The Old Town markets on foot, from the Graben to Spittelberg

The first district at Christmas

The Innere Stadt, Vienna's first district, sits inside the Ringstrasse, with St. Stephen's Cathedral at its center. Stephansplatz has its market at the foot of the cathedral, and Am Hof and the Freyung lie a few minutes beyond the Graben. Between them, the Graben and Kärntner Strasse, the two pedestrian shopping streets, carry the city's grandest Christmas lights. Just outside the Ring, Maria-Theresien-Platz and Spittelberg extend the same evening, and the student market on the old university campus is a short ride away.

Opening days and times are fixed by each organizer close to the start of the season, so look at the market's own page before you head out. Our full table of dates and hours adds the markets farther out.

Stephansplatz, under the cathedral

About 40 booths stand at the foot of St. Stephen's Cathedral, and they favor quality products made in Austria over cheap souvenirs. The market opens early, on 6 November, and stays until 26 December, with short hours over Christmas. The U1 and U3 both stop on the square. Around the cathedral you will also meet sellers in Mozart costume offering concert tickets on the street. Our guide to Christmas concerts explains how to choose one without overpaying.

Am Hof and the Freyung

Am Hof is the gift market. Its huts sell top-end crafts while choirs sing on many evenings. The food stands keep serving until 10 pm, an hour after the stalls close. On weekdays it opens at 11 am, and from Friday to Sunday at 10 am.

A short walk on, the Freyung holds the Altwiener Christkindlmarkt, the old Viennese market, on a square that has seen a market since 1772. The stalls specialize in blown glass and nativity cribs, with ceramics beside them. Advent music starts at 4 pm, and the market trades daily from 10 am to 9 pm until 23 December.

The Graben chandeliers and Kärntner Strasse

The lights are free and need no opening hours. Over the Graben hang huge chandeliers made of light, which turn the wide street into something close to a ballroom, with the baroque Plague Column standing in the street. Kärntner Strasse, which leads from the cathedral toward the State Opera, is hung with lights of its own. Both streets are pedestrian, so you can stop and look up without dodging traffic.

A few steps off the Graben, on Petersplatz, stands St. Peter's, a baroque church designed by Lukas von Hildebrandt and completed in 1733. Classic Ensemble Vienna plays an hour-long concert in its vaults, from ~$55, about $56 on Viator. The programme pairs Eine kleine Nachtmusik and the Four Seasons with Bach and Schubert. Haydn and a few seasonal pieces fill out the hour. The catch is that it plays more classics than carols, and a few reviewers expected a Christmas programme. Shorts are not allowed, and neither is filming.

For a bigger evening, the Vienna Mozart Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, from ~$77, about $79 on Viator, plays Mozart arias and Strauss in period costume and wigs, with two opera singers. The catch is twofold. Gallery seats can have limited views, and this is a costumed show for visitors rather than the Vienna Philharmonic.

Maria-Theresien-Platz and Spittelberg

Cross the Ring from the Hofburg and you reach Maria-Theresien-Platz, where about 70 stalls fill the gardens between the art and natural history museums. It opens later than the others, on 20 November, and stays until 26 December, from 11 am on weekdays and 10 am at weekends.

Behind the museums, in the 7th district, the lanes of Spittelberg keep their low Biedermeier houses. The market here leans toward sustainable and fair-trade products, and it opens at 2 pm on weekdays and 11 am on weekends and holidays, closing at 9:30 pm. That late start makes it the natural last stop of an evening.

The student market on the old campus

The Christmas village in courtyard 1 of the old university campus, the Altes AKH on Alser Straße, draws a student crowd. It has curling lanes and a children's railway, along with an old carousel. It stays open until 11 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, later than any market inside the Ring. Venture Vienna's food walk stops here too, as our page on the Rathausplatz market explains.

A daytime route with a detour to Karlsplatz

This loop runs in daylight and in a different order from our evening walk, so it suits a short winter afternoon or a second visit.

1. Start at the Freyung at 10 am and pick out glass ornaments while the light is good
2. Walk on to Am Hof, open from 10 am Friday to Sunday and from 11 am on other days
3. Follow the Graben under its chandeliers to Stephansplatz, which opens at 11 am
4. Head down Kärntner Strasse toward the State Opera, then on to Karlsplatz, where Art Advent opens at noon with organic food in front of the Karlskirche
5. Make your way across to Maria-Theresien-Platz for a mug between the museums
6. Finish at Spittelberg, which opens at 2 pm on weekdays, and stay until the lights come on around 4 pm

From there, the big square in front of the City Hall is a short walk for the evening. For the drinks along the way, see Punsch, Glühwein and Christmas food, and for the cold, Vienna in December. The markets at Schönbrunn and the Belvedere make a good second day.