Food Festivals in Vienna

Austria's largest Oktoberfest-style festival takes the Kaiserwiese in the Prater for nearly three weeks, three beer tents and five alpine huts serving Austrian Schmankerl and Goesser beer.

TipTable seats in the tents are ticketed and go early; the alpine huts outside take walk-ins on weekday afternoons.

The Weihnachtsmarkt Schloss Schönbrunn fills the palace courtyard from 6 November to 6 January with about 90 stalls, from Punsch, Maroni and Strudel to crafts, and an ice rink.

The Wiener Christkindlmarkt on Rathausplatz in Vienna is the city's largest Christmas market, the stalls and Bratwurst counters spread across the City Hall.

The Spittelberg market runs through four Biedermeier lanes off the Burggasse, craft stalls packed between food counters serving Langos, Kaiserschmarren, Buchteln, Flammkuchen and hot punch.

TipThe lanes are one person wide and gridlock after 18:00 on Fridays; come before 16:00 on a weekday to eat standing.

Art Advent in the Resselpark is the Vienna Advent market whose food stalls are certified organic, serving organic sausages, Kiachl, potato goulash and roast chestnuts beside a juried craft market.

TipOrganic sourcing puts prices above the other markets; the potato goulash and the Kiachl are the best value.

The market on the medieval Am Hof square carries a broader food range than most: Tyrolean Groestl, Alpine cheese, Langos and open sandwiches, plus punch, mulled wine and a champagne bar.

TipFood and drink counters serve an hour later than the craft stalls, so the square is calmest for eating after 21:00.

The market in the old general hospital courtyards is the student one, with food stands from Austria's provinces around a plaza of bar tables, punch, mulled wine, roast chestnuts and fried potatoes.

TipTuesday is the student night with cheaper punch; the courtyard restaurants take the overflow when the stands fill.

Vienna's oldest Christmas market stands on the Freyung between the Schottenstift and the city palaces, with a farmers' section selling ham, cheese and regional wine beside the punch stalls.

TipCome on a weekday morning for the farmers' section: the better hams and Alpine cheeses are picked over by evening.

The Weihnachtsdorf returns to the square between the two museums in 2026 after a year off, with about 70 stalls selling Leberkaese, Langos, Lebkuchen, roast chestnuts, soups and punch.

TipIt runs to 26 December, one of the few Vienna markets still trading in the days after Christmas.

The Prater's winter market keeps going past Christmas to 6 January under the Riesenrad, with punch, mulled wine, Buchteln, Kaiserschmarren and raclette stands and live concerts most nights.

TipIt is the only large Vienna market still open in the first week of January, and it trades until 02:00 on 31 December.

Vegan Planet at MAK Wien is the annual two-day expo for plant-based food, fashion and lifestyle, drawing producers from across Austria each autumn.

Vienna's New Year's Eve trail links eight squares in the old city with stages and catering, more than two dozen operators selling street food, sweet stalls, punch and Sekt from 14:00 until 02:00.

TipStart at Neuer Markt or Freyung: Graben and Stephansplatz are barely passable after 22:00 and the food queues run longest there.

Wiener Eistraum turns Rathausplatz in Vienna into an ice-skating park from 22 January to 7 March 2027, with organic food and drink at the stalls and open daily 10:00 to 22:00.

The Easter twin of the Freyung Christmas market, craft and food stalls built around a mound of painted eggs, selling Osterpinze Easter bread, roast Easter lamb and Austrian produce.

TipThe run is tied to Easter, opening about two weeks before it and closing on Easter Monday, so the dates move each year.

The forecourt of Schoenbrunn fills with about 70 stalls from before Easter into late April, with Kaerntner Kasnudeln, Backhendl, Kartoffelpuffer, tarte flambee and Viennese chocolate.

TipIt carries on as a spring market for three weeks after Easter, when the courtyard is far quieter than in Advent.

Genuss-Festival at Vienna's Stadtpark runs 8 to 10 May 2026 with more than 100 food producers and small manufacturers from across Austria's regions, tastings and warm dishes included.

The Vienna Coffee Festival in Marx Halle in Vienna is the city's annual specialty-coffee fair, the country's biggest roaster gathering with workshops.

Austria's farming chambers take the Heldenplatz for a weekend each September, a farmers' market plus Heuriger wine tents, mountain cheese, pumpkin oil, carp and Schmankerl from every province.

TipEntry is free and the stalls sell produce to take home as well as to eat, so bring a bag along with an appetite.

Veganmania is Austria's biggest street-food festival, the Donauinsel weekend across three days in September serving vegan plates from across the country.

Vienna Wine Hiking Day (Wiener Weinwandertag) follows four marked routes through the city's vineyards around Kahlenberg, Nussberg, Bisamberg and Mauer, with tastings from vintners' cellars and kitchens.