Christmas in Austria (Vienna + Halstatt)

This was my first time in Austria I wasn't really impressed with Vienna. My wife visited in college and it had been one of her places she's visited. I really enjoyed it, but for whatever reason I just was not super impressed. I'll say, they do Christmas very well and we had a great time bouncing from market t0 market day by day drinking gluhwein, but overall it just was not super exciting to me. Again, I left enjoying my time there, but I felt like Munich/Bavaria was much more enjoyable to me.

Halstatt

I'll start with Halstatt, which was my favorite part of Austria we visited. We took a couple of trains from Vienna to the very scenic area over December 24-26th. I just loved this place. Really just a quintessential picturesque alps town IMO. We actually stayed just across the lake from Halstatt in Obertraun, which in all honestly I'm glad we did. Initially I was a bit bummed we weren't directly in Halstatt, but despite being very small, it was obviously packed over Christmas. It's easily accessible via a bust from Obertraun that runs often, and Obertraun was much more calm, quiet, and pleasant to walk around in the morning and evening.

Having said that, nothing comes close to the views and winter vibes that a town like Halstatt gives off. Unfortunately a lot of restaurants in Halstatt (as well as the salt mine) were closed on Christmas, but really the best part is just walking around and enjoying the sights in my opinion.

I don't typically use the word "magical" to describe things, but being in this part of Austria during a snowy Christmas time certainly was "magical". I think the Hallstatt area might have been the highlight of the trip for both my wife and I, just a true "Christmas" feeling, whatever that means.

Vienna

A big reason why we chose to go to this part of Europe during Christmas were the Christmas markets, and Vienna is one of the more famous cities to experience Christmas in. While we felt they were overall pretty "OK", still an amazing experience to hop around the city trying different ones out. Most of them are beautiful (especially Rathausplatz and Schönbrunn) and are at the very least stopping for some food and gluhwein.

This was my first time in Vienna and while I enjoyed it, for whatever reason it just didn't grab me like my wife thought it would. While the architecture, museums, and overall history aspect were phenomenal I just didn't feel super engaged like I have been with other European cities (like I would be with Budapest, just a week after Vienna).

It just felt a little to "educational" to me for lack of a better word. Just a lot of museums, architecture, and classical music (we did see the Vienna Philharmonic which was phenomenal). Of course I'm being a little extra here, but Vienna never felt too energizing or exciting to me. Beautiful to look at, but not really exciting.

One of the more popular attractions in Vienna is Hofburg Palace. An interesting and beautiful place but admittedly not something super attention grabbing.

Overall the Christmas Markets (Christkindlmarkt) were worth visiting in Vienna. They mostly vary in size, but some stick out as being very large.

I'd definitely recommend the market at Schönbrunn Palace and Rathausplatz as a couple of my favorites. Both just look beautiful with their respective backdrops.

We felt most markets were just crowded and overpriced despite being fun, although I cannot say I'm shocked about either of those things. You're paying 5 Euros for a small cup of gluhwein or some sort of alcoholic cider, and most food lines can be extremely long. They're great places to find souvenirs though as the markets have lots of hand made artisans selling wares. I believe the Art Advent market (which is also great) in Vienna actually enforces only handmade items to be sold.

We no doubt visited Europe this time of year to experience Christmas in some of the cities that do it best, I'd love to come back to Vienna when the weather's a bit better. It doesn't bother me too much visiting somewhere in the Winter, but maybe it subconsciously feel a little down. I had a blast in Budapest, but Vienna this time of year (outside the Christmas Markets) just felt a little "too PBS" to me if that makes sense. Most of our time during the day was spent just bouncing from palace to palace, museum to museum, all while looking at century's old architecture.

We went to Budapest right after this and I loved it despite the cold. Vienna felt a bit hard to have fun wandering around compared to Budapest (and now Amsterdam, we just visited a year after this, Christmas 2025 – I am so far behind on posts, shit!). Still, I'm sure I'll be back, and hopefully without my coat.