What's on in Vienna (Wien), Austria through the year

Peak crowds — Silvesterpfad and New Year concert, Christmas holidays in Austria

• Festival

  Ball season

  8 Jan – 20 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  Several hundred balls between the new year and Lent, most run by a trade guild — confectioners, coffee-house owners, hunters. The dress code is enforced at the door and hired tails book out. Source ↗

Still on: Silvesterpfad and New Year concert (31 Dec – 1 Jan)

Peak crowds — Opernball, Semester (winter) holidays in Austria

• Festival

  Opernball

  12 FebMajor festivalCrowded

  The State Opera floors over its auditorium for one Thursday night in February. The Ring closes to traffic, and the protest outside is as fixed a part of the evening as the debutantes. Source ↗

Still on: Ball season (8 Jan – 20 Feb (usually))

Busy — Easter holidays in Austria, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Peak crowds — Vienna City Marathon, Easter holidays in Austria

• Festival

  Vienna City Marathon

  5–25 Apr · usuallyMajor festivalClosuresCrowded

  The course runs down the Ringstrasse and over the Reichsbrucke on a Sunday in April, which closes the inner districts to cars until the early afternoon. Source ↗

Busy — Pentecost (Whitsun) holidays in Austria, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Wiener Festwochen

  14 May – 20 Jun · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  Five weeks of theatre and performance from the middle of May, using the Museumsquartier and a shifting set of borrowed halls. The free opening night on Rathausplatz is the one everyone turns up to. Source ↗

Quiet — travelers describe it as quiet, Donauinselfest

• Festival

  Donauinselfest

  18–30 Jun · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  A free open-air weekend on the island in the Danube, and one of the largest of its kind anywhere. The U-Bahn out to it runs late and is full in both directions. Source ↗

• Opening

  Film festival on Rathausplatz

  28 Jun – 5 Sep · usuallySummer season opens

  The square in front of the city hall becomes an open-air screen and a street of food stalls every evening from the start of July to early September. No ticket, no booking, and it runs whatever the weather. Source ↗

Still on: Wiener Festwochen (14 May – 20 Jun (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Austria, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Film festival on Rathausplatz (28 Jun – 5 Sep (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Austria, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Film festival on Rathausplatz (28 Jun – 5 Sep (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Austria, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Sturm and the wine harvest

  1 Sep – 31 Oct · usually

  Vienna grows wine inside the city limits. From September the taverns in Grinzing, Neustift and Nussdorf hang a bush over the door to say the new vintage and the cloudy Sturm are in.

Still on: Film festival on Rathausplatz (28 Jun – 5 Sep (usually))

Busy — Autumn holidays in Austria, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Sturm and the wine harvest (1 Sep – 31 Oct (usually))

Busy — Christmas markets, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Christmas markets

  14 Nov – 26 Dec · usuallyChristmas & New YearCrowded

  Rathausplatz, Spittelberg, Karlsplatz and Schonbrunn each run a different kind of market from the middle of November. Most close on 24 or 26 December; a few carry on to New Year. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Christmas markets, Silvesterpfad and New Year concert

• Festival

  Silvesterpfad and New Year concert

  31 Dec – 1 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  Stages along a marked route through the first district on 31 December, and the Philharmonic's concert on the 1st, for which tickets are drawn in a ballot more than a year ahead. Source ↗

Still on: Christmas markets (14 Nov – 26 Dec (usually))