Vienna in Winter: Enjoy the Festivities Like a Local

Vienna in December has its own glow and a generous warmth that settles over the city. Austria embraces Christmas wholeheartedly, and Vienna in particular feels gemütlich: cosy, welcoming, a bit nostalgic and wonderfully festive.

This is the season for Glühwein (mulled wine) and Weihnachtspunsch (Christmas punch), Erdäpfelpuffer (potato pancakes) and Maroni (roasted chestnuts), Advent candles, Krampus and the Christkind. Everything from folklore to cherished traditions layers together into something uniquely Austrian.

Customs and Traditions in Austria

St Nicholas and Krampus: The Ultimate Good Cop, Bad Cop

Early December starts with a theatrical double act.

On the night of 5th December (Krampusnacht), the streets in Alpine towns echo with the clanking of chains and loud cries of costumed figures in fur and carved wooden masks. Rooted in pagan Alpine customs, and absorbed into Christian customs, legend had this goaty-demon figure swatting disobedient children with birch branches, or whisking them away in sacks.

Today, most of the drama is performed through Krampusläufe, highly choreographed parades organised by dedicated Krampus clubs. They are particularly popular in Salzburg, Innsbruck and Alpine villages.

And just as the chaos peaks, kindness arrives. On the morning of 6th December (St Nicholas Day), well-behaved children would wake to find their shoes filled with treats such as sweets, nuts and mandarins from St Nicholas, robed in red.

While Viennese Krampus sightings are rare, the tradition of St Nicholas delivering treats remains alive in households across the city.

Christmas cookies (and why the kitchen smells like butter)

The waft of sweet and buttery spreads throughout December in Austria as the baking of Christmas cookies, or Kekse, ramps up. Families bake and gift them generously.

The most popular are Vanillekipferl (crescent shaped biscuits), Linzer Augen (cookies sandwiched with jam filling) and spiced ginger Lebkuchen.

Advent – A Slow, Glowing Countdown

Advent marks the four Sundays before Christmas in the run-up to Christmas. Advent wreaths (Adventkränze) adorn many Austrian homes, many homemade with evergreen twigs and decorated with ribbons. They are sold in markets and florists all over Austria. The wreath holds four candles, one lit on each Sunday of Advent.

You’ll also find Advent calendars everywhere – from 1st to 24th December, each day another “window” is opened until Christmas Eve finally arrives.

By the time all four candles are burning, Vienna feels ready – and the tree, hidden away, finally takes centre stage.

Christmas Eve (Heilige Abend)

24th December stages the main event in Austria. Traditionally the Christmas tree is decorated on this day, in secret, with the children kept out of the room – and lit for the first time. Although more people now decorate the tree earlier or add a smaller ‘Advent tree’, the sense of ceremony remains.

Unlike in many English-speaking countries, it’s not Santa Claus but the Christkind (Baby Jesus), an angel-like figure in a white robe with golden wings, who brings the gifts. Parents tell children the Christkind can only be seen by adults, and when a small bell rings, it signals that the Christkind has just left.

For children, the sound of the bell is pure magic – the moment the waiting ends – and families gather for Bescherung, the opening of the presents.

What Austrians eat at Christmas

After the presents have been opened, it's time to eat. Christmas Eve is intimate and often simple, with many households enjoying Christmas carp (Weihnachtskarpfen) – a traditional dish symbolising good fortune, or Bratwurst (roasted sausages) with potatoes or dumplings and vegetables.

Roast goose or duck are also popular choices for Christmas Day (25th December), especially filled with apples, chestnuts and cloves.

Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without something sweet after – often homemade Christmas biscuits.

Vienna’s Christmas Markets

It’s not a post about a Viennese Christmas without mentioning the markets. Vienna doesn’t just have one Christmas market – it has a constellation. Handcrafted gifts, the smell of cinnamon and spices wafting from the punsch stands, chestnuts (maroni), and lights twinkling.

Below are the best-known markets plus the cosier ones and arts and crafts fairs all across Vienna. Just follow the smells of cinnamon and roasted chestnuts!

Dates reflect 2025 organiser schedules/City listings:

Tips to Enjoy Christmas Markets Like a Local

Crowd-dodge with style! But do make sure the market is open

• Start early in the season to get into the mood (and beat peak crowds).
• Go on weekdays: late afternoon is gentler than evening.
• Favour smaller markets for conversation with makers (Spittelberg, Karlsplatz, Türkenschanzpark).
  

Be prepared for the 5 degree drop in temperature – but make sure that you can still move

• Layer up: once the sun drops, so does the temperature.
• Roam across districts: every market has its own character.
• Peek at schedules: many markets host choirs or small concerts on specific days.
  
  
  

Enjoy the Austrian festive culinary delights but make sure you have the means to pay before you buy a bit of everything

• Eat like you mean it: soup in a bread bowl, Lebkuchen, Maroni, Kaiserschmarrn, and Erdäpfelpuffer... the list goes on!
• Carry a little cash – not every stall takes cards.
  

Practical Notes For a Viennese Christmas

Even in the glow of the season, a bit of planning keeps Christmas smooth.

Plan early: Most shops – including supermarkets – close at 1 pm on 24th December, so employees can enjoy the holiday. Some exceptions may apply to convenience stores at train or petrol stations, which often remain open longer, for last minute

Admin will have to wait: For anything practical – banking, repairs, appointments – aim to have it done by 23rd December, though preferably well before then. After that, most things pause until 7th January (day after the Epiphany). Vienna – if not all of Austria – is almost on full shutdown. It’s cultural, not inefficiency.

Christmas Tree – Oh Christmas Tree! Vienna takes its Christmas trees seriously: das Marktamt (the Market Authorities) regulate the allocation and size of Christmas tree marketplaces and pricing.  

There are a number of places from where you can buy your tree – from markets and street vendors across the city, or even on farms where you can cut your own, for that extra sense of achievement! You can find a list of certified sellers at Weihnachtsbaum aus Österreich.

"Treecycling" is easy and impressive: After Christmas (from 27th December 2025 to 17th January 2026), Vienna’s recycling system steps in. Even the trees here get a graceful exit – turned into warmth and light for Viennese homes. Hundreds of Christmas-tree drop-off points (Christbaumsammelstellen) are provided across the city.

And of course, most of the packaging and paper can go in district recycling or to your nearest Mistplatz (recycling centre). It’s efficient, unshowy and very Viennese.

🌲⚡Fun fact: Around 130,000 trees are collected each year – enough to supply 1,200 households with electricity and 2,200 households with district heating for a month.

 

🌲🐐 Even more fun fact: Some trees become snacks for Pinzgau goats at the Rautenweg landfill!

 

Bleigiessen: A Peek Into the Future?

This tradition isn’t strictly linked to Christmas, but for looking ahead at the New Year, however, it’s a family favourite and I’d like to share it with you: Bleigiessen.

Still a popular and playful custom done on New Year’s Eve (Silvester), tiny pieces of metal (now tin, formerly lead) or wax are melted in a spoon over a candle, then dropped into water to harden instantly.

The resulting shape is interpreted as a hint at what the coming year may hold:

⭐ Is it a star? Am I going to be famous?
❤️ Is it a heart? Will I find love this year?
✈️ Is it an airplane? Am I off to far-flung places?
🌸 Is it a flower? Is that project I've been working on going to ‘bloom’ in the new year?
🐟 Is it a fish? Am I going to become an Olympic swimmer?

The joy, of course, is in the interpretation – and in how obligingly the metal shape becomes whatever future you need it to be 🔮.

As Christmas approaches, Vienna goes all in – traditions and customs are woven into the sights, sounds and smells of the City, and you can take as much or as little from it as you like. You can simply enjoy the waft of cinnamon and spices as you stroll past the markets, snack on hot chestnuts or make an Advent wreath. Or you might embrace the whole season – a veritable Punsch in the face, metaphorically speaking. The choice is yours.

And perhaps you'll choose to melt your own little piece of tin on New Year’s Eve, wondering what the next twelve months might hold.

Frohe Weihnachten — and may the year ahead be full of good things 💫