Best Time to Visit Vienna

Vienna works well in more months than most central European cities because so much of its life happens indoors, in palaces, museums, concert halls and coffee houses. For mild weather and long walks through the gardens and vineyards, come in May and early June or September and October. For music and winter traditions, come between late November and February.

Spring starts briskly in late March and warms through April and May. The formal beds at Schönbrunn and the Belvedere are planted out, the 400 varieties of roses in the Volksgarten bloom from mid-May, and the Wiener Festwochen arts festival brings theatre and concerts across the city. In May or June the Vienna Philharmonic plays its free Summer Night Concert in the gardens of Schönbrunn.

July and August are hot, with afternoons regularly reaching 28°C to 32°C, and the main opera houses take their summer break in July and August. The city compensates outdoors: locals swim in the Alte Donau and along the Donauinsel, beach bars line the Donaukanal, and a giant screen in front of the Rathaus shows free opera and concert films every night with food stalls underneath the trees.

Autumn is grape harvest season on the hills inside the city boundary. From September into October, the Heurigen wine taverns serve Sturm (cloudy, half-fermented new grape juice that is sweet and deceptive) and hikers walk the signed Stadtwanderwege trails through the vineyards above Nussdorf and Grinzing.

From mid-November until Christmas, markets fill the squares: the big Christkindlmarkt in front of the Rathaus, and smaller craft markets at Spittelberg, Karlsplatz, Maria-Theresien-Platz and Schönbrunn. January and February are cold and quiet at the sights, but they are the height of the Viennese ball season, when hundreds of formal dances take place in the Hofburg, the Rathaus and the Musikverein. Pack for the Danube wind with our seasonal clothing guide.

Month by month at a glance

• January and February: cold, low hotel rates, ball season and full opera schedules.
• March and April: changeable weather, Easter markets at Schönbrunn and Freyung.
• May and June: roses in the Volksgarten, outdoor tables and the Schönbrunn open-air concert.
• July and August: hot days, Danube swimming, Rathausplatz film festival, main opera houses on summer break.
• September and October: vineyard walks, Sturm season and crisp autumn light.
• Mid-November to December: Christmas markets and New Year concerts.