Flea market at Rathausplatz
AN ELECTRONIC PARTY: MUSEUMSQUARTIER
Let's start with the heterodoxy: the market that is set up every year in the main courtyard of the MuseumsQuartier (Museum Quarter) is the indie version of Christmas markets. The conceptual and secularized proposal.
In the shadow of the Leopold Museum , which houses the collection of works by Egon Schiele most important museum in the world, the Museum of Modern Art and the Kunsthalle pavilion, stand futuristic design posts , there are artistic projections and they are programmed electronic music shows.
Every Thursday, the MQ Hofmusic invites the known as 'punch concert' . And during the week, with DJs playing in the background, you can take part in curling competitions on two different lanes and play micro-extremebowling, a mix of bowling, pool and miniature golf. It is open until eleven at night, so it is a good option after visiting the museums.
An electronic party at the Museumsquartier flea market
THE VIENNESE MARKET: SPITTELBERG
The kind of traditional viennese flea market is found in Spittelberg , in the district 7 . It can be reached on foot from the Museum Quarter in just five minutes.
What most impresses –especially the enthusiastic Mediterranean traveler– is the silence . Even the children stroll quietly among the craft stalls and do not try to climb the tops of the Christmas trees.
Unlike other popular markets, it is not located in a large square or in an open space, but tucked away in narrow Biedermeier-style alleys , well scented with the usual Christmas products – from chocolates, candied almonds and sweets , even the typical Austrian sausages and beers–.
Spittelberg is an authentic, local flea market, frequented mostly by Viennese. Stalls open until 9 p.m. , and the neighborhood has a good collection of bars and restaurants.
Spittelberg Christmas Market
THE ARISTOCRATIC MARKETS: SCHÖNBRUNN, BELVEDERE AND MARIA-THERESIAN-PLATZ
They are imperial, they are elegant. In terms of distinction they go hand in hand and are unbeatable. Is about the aristocracy of the Christmas markets.
If the MuseumsQuartier has DJs, the Upper Belvedere alternates horn and gospel choirs in a outdoor baroque setting. Between the pond and the palace are mounted near forty wooden huts with crafts to decorate the home for Christmas.
At the Schönbrunn Palace market there are also Christmas concerts and traditional craft stalls, and it is so versatile that after Advent it is transformed into a new year market.
Among the markets with an imperial landscape in the background, you can frame the Maria-Theresian-Platz Christmas Village , located between the Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum, the majestic Kunsthistorisches Museum , which houses the hundreds of thousands of works from the Habsburg treasury.
Christmas market in front of Belvedere Palace
THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN: KARLSPLATZ
The Art Advent of Karlsplatz It is the artisan market. The place that best represents the arts and crafts for a month ( from November 22 to December 23 ) in the center of Vienna, on the square dominated by the church of San Carlos with its imposing baroque vault. From ceramics, glass, wood and textiles, to goldsmithing, photography and saddlery.
Karlsplatz at Christmas, Vienna
THE ANCIENT FREYUNG
It is known as Altwiener Christkindlmarkt and it has so much tradition that it even has its own program of activities. It is best to follow your daily schedule from November 16 to December 23, from ten in the morning to nine at night, on the Internet.
The old Christmas market freyung square goes back to year 1772 . Central, historic, very Viennese, with elaborate traditional nativity scenes and, every day from 4:00 p.m., with solemn Advent music in the background.
Altwiener Christkindlmarkt
THE MAINSTREAM: RATHAUSPLATZ
Vienna's mainstream flea market . The most commercial. The U2 of advent markets. It is old, has centuries of history, and brings together thousands of fans outdoors to welcome the messiah in a great party of artificial lights, cinnamon and hot punch.
It has its attractions, such as the huge ice rink of 3,000 square meters that opens on November 15. Although, this is the small one. The big one starts on January 22: an ice landscape of 9,000 square meters with different lanes and trails, a 120-meter-long ramp and even the possibility of sliding on the ice on two levels in front of the imposing neo-Gothic façade of the Town Hall.
The Christmas market is also bombastic. It has about 150 wooden huts around the large fir tree that presides over the square and the gardens of the Rathausplatz . Next to them stands a theme park for children with ponies, carousels, merry-go-rounds and storytelling shows.
On the other side of the Vienna City Hall: the flea market reaches the Burghtheater
OFF ROAD: SCHLOSS HOF
Off route, the Schloss Hof flea market in Lower Austria. It is not in Vienna – it is actually close to the border with Slovakia, which, although it sounds very far, is less than an hour east of the Austrian capital –, but it is as beautiful as it is original and deserves the getaway.
Vienna's Town Hall Beach presents its most acclaimed Christmas market