Vienna in December 2026: Best Things to Do, Events & Tips

Why Visit Vienna in December?

Vienna in December runs at two speeds. For the first three weeks the city is in full Advent: punch stands on the big squares, lights strung over the shopping streets, Advent concerts in the chapel of the Hofburg Palace, and the opera and concert halls deep into their season. Then, on December 24, it goes quiet. Christmas Eve belongs to the family and the tree at home, five of the markets in and around the center have closed on the 23rd, and the city only gets loud again on December 31, when the Silvesterpfad takes over the old town.

Vienna in November had the opening of the markets and the first balls. Vienna in December has everything running at once: every Christmas market of the season is open by the first of the month, Picasso - Bacon is on at the Albertina, the ball season carries on through the winter, and the Hofburg chapel adds Advent concerts to its Sunday masses. Plan around the dates rather than the weather.

Vienna in December Weather - What to Expect

The weather in Vienna in December is cold and gray more often than it's snowy. At the Hohe Warte, the long-running GeoSphere Austria station in the 19th district, the 1991 to 2020 December average puts daytime highs at 4°C (39°F) and nights just below freezing at -0.4°C (31°F), a daily mean of about 1.5°C (35°F). The city station, Innere Stadt, runs a little warmer, with highs near 5°C (41°F) and nights around 1°C (33°F).

Frost is common on a December night. The Hohe Warte averages about 15 frost days in December, days on which the temperature drops below 0°C (32°F) at some point, and on about six days it stays below freezing from morning to night. November, by comparison, has about five frost days. Expect crisp mornings with white grass in the parks.

December is the month with the least sunshine of the Viennese year. The Hohe Warte records about 56 hours of sun in an average December, under two hours a day, against about 67 hours in November and 70 in January. On around 18 days the sky is classed as overcast, so a flat gray midday is more likely than blue sky. Rain and snow together add up to about 47mm on roughly nine days with at least 1mm.

Snow in Vienna in December comes some years, but you can't count on it. Between 1991 and 2020, the Hohe Warte had snow lying on the ground on at least one December day in 23 of the 30 years, but on only about six days in an average December, and in the last ten years of that period in just six Decembers. The odds are better later in the winter: January averages about 11 days with snow cover.

A white Christmas is the exception. Snow lay at the Hohe Warte on December 24 only twice a decade from the 1980s to the 2010s, and not once in the first years of the 2020s. Fairly reliable Christmas snow in Austria starts at around 800 meters, far above the city.

Daylight is short and barely moves. On December 1 the sun rises at 7:24 AM and sets at 4:03 PM. Around the shortest day, December 21, sunrise has slipped to 7:42 AM while sunset still comes at 4:03 PM, which leaves about 8 hours 20 minutes of daylight. By December 31 the sun rises at 7:45 AM and sets at 4:10 PM. So in Vienna in December, anything you want to see in daylight belongs between late morning and mid-afternoon, and the markets get the long evenings.

What to Wear in Vienna in December

Packing for Vienna in December means dressing for frost and for standing still. Museums, cafés and concert halls are well heated, so bring layers you can take off: a thermal base layer, a warm sweater, and a windproof coat that reaches below the hips. For an evening at a Christmas market, where you spend an hour or two on cold paving with a mug in your hand, hat, scarf and gloves aren't optional. Thick socks and warm, waterproof boots with soles that grip matter more than anything else in the suitcase, because cobblestones turn slick in sleet and on frosty mornings. A small umbrella is enough; December brings more gray than rain.

Events in Vienna in December

The calendar for Vienna in December runs from the Christmas markets and the ball season through two major exhibitions to the Silvesterpfad on the last night of the year. Here's what's on:

For more on what's on in Vienna, visit our Events in Vienna page.

Top Things to Do in Vienna in December

The Advent Weeks: Christmas Markets, Punch and Lights

Until December 23, the Christmas markets set the rhythm of Vienna in December. By the first of the month they're all open, from the big Christkindlmarkt in front of the Rathaus to the smaller ones at Am Hof, on the Freyung and in the lanes of Spittelberg. Entry to all of them is free.

The closing dates matter if you come late in the month. Spittelberg, Am Hof, the Freyung, the Christmas village in the Altes AKH and the art market at the Karlskirche close on December 23. The markets in front of the Rathaus, at St. Stephen's Cathedral, on Schwarzenbergplatz and on Maria-Theresien-Platz stay open until December 26, the Christmas village in front of the Upper Belvedere until December 31. Two run into the new year until January 6: the market in front of Schönbrunn Palace and the winter market at the Prater, below the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel. Arrive on December 27 and three are still open.

What you drink there is Punsch, the hot punch Vienna mostly drinks in Advent. Berry punch is made with mixed berries, red wine and fruit tea, orange punch with black tea, rum and freshly squeezed oranges, and Kinderpunsch is warm, spiced fruit juice without alcohol; mulled wine is on offer too. For Punsch with a view, the Aurora Rooftop Bar runs its own punch hut through December, on the 16th floor above the rooftops of Vienna. On the streets, Maroni sellers roast chestnuts and potatoes on iron stoves, a winter trade Vienna has known since at least the 18th century.

Between the markets, the Christmas lights do the rest. Once they're all up, more than two million LEDs hang over 32 shopping streets. The Graben has the biggest chandeliers, and in Annagasse the lights spell out the opening bars of "Silent Night" in musical notes. For each market, its character and what it sells, read our guide to the Vienna Christmas markets.

St. Nicholas, the Krampus and the December 8 Holiday

Early December has two dates of its own. The feast of St. Nicholas, the Nikolo in Viennese, falls on December 6 and is celebrated the evening before. The Nikolo brings small presents for children, and his companion, the Krampus, a hairy, horned devil figure with goat's feet, is there for the ones who misbehaved.

December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is a public holiday in Austria: offices and schools are closed, but shops are allowed to open. The Advent Sundays are different: the shops stay shut, and the markets have the day.

Opera, Advent Music and the Ball Season

In December the Vienna State Opera is deep into its season. This year's December program includes The Magic Flute, La Bohème and Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, which has its premiere on December 17. The Vienna State Ballet dances Swan Lake in the last days of the month, and on Christmas Day the house plays Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles. If you'd like help choosing between the opera, the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus, our guide to classical music in Vienna explains the venues and how their evenings work.

For Advent music, go to the Hofburgkapelle, the chapel of the Hofburg Palace. Its Sunday masses are sung by the Hofmusikkapelle: the Vienna Boys Choir, the Wiener Chormädchen, members of the State Opera's men's chorus and of the Vienna Philharmonic. In December the chapel adds Advent concerts, and on Christmas Day the Boys Choir sings Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai at the morning mass, followed on December 27 by Mozart's Coronation Mass. Each date in the Hofmusikkapelle program leads to its details and tickets.

The Vienna ball season opened on November 11 and runs until February 9. Through the winter, balls fill the Hofburg, the Musikverein and many other houses, each run by its own organizer with its own ticket sales. There's no season pass, so pick the ball first and book there.

Museums and Exhibitions: Picasso - Bacon and Crime Scene Ephesos

On the shortest afternoons of the year, the museums are the obvious plan, and two big exhibitions run through all of Vienna in December. At the Albertina, Picasso - Bacon: What It Feels Like to Be Human sets the two figurative painters side by side. Francis Bacon took up painting under the spell of Picasso and spent his life competing with him, and the show follows how both of them pulled the human figure apart and put it back together. It runs until January 31, so it's on through the holidays.

In the Neue Hofburg on Heldenplatz, Crime Scene Ephesos: Cleopatra and Rome is on until March 29. The exhibition ticket also covers the Weltmuseum Wien, the Imperial Armoury, the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments and the Ephesos Museum, which makes it a full afternoon under one roof.

For the permanent collections, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and the Leopold Museum in the MuseumsQuartier make good gray-day plans, and at the Upper Belvedere the paintings and the Christmas village out front share one visit. Our article on museums in Vienna helps you pick.

Coffeehouse Afternoons and Skating at the Heumarkt

When it's dark by half past four, the coffeehouse is where Vienna in December spends its afternoons. A coffee comes with a glass of water. Our guide to Viennese coffeehouse culture explains the menu and the unwritten rules.

Café Sperl has been open since 1880 and still has its marble tables, Thonet chairs and billiard tables. Café Landtmann, open since 1873, sits right next to the Burgtheater and opposite the Rathaus, a natural stop after the Christkindlmarkt. Café Prückel has been a café since 1903. For cake rather than coffee, Café Demel, the old court confectioner, and Café Sacher, home of the Sachertorte, are both in the center.

For fresh air between two cafés, there's ice. The Wiener Eislauf-Verein, the city's oldest ice sports club, founded in 1867, opened its outdoor rink at the Heumarkt on November 5: more than 6,000 square meters of ice.

Christmas in Vienna: December 24 to 26

Christmas in Vienna is quieter than the weeks before it. December 24, Heiliger Abend, is the main day: in the evening the Christkind, not Santa, brings the presents and lays them under the tree. Shops close around lunchtime, the four big markets at the Rathaus, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Schwarzenbergplatz and Maria-Theresien-Platz open for shorter hours, and the State Opera has no performance that night. Late in the evening, the churches hold the Christmette, the Christmas night mass, a custom that outlasted the Enlightenment's efforts to suppress it and is still part of the Viennese Christmas Eve.

December 25 and 26, Christmas Day and St. Stephen's Day, are both public holidays, and the shops stay closed on both. The city doesn't stop, though: four big markets keep going until the 26th, the Boys Choir sings the Christmas morning mass in the Hofburgkapelle, and the opera is back on stage on the 25th.

Late December: Between the Holidays and the Silvesterpfad

Vienna in December ends with three markets still open after the 26th, the Belvedere village closing on New Year's Eve, and then the Silvesterpfad on December 31, the New Year's Eve trail through the old town, free to walk, with food and drink at stall prices. For the whole night, read our guide to New Year's Eve in Vienna. The next morning, on January 1, the Vienna Philharmonic plays its New Year's Concert at the Musikverein.

Where to Eat in Vienna in December

In Vienna in December, a lot of eating happens standing up: a mug of punch at a market, a bag of Maroni from a street stove. For a proper meal, the cold makes the case for the classics. At Plachutta Wollzeile, Tafelspitz is the dish the house is known for: boiled beef served in its own broth, which is exactly what a frosty evening calls for. Figlmüller Wollzeile is the home of the original Wiener schnitzel, and Meissl & Schadn makes its veal schnitzel in a show kitchen.

For edible presents to take home, the cake counters of Café Demel and Café Sacher are the classic addresses.

On a cold December day, two Viennese inns in the 1st district are good places to warm up over a long lunch. Griechenbeisl on Fleischmarkt is one of the oldest inns in the city, with cozy historic rooms and a Mark Twain Room whose walls carry the signatures of artists and politicians. Around the corner from Franziskanerplatz, Gasthaus Pöschl on Weihburggasse cooks Viennese classics, and the menu includes beef goulash and Alt-Wiener Backhendl, a boned fried chicken. For more ideas, see our guide on where to eat in Vienna.

Day Trips from Vienna in December

One day trip from Vienna in December comes with Advent built in. At Schloss Hof, the baroque palace estate east of Vienna near the Slovak border, a Christmas market runs on the weekends from November 14 to December 20, plus December 7 and 8, so the holiday on the 8th makes a good day for it.

For other trips out of the city, see our guide to day trips from Vienna.

Is December a Good Time to Visit Vienna?

Yes, if you come for Advent. Vienna in December gives you every Christmas market open at once until the 23rd, the opera and concert season at full strength, Advent music in the chapel of the Hofburg Palace, the ball season and two major exhibitions. And a lot of it is free: the markets cost nothing to walk through, and neither do the lights over the shopping streets.

One honest note on the light: December has the least sunshine of the year, the sun sets around 4 PM all month, and snow is a bonus rather than a promise.

If you can choose, come in the second week. You get all the markets, a Sunday mass with the Boys Choir or an Advent concert in the Hofburg chapel, the holiday on the 8th for Schloss Hof, and none of the Christmas closures. Come after the 24th and you trade the full market season for the run-up to New Year's Eve.

Helpful Tips for Visiting Vienna in December

Know the market dates: Five of the markets in and around the center close on December 23, four big ones on December 26, the Christmas village at the Upper Belvedere on December 31, and the markets at Schönbrunn Palace and the Prater on January 6.

Mind the holidays: On December 8 shops may open despite the holiday. On December 24 they close around lunchtime, and on December 25 and 26, as on every Sunday, they stay shut.

Dress for frost: Nights in Vienna in December drop below 0°C (32°F) on about 15 days. At a market stall after dark, warm boots, gloves and a hat decide whether you stay two hours or 20 minutes.

Book the music early: The Christmas Day mass with the Boys Choir, the Advent concerts in the Hofburgkapelle and the Swan Lake evenings at the end of the month are fixed December dates, so reserve once your travel dates are set.

Free culture: The Christmas markets and the Silvesterpfad are free to walk, and the musical notes over Annagasse and the chandeliers on the Graben cost nothing to look at.

Vienna PASS: With short days and a lot of time in museums and palaces, a pass is worth doing the math on. Details in our guide to the Best Vienna City Pass & Tickets, and general advice in our Vienna travel tips.

Staying into January? Schönbrunn and the Prater winter market stay open until January 6, Picasso - Bacon runs until January 31, and Crime Scene Ephesos until March 29.

Planning your Vienna trip? Explore our Vienna guides, spots, and walking tours for more recommendations.