Christkindlmarkts

In late 2020, we decided we HAD to take a December trip to Vienna. HAD to. Someday. One day. Somehow. Some way. We honestly tried our best last year, but a late November decision by the city of Vienna to pretty much shut down the entire city due to a surging COVID outbreak changed our mind. We didn't go. Why would we risk sitting around in a hotel in Austria's capital city for a week when we could be somewhere (New Mexico, as it turned out) actually having fun? So, we punted last year's trip to this year. December in Vienna...here we come!!!!

Vienna had been on my list for years. It is (or was, I guess, now) pretty much the last un-visited (by me) city of major importance to the Art Nouveau movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Brussels, Paris, Helsinki, Glasgow, Barcelona...all visited. In 2022, it was Vienna's turn. I knew one day I would make it there and see works by Wagner, Klimt and Olbrich firsthand. 2022 turned out to be the year.

But Vienna's Jugendstil Art Nouveau movement was not the impetus for this trip. Oh no...the reason we went to Vienna right before Christmas this year was The Hallmark Channel. There's no other explanation, reasonable or unreasonable, for this trip.

I'm not joking. Towards the end of 2020, before COVID vaccines were available to the general public, nightly viewing in our household involved The Hallmark Channel's incomparable run of formulaic Christmas specials, including the masterpiece, Christmas In Vienna. Did you know that there were a ton of Christmas markets (or Christkindlmarkts) in Vienna where you can find the spirit of the season along with maybe true love and eternal happiness? We didn't. Not before December 2020. 

Fortunately for us, true love and eternal happiness are already taken care of in our lives, but we still had to go check out this whole Vienna Christmas scene. What other choice did we really have?

Hallmark Channel...I'm telling you.

Christmas Village Stephansplatz (top) and on Maria Theresien Square (bottom).

Now, if you know anything about me, you know I rarely do things halfway. If we were traveling all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and most of the way across Europe to go Christmas shopping outdoors, we would not be stopping at just one or two Vienna Christmas markets. We made a list; we checked it twice (or maybe three or four or eighteen or so times); and ended up with an itinerary that got us to two Christmas markets on our very first day in Vienna. We added two more (and different) Vienna Christmas markets on day two and two more (and yes, different) ones on day three.

All told, we put 11 Christmas markets in Vienna on our itinerary. And yes, we made it to all 11. And to three others outside of Vienna in Melk (Austria), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Brno (Czechia). We actually found out when we checked into our hotel that there were at least two MORE Christmas markets in Vienna that we didn't even know about before we arrived. We could have pushed the total visited to at least 16 between Vienna and daytrips out of town. We figured 14 was enough. You have to draw the line somewhere. We probably actually missed more than just two in Vienna.

Before you conclude we are absolutely nuts for making this sort of thing the focus of a trip across an ocean, these markets are a huge deal (and not just in Vienna but in Europe in general). Before we departed Dulles Airport at the end of the first week of December, our hotel emailed us a cheat sheet of Christmas markets to visit. When we checked in, they handed us a completely different booklet containing a guide to six or seven more. Gigantic deal!

Ornament stall at the Christmas Dream Market (top); Belvedere Christmas Market (bottom).

So why would I do this? Why would I travel eight plus hours on an airplane (in economy) just so I could go shopping for stuff that I probably don't need and which will probably break on the trip home anyway? And aren't there plenty of perfectly good and fine Christmas markets right here in the USA where I could do just the same thing but for a lot less money and in a whole lot less time?

The answer to all that (other than just stating that I don't think I could realistically find 14 Christmas markets in and around any American city) is that this isn't just shopping. This is an experience. It's a part of European winter ritual that stretches back centuries in some locations. Sure, there are a lot of trinkets for sale and yes, we bought our fair share of these (all of which arrived home totally intact and unbroken) but the real value in these markets is lingering and taking in everything that there is to take in for as long as you can. Or at least until it gets too cold to be outside anymore. There's some magic here. That's reason enough to go!

The 11 markets we had on our list for Vienna offered a great variety in terms of location, size and scale. Some appeared to be local spots tucked into small city squares or tight alleys whereas others were clearly way more grand than that. We felt it was important to visit a number of different markets that would get us more than one kind of perspective on the city just before Christmas. But we also saw the Christmas Dream Market in the main square in front of the Rathaus (or city hall) as THE Christmas market in town and so we felt it was important to make an early visit to that one in case we needed to come back time and time again. 

We did, by the way. Three total visits to that one.

Christmas Dream Market: the Rathaus with Christmas tree (top) and skating (bottom).

The Christmas Dream Market is gigantic. It was way bigger in every way than every other market we visited either in Vienna or on our three daytrips. It covered a greater area; it appeared to have more stalls to buy Christmas swag than any other market; it had more lights; and on a Saturday night when we first visited, it had easily way, way more people milling around it and shopping and drinking and eating than any other place we went to. If there is an alpha dog Christmas market in the city of Vienna, this is it. 

And it ain't all about the shopping at the Rathaus. 

There were many markets that we visited in our week plus in Vienna that offered attractions other than shopping and eating. The Christmas Dream Market definitely had more of those than any other market we stopped at. The east side of the square in front of the Rathaus is devoted to a giant skating area consisting of a reasonably sized rink connected to a series of one way, sloping and climbing iced runs filled with packs of Austrian children racing around the place on their skates. Or at least there were when we first arrived here on Saturday night. Skating here is honestly a bit of a challenge. I'd never skated on sloped surfaces before and while it's pretty easy to coast downhill, there's the whole stopping thing to consider which would definitely be more challenging when faced with packs of Austrian kids whizzing around you. 

We did skate, by the way. We had to. It seemed like the romantic thing to do and it was truly awesome. We just didn't do it at night on a Saturday when we first visited (just way, way too chaotic). We picked 10 a.m. on a Friday morning which in the daylight is not quite so magical as doing it under the twinkling Christmas lights. But look, staying upright on a sheet of ice is just about all the magic I need sometimes when abroad and Friday morning worked just fine.

If you are not a huge fan of crowds, the Christmas Dream Market is maybe not the place to be on a Saturday night. Just saying. We went one other night and the market was way more digestable with a lot fewer people at it.

Besides the skating area, the Christmas Dream Market offered rides, including a Ferris wheel and a carousel, as well as a walking path taking you by lighted trees (one filled with red, lighted hearts), oversized reindeer sculptures (also lighted) and a giant advent calendar that seemed to be just an enormous advertisement for the adjacent Vienna Lottery ticket booth (we passed on the lottery). There's also a nativity display pathway which on first impression seemed to be showing various scenes from the life of Jesus Christ by different artisans but which really ended up to be just different manifestations of the same famous nativity scene plus one display where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were either fishing or swimming or both. Didn't quite understand that last one but that's what it was.

Ferris wheel and tree at the Christmas Dream Market (top) and artisan stalls at the Am Hof Market (bottom).

We would end up spending more time at the Christmas Dream Market than any other market in Vienna or any other place we visited this month. We also probably bought more Christmas loot there than any other market. If you only have time to make it to one market in your visit to Vienna, this is probably the one to prioritize. It really is a special experience. You'll get a great overview of the European Christmas market experience for sure.

But the beauty of being in town for a bit more than a week meant that we didn't have to settle for just one. We got the chance to explore. And when we did that, we found that there were places we preferred to the main market in front of city hall. Each of these markets has a vibe, a feel, a sense of character that is unique. And honestly, we liked some better than others. Given all that is out there, why would you realistically visit just one?

I should mention that there is a very small sameness about some of these places. You will likely find one or two vendors who show up at every market (we see you, Original Vienna Snowglobe Factory...). But they are by no means all the same. I don't think I could reasonably equate the feel of one market we visited to any one other market. They are all different just like we humans are all different so it's natural some are going to appeal to some people more than others.

Having written all that, and understanding it's probably not productive to give a detailed rundown of EVERY market we visited, here are my top three, in the order we visited.

Old Viennese Christmas Market on Freyung

The Freyung is a triangular square (is that possible?) in the middle of the historic center of Vienna. It was first established in the 1300s when it was created as an open space in front of a monastery with Scottish roots (of all things). The monastery is still there today, defining the majority of the north side of the square. So a good portion of the fabric surrounding the plaza is seven hundred or so years old. Places with this kind of history are inherently very cool for me.

Over the centuries, the square became a favored spot for the Austrian aristocracy due to its proximity to the Hofburg Palace, where the emperor maintained his summer residence in the city. Because of that, the buildings on the perimeter of the square which are not the monastery are of a certain well-designed character. Historical fabric is all around you when you are in the Freyung. 

The name of the square, by the way, stems from the fact that the monastery was free (or "frey") from taxation by the local ruler of Vienna when the building was first erected.

The Freyung. The old monastery is in the background in the center of the photograph.

What we found at the Freyung Market was a manageable number of high-quality vendor stalls arranged around the perimeter of the plaza with a couple of beverage vendors in the center of the square bookending a small open space with tables for gathering, talking and drinking. Drinking and eating are very definitely central to the Vienna Christmas Market experience and the sense of togetherness and community in some of these markets comes across loud and clear. They appear to be frequented by locals and not just tourists which for sure adds a different character to the interactions between market-goers. We got a great sense of this at the Freyung.

Part of what made the Freyung so special for us was that it was the first market we visited. It was the closest market to our hotel and a mere ten minute or so walk from our front door. The act of grabbing a glass of wine (grüner veltliner, if you must know) and walking from stall to stall got us right into the spirit of these markets in the most ideal way, especially since the glass lasted the entire walk around the square.

But it wasn't JUST the fact that it was the first. The historic character; the backdrop of the buildings around the square; and the closeness and intimacy shone through in a way here at the Freyung that we didn't get in any other place. It was the perfect place to start. And sure, the first one is always special in some way.

Karlsplatz Christmas Market

Three days and eight Christmas markets later, we wandered into the Karlsplatz in front of the massive Karlskirche (or St. Charles Church, if you must have the English translation) for a quick shop and some dinner before our trip to the Vienna Opera. On a scale level, the Art Advent Christmas Market on the Karlsplatz dwarfs the tiny collection of booths on the Freyung and comes pretty close to the size of that on the plaza in front of the Rathaus. It is also set in a vast open square in front of one of the city's most important churches and not in a tight urban setting. Completely different environment.

The jewel of this market is clearly the Karlskirche itself. It is the singular object that provides focus for all the market stalls. Everything revolves around the Karlskirche in the Karlsplatz, and the installation of a few dozen or so wooden huts selling Christmas loot and all sorts of market snacks does not change that in any way.

What makes the Karlsplatz Christmas Market unique is the fact that the application process for selling in the market involves a juried review, meaning what's being sold there needs to be local and handmade (or organic in the case of food and beverages). The stalls offered different goods than we found elsewhere, particularly a higher quality (and price) of what was being sold. We didn't buy anything here (well, I did buy one thing...), but we did see some different vendors. Except for the Original Vienna Snowglobe Factory, that is.

The Karlsplatz Christmas Market was also where I found my Vienna Christmas market mug.

Perhaps THE essential Vienna Christmas market souvenir is the mug. When you buy a drink at the markets, it is served in a ceramic mug which is usually unique to both the market and the year. The price of the drink includes a deposit for the mug of a few Euros. If you return the mug, you get your deposit back. But if you like the mug and want to take it home, you can do that also. You just trade your deposit for a souvenir which is both site and time specific. I needed a mug from this trip.

I thought the mug at the Karlsplatz Christmas Market was the best of the trip so the one I got filled with a hot himbeerpunsch is now sitting in the mug cabinet in our kitchen. It's a matte black mug with purple line drawings of the Karlskirche and some of the handcrafted wares available for purchase at the market along with (of course) the year 2022. It appropriately represents the zeitgeist (if we are using German words) of that market and it could absolutely not be passed up.

Great architecture, high quality crafts, organic food (we'll get to that part...) and THE essential souvenir of a Vienna pre-Christmas trip? Yep, the Karlsplatz Market was definitely one of the best. Maybe not quite as good as the Freyung, but there's not much in it.

Christmas Market at Schönbrunn Palace

I didn't expect to have the Schönbrunn Palace on my list of favorite Christmas markets in Vienna. Maybe it's my generally anti-royal stance but we deliberately didn't visit either royal place in the city of Vienna on this trip. We just didn't think we needed to. After all, we'd been to Versailles. How much different could it be?

The Schönbrunn was the last Christmas market we visited. It was also my favorite. And it wasn't even close. I mean this place blew all the other ones away. It lacked the Freyung's intimacy, but it overcame that easily.

So first of all, I thought the vendors here were the best. Yes, the Original Vienna Snowglobe Factory was here like it was at the Freyung and the Karlsplatz (and others...), but we saw some stuff for sale here that we hadn't seen at any of the prior 13 we'd visited. We could have bought a lot here, but ultimately, we restrained ourselves. After all, there's only so much stuff we could buy before we got into "do you really need that?" territory.

But it was the dramatic stage set that separated the Schönbrunn from the rest of the markets.

We visited a number of Christmas markets in and around Vienna that had some incredible backdrops. Certainly the Karlsplatz fits into this category with the ornate Karlskirche as the focal point for an incredible experience that happens at each end of the year. I could also say something similar about the markets at the Belvedere Museum, the Maria Thereisen Square and the Rathaus. These are clearly important historical buildings which anchor their respective markets (the building being the statue of Maria Theresa in the case of Maria Thereisen Square) and which glow impressively under the lights at night.

Schönbrunn blew them all away. I think it's the vastness, the spread and the golden color that do it when you are standing or walking in the market, either with or without food, a mug of something warm or a bag or two of Christmas loot. But it's also the approach. I imagine that most visitors to the market take the U to the Palace which forces a path frontally towards the entire width of the palace. It is literally like this giant expansive glowing golden curtain that backs up an intimate and wonderful Christmas market. The view just blows you away and you get it from the instant you see the market from afar to all the way until you leave. I wrote earlier in this post that there is magic here and I meant it. I felt it the most at the Schönbrunn.

A stall at the Maria Theresien Square (top) and Melk (bottom).

You might have noticed most of the pictures on this post are taken at night. It's deliberate. That magic I felt at Schönbrunn and the Karlsplatz and the Freyung and every other market we visited was turned up to 11 at night. In the light of day, you can see all the warts on the markets. Sometimes the wood used to make the stalls is a little ragged; or the square or plaza or grassy areas that make up the market are dirty or muddy; or there is trash or whatever else on the ground. Nighttime erases all that. Once the sun goes down it's all twinkling lights and wonderlust. It's a totally different world. 

If you need convincing of this fact, just check out the two pictures below of the Altes AKH Christmas Market at the University of Vienna, which we found a quick couple of tram rides from our hotel. The daytime photograph to me looks grey and beige and dull. I see a large grey path and dark gray tree trunks and a Christmas tree made out of beige sleds which looks like it's ready to be lit on fire or something like that. The scene looks like something waiting to happen.

Contrast that with the second photograph. All I see is lights. I see a red Christmas tree made of sleighs and twinkling lights overhead that guide you through the market and a green glow on the market stalls. Even the dark grey trees are transformed through the red lights. The dark and the lights completely transform the scene. The magic is turned on.

We visited Vienna in December to see these markets. When we got back home we discussed what we liked best about this trip and far and away the best thing for both of us was spending time at the various Christmas markets we visited. It is really rewarding when the star attraction of the trip measures up to expectations. In this case, I think the markets cleared that bar with flying colors.

We spent time at a Christmas market every day we were actively sightseeing on this trip. Most days, we were at two or more. We passed through or past or were exploring one every night. I don't think I've ever done something that so comprehensively permeated every day and night of a vacation. It was all so worth it.

I have tried to include pictures of as many Christmas markets as I could in this post while also prioritizing the photos which I feel are most spectacular, which inevitably are the night shots. For almost all of the 11 markets we visited within the city of Vienna, we were able to coordinate our schedule to put us at each market at night (the exception being the Michaelerplatz Christmas Market). For daytrips to Melk, Bratislava and Brno, though, we had to make do with daytime visits. I am confident these three markets would be every bit as magical as their counterparts in Vienna had we been there at night.

There are Christmas markets all over Europe. Some are older and more famous than those in Vienna but I can't imagine a pre-Christmas trip anywhere in the world that would get us a better market experience than our eight days in Austria. I'm not sure we are ever going to seek out Christmas markets in December quite the way we did on this trip ever again. There are too many places to go in this world to take two Christmas market obsessed trips. But no regrets on this trip. I think we got what we wanted and way, way more based on our Christmas In Vienna Hallmark Channel impulse. This will last a lifetime.

Brno (top) and the Michaelerplatz Christmas Market in Vienna (bottom). Night time is better.

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How We Did It

Visit Vienna from late November to early January and you are going to be hard pressed to NOT visit a Christmas market, even if you don't want to. These things are literally everywhere, especially between the Ringstrasse (or maybe just outside the Ringstrasse) and the Danube River. Based on our experience this month, the same is true of markets in the towns and cities around Vienna. 

We spent a lot of time planning our visits to the markets in Vienna. I found the site Visiting Vienna to be an essential guide for most things planning relative to Vienna, but especially for Christmas market visiting. Click on the link in the previous sentence for that site's 2022 Christmas markets post. I should note most markets have their own website. Rather than listing all those here in this post, I'd suggest you just start with Visiting Vienna. There's a list of markets on the right side of post linked in this paragraph. We visited the first 11 on the list.

We spent zero time planning our visits to the markets in Melk, Bratislava and Brno and found all three very easily. I'm not sure if there's a real lesson in there or not but my takeaway is that if you visit a smaller town or city in December, you are pretty much destined to find a Christmas market pretty easily. 

Finally and maybe most importantly: admission is free. That's not to say that you get to skate in front of the Rathaus for free or get free drinks or food but getting into these places doesn't cost a penny and there is so much to take in at every stop. This is for sure a low cost attraction, even if you elect to get some food or a drink or two. 

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