Our family (me, wife, 2 daughters 13&11) will be spending Dec 23 - 27 in VIenna. What are some must sees? We are staying in the middle of town close to Hofburg. Any particular Christmas market to go to? Any good music or concert places to hit up? We are Catholic so any suggestions on which church to go to Mass at? There is another family going as well so the dad and I might want to hang out at a local pub/bar also. What about restaurants, breakfast and dinner? Thank you.

My family (me, wife, 3 kids (14, 17, 20) spent Christmas in Austria last year (12/22 - 12/29). We spent 3 full days in Vienna, then took a train to Salzburg for another 3 days. It rained/snowed almost the entire time we were in Vienna, unfortunately, but the weather in Salzburg was amazing.

In Vienna, the Christmas Markets were all pretty similar, but the best one was Wiener Christkindlmarkt in front of the City Hall. We also liked the Schonbrunn Christmas Market, but it is a little further away from the city center. We attended a performance of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons at Karlskirche Church. There is also a Christmas market just outside this church.

For mass, we got tickets to hear/see the Vienna Boys Choir on Christmas morning. We didn't get a very good view of the choir, but it was still well worth it.

Schonbrunn, Hofburg and the Kunsthistorisches Museum were also good.

Vienna was an annual biz trip for me pre-pandemic. The two ideal times to visit are summer and winter. So you are in the wheelhouse. Staying in the 1st district is also good as a lot of the cites are nearby.

There will be plenty of Christmas markets in the 1st District, but venture out to other districts to get a different feel. Schonbrunn also has a nice Christmas market.

As far as dining, I recommend getting tafelspitz at Plachutta. There is location in the 1st district.

Take a nice walk through Stadtpark. It has a nice gold statute of Strauss.

Look to get tickets to the Wiener Staatsoper and check out a performance.

Stephansdom (St. Peter's Cathedral) is the center of the 1st District. A must see. It will have live musical performances.

Most def take a tour through Hofburg and Schonbrunn.

Goto Naschmarkt, which is an outdoor market that has a great variety of dining options. Would visit for lunch.

Plachutta
- Wollzeile 38,
Wien 1010

Floridita Cuban Dance Bar
- Johannesgasse 3
- right off of kartnerstrae

Comida restaurant and the Red Room night club
Stubenring 20, 1010 Wien

The rooftop bar at the Rosewood Vienna is very cool and has a good vibe. Sounds like you have accommodations figured out but we stayed there and I highly recommend it.

Pramerl and the Wolf is one of my top restaurant experiences ever. Delicious food and a neat experience. There are 2 seatings per evening and everyone is served at basically the same pace, so the whole room is experiencing the same dish at the same time roughly. It only seats about 12-16 people total.

Volksgarten - danced until 5 am here once, very cool and massive club at night (doubt this is your scene but who knows)

Highly recommend watching the episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations in Vienna: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1869845/

actually, stayed in that hotel last November.

Vienna is so awesome. Loved it there.

Would love to get some more dining recs from yall in Vienna. We're going over thanksgiving and don't have any restaurant plans as of yet. We aren't necessarily looking for traditional Austrian or fine dinning. Just great meals.

The Milkman said:

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Would love to get some more dining recs from yall in Vienna. We're going over thanksgiving and don't have any restaurant plans as of yet. We aren't necessarily looking for traditional Austrian or fine dinning. Just great meals.

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Plachutta is a must.

Another one worth going to is Hotel Sacher for a Sacher-Torte, it's fancy but totally an old world experience worth having. Depending on your kids ages it could be a really fun family memory.

We went here for a Schnitzel and it was fun but didn't feel super authentic to me (menus in multiple languages, photos on the menu etc). The food was good though: https://maps.app.goo.gl/P5sNQSa4F9xb6wEC8

For some off the beaten path culture, we visited this museum and it was pretty interesting. Dude lived a very strange life: https://www.kunsthauswien.com/en/

We went to Demel for pastries. They have a large room upstairs, but we grabbed a seat at the bar right when you walk in and enjoyed it.

We also enjoyed an early dinner before a concert at Zum weien Rauchfangkehrer. traditional Austrian place. service was great and food was good.

fantastic dinner at a place called ef16 - was introduced to Orange wine there.

also we had drinks at the Campari Bar - it's very popular.

Vienna is loaded with some super high-end restaurants. We had drinks at the bar at Do & Co because we were staying there. It's the place with the great view of the Cathedral.

Going in summer of 2026 after friends move next year. Will have to look for this thread. Somewhat considering going to F1 too.