalised Biedermeier houses and the high density of pubs and artisan businesses.
However, in the 18th century, when sexual services were offered alongside drinks in the extra rooms of inns and the Duchess of Austria, Maria Theresa, wanted to put an end to this with a chastity commission, prostitution moved to the suburbs, to Spittelberg. Founded in 1980 as a sales platform for arts and crafts, the Christmas market on Spittelberg was long regarded as the most beautiful in Vienna.
4. Art Advent on Karlsplatz
The area immediately south-west of the inner city was originally a floodplain landscape of the Vienna River with gravel banks. In 1529, this area was the scene of fighting during the Turkish siege of Vienna.
In 1739, the Karlskirche was built according to plans by the Austrian Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach on a barren hill on the right bank of the Vienna River, in fulfilment of a vow made by Charles VI during the plague epidemic of 1713. Karlsplatz was created in 1900 by regulating and ploughing over the Wien River and was named after Emperor Charles VI.
At the Art Advent Christmas market on Karlsplatz, visitors can enjoy creative arts and crafts, muscle-powered carriages, street theatre and live acts. The catering at Art Advent is completely certified organic with products such as organic lamb, organic „Blunzn“, organic potato pancakes, organic crepes and organic chestnuts. There is also information about organic farming for visitors to the market available.
5. Christmas market at Schönbrunn Palace
The imperial Schönbrunn Palace square located in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna, is entered from Schönbrunner Schloßstraße. After passing the iron lattice gate and 2 obelisks a big red star slightly sloping to the right side is welcoming the visitors of the Christmas market.
Schönbrunn Palace, in the west of Vienna was built by Emperor Leopold I in 1695 according to plans by the Austrian Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. In 1749, Schönbrunn Palace was remodelled by Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria to become the summer residence of the Habsburg dynasty, whose last important representative, Emperor Franz Josef I, died at Schönbrunn Palace in 1916.
The Christmas tree in front of Schönbrunn palace is a fir from Traunkirchen in Upper Austria. There is a Forestry college in Traunkirchen. Traunkirchen lies on the western shore of Lake Traunsee in the Traunsee Almtal forest area of the Salzkammergut. Between lake Traunsee and Almtal valleys lies the second most densely forested area in the country.
The large, baroque Schönbrunn Palace Square is entered through a mighty lattice gate with two obelisks. The Schönbrunn Christmas Market takes place in this imperial atmosphere, transforming the entire palace square into a wintery Christmas world with over 90 market stalls.
In addition to traditional arts and crafts and high-quality gastronomy, there is an ice skating rink and curling rinks as well as a nostalgic carousel and a Ferris wheel. Further special offers for children, such as the cosy wooden circus craft hut, make the Christmas market in front of Schönbrunn Palace family-friendly.
Schnitzel at Schönbrunn Christmas Market
If you’re hungry, you don’t have to go without your schnitzel at the Christmas market in Schönbrunn. At the Gerstner stand, chicken schnitzel is offered in a somewhat untraditional form in a burger bun with coleslaw or ketchup, which is more likely to appeal to tourists than locals visiting the Christmas market. Locals are much more likely to be attracted by the Baumkuchen, which is baked the Hungarian way at the Christmas market in Schönbrunn.
Tree Cake at Schönbrunn Christmas Market
A layer of caramelized cake batter is deposited onto a rotating cylinder and baked in a special oven. The tree cake is served after dipping for example in cinnamon or nuts. Breads of this kind, for which the dough is wound around a cylindrical roller and roasted over a fire, have been around since the Middle Ages. It is thought that the Baumkuchen, tree cake, originated in Hungary as a kind of wedding cake. Baumkuchen is freshly prepared at the Christmas market in Schönbrunn and is a popular warm dessert that is easy to handle by locals and guests equally.
6. Christmas village at Belvedere Palace
Belvedere Palace, a Baroque palace complex named after its location on a slope rising to the south of the city at the time, was built in 1713 by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, an important architect of the southern German Baroque period, for Prince Eugene of Savoy, one of the most important generals of the Habsburg monarchy.
The Upper Belvedere and Lower Belvedere form a baroque ensemble with the connecting gardens. Today, the two palace buildings house the collections of the Austrian Belvedere Gallery. The centrepiece of the „Art around 1900“ collection presented in the Upper Belvedere is the Gustav Klimt painting collection, the highlights of which are the golden paintings The Kiss and Judith.
In the romantic atmosphere in front of the Upper Belvedere, with the scent of punch in the air, the tranquil Christmas village takes place with its 42 stalls under baroque lights, artistic decorations and sweet-sounding Christmas carols with delicious Viennese delicacies.
7. Winter market by the ferris wheel square
The 64.75 metre high Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel, a symbol of Vienna, was erected in 1897 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Franz Josef I’s accession to the throne on the Riesenradplatz in the Prater. The axis of the Giant Ferris Wheel lies in an east-west direction and the wheel in a north-south direction.
The Prater, in the south-east of Vienna, used to be a relatively unspoilt alluvial forest, a hunting ground for the court. Originally, however, the Prater was a small island in the Danube. The ‘Winter Market on the Giant Ferris Wheel Square’ took place in the Prater for the first time 15 years ago.
This year, there are 40 live concerts ranging from gospel to pop and soul, a large family-friendly Perchten run, a hearty auction for a good cause, a brilliant New Year’s Eve programme, an atmospheric New Year’s concert broadcast as well as a special winter sale and, on the last of the 52 days of winter fun, a romantic ride on the festively decorated Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel.
8. Old Viennese Christmas market at the Freyung
In 1155, Henry II, Duke of Austria from the Babenberg dynasty, donated the slightly sloping square in front of the Schottenkirche, which is located in the north-western corner of the inner city, to the Schottenkloster monastery he founded.
In the late Middle Ages, a horse market was held once a week on the Freyung. The name Freyung has been used for today’s square since 1710. In the course of the 18th century, a food market for fruit, vegetables and herbs was established. An oil painting by Bernardo Bellotto, known as Canaletto, which he painted for Maria Theresa in 1759/60, shows the lively market life on the Freyung.
In 1722, a „St Nicholas, Christmas and nativity scene market“ with 108 stalls was held on the Freyung for the first time. Today, there are handicrafts, glass decorations, traditional nativity scenes, ceramics and culinary delicacies in a warm, inviting atmosphere with a beautiful Christmas tree from the forest of Zwettl Abbey in Lower Austria.
In 1842, the Christmas market moved from the Freyung to the nearby Am Hof square. After being chauffeured from Christmas market to Christmas market by car on this tour, we now walk the short distance to Am Hof.
9. Christmas market at Am Hof
Am Hof is a square built in the Middle Ages within the Roman camp walls. When Duke Henry II moved his residence from Regensburg to Vienna, he built a palace on this site. After the Habsburgs replaced the Babenberg dynasty as rulers and moved into the newly built Hofburg, the square „Am Hof“ began to develop as a marketplace around 1280.
As there was also a regular market alongside the „St. Nicholas, Christmas and Nativity Scene Market“ held on the Freyung since 1722, conflicts between the stallholders led to the relocation of the „St. Nicholas, Christmas and Nativity Scene Market“ to Am Hof square in 1842, where the 132 Nativity Scene Market stalls were subsequently set up on 5 December each year and remained there until New Year.
Today’s Christmas market at Am Hof developed in the 1990s from the art and antiques market that was always held there, with the art and antiques dealers still forming a focal point of the Christmas market at the Am Hof.
From Am Hof we continue our tour of Viennese Christmas markets on foot through Bogner Gasse to Tuchlauben. From Bognergasse, we take a look at Seitzergasse, which is decorated with glowing vertical circular cylinders.
Before we continue on Graben, we take a look at Kohlmnarkt in the direction of Michaelerplatz. Walking along the Graben, we arrive at the destination of our Christmas market tour, the Christmas village on St Stephans square.
10. Christmas village at St Stephan’s square
Until its closure by Emperor Charles VI in 1732, Stephansplatz in the heart of Vienna’s city centre was the location of Stephansfreithof, a cemetery around St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the largest and most famous burial site within the Babenberg ring wall.
Today’s Stephansplatz in front of the west façade of St Stephen’s Cathedral was created between 1792 and 1803 by demolishing the row of houses standing there. Records from 1600 show that huts in front of St. Stephen’s were dismantled on 9 January and erected again on 16 and 17 December. In these stalls, ‘Peckn, Lebzelter und Zuggerpacher’ offered their goods. These stalls could be found around Christmas time in the Graben – Stephansplatz area until 1761.
It was not until 1918 that the Christmas market was moved back to Stephansplatz. Today the stalls at the foot of St Stephen’s Cathedral offer high-quality products from Austria. But the Christmas village on Stephansplatz is all about enjoying a warm punch with friends and family.