The Christmas season is the perfect time to get wrapped up in the grandeur of Vienna. Home to Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms, Vienna is the cradle of classical music. The Habsburgs, the ruling family for over six centuries, were passionate about music, and their magnificent architecture, culture, and treasures are some of the highlights of this stunning European capital. Along with the imperial sites and cultural events, Vienna is also famous for its elegant cafes and cozy taverns, and some of our favorite moments during our whirlwind two-day tour were spent enjoying Viennese culinary specialties while soaking in the ambiance at these traditional spots.
Elegant Cafes and Cozy Taverns
The old city center is skyscraper-free and pedestrian-friendly, and we enjoyed strolling the streets, listening to Rick Steves’ audio guide, and plotting our next food stop. The atmosphere and comfort food made these places perfect to get in the holiday spirit. Our first tavern experience actually happened to be on Thanksgiving. Our holiday dinner restaurant choice, Wratschko Gastwirtschaft, was a solid pick with the wood paneling and candlelight giving a homey feeling.
To celebrate, I decided to go with the traditional dish of Vienna, Tafelspitz (boiled beef), which was about as good as it sounds. Jimmy ordered the winning dish, tender beef cheek.
For dessert, we headed to one of the most famous and attractive cafés in Vienna, Café Central. Established in 1876, this coffeehouse was the place to be to rub elbows with the greatest thinkers and poets of the time over coffee and cake.
Jimmy selected the perfect Austrian specialty for Thanksgiving, apple strudel; I had to go with the fancy chocolate hazelnut dessert.
Spending the evening relaxing at the elegant cafe was a perfect way to finish off our holiday celebration.
Another traditional dish on our list to try while in Vienna was goulash. And what better place to indulge than at the Goulash Museum. They actually had a tasting menu, so we got to try a wide variety of goulash including veal with spinach dumplings, traditional beef with potatoes, Hungarian with dumplings, and pork and sauerkraut with potatoes. They even had a thematic dessert, chocolate goulash with rum biscuit topped with chocolate chili sauce.
You also can’t go to Vienna and not try the namesake Wiener schnitzel. We went to a highly recommended wine tavern known as Zwolf Apostekeller (Twelve Apostles Cellar). These underground wine cellars are believed to date back to 1339, and the lower part of the restaurant is the only preserved Gothic well room in Vienna.
Dining in the historical room was pretty cool, and their Wiener schnitzel was amazing. Simple yet so flavorful and moist. I was not expecting to enjoy it so much!
It paired perfectly with their recommended wine, Grüner Veltliner. We also finally got the traditional spiced plum dumplings (Powidltascherln). So good!
The gingerbread crumble on top made it similar to the ones we tried in Prague but definitely a unique flavor.
Christmas Markets
The elegant 18th and 19th-century buildings in Vienna provide the perfect backdrop for top-notch Christmas markets. Our first Christmas market stop was in Maria Theresien Platz, a large square with the Natural History Museum and Art History Museum on opposite sides.
Unfortunately, rain crashed our party a bit, so we didn’t spend much time there and decided to spend the rest of the evening relaxing at the hotel.
Our second Christmas market evening went much better, and two venues stood out from the crowd. Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburgs, was our favorite Christmas market in Vienna. In front of the baroque palace stood a giant Christmas tree with a brass band filling the air with festive tunes.
With a sumptuous venue and solid musical entertainment, food and drink were up next for evaluation to contend for the title of best Christmas market in Europe. The most unique dish we could find was a dumpling stuffed with smoked meat over sauerkraut. Jimmy liked this one quite a bit; he’s a bigger sauerkraut fan than me. For drinks, Vienna was much more into Weihnachtspunsch (Christmas punch) than glühwein.
Wiehnachtspunsch, an alcoholic beverage with numerous recipe variations, comes in many different fruity flavors and is even sweeter than glühwein. Although tasty, we couldn’t drink more than one or two and much preferred all the varieties of glühwein in Germany.
The other contender for best Christmas market was the largest and brightest, the Rathaus (town hall) Weihnachtsmarkt. This one scored huge points with the gorgeous 19th-century Neo-Gothic town hall as a backdrop and a band playing festive music on the traditional alphorn.
In the food and drink category, we were disappointed not to see many unique options to try, but everybody seemed to be walking around with a giant, extra-long sausage stuffed in a crusty bun. So, of course, we went for the most popular item, actually called a käsekrainer (cheese-stuffed sausage).
For dessert, Jimmy kept with the giant-sized food theme and went for the krapfen, which were basically giant donuts.
I went more traditional with a marzipan kartoffel. Jimmy thought when I rolled the dice on this unusual treat that I had bought a brick of marzipan. But, it ended up being a delicious, moist sponge cake wrapped in marzipan, stuffed with chocolate mousse, and dusted with cocoa. I win!
For drinks, we tried the christkindlpunsch, a berry version of the Weihnachtspunsch, in yet another unique collector mug.
While this market had some of the most festive lights we had seen, we felt it was a bit too crowded and touristy and actually found it challenging to even find a place to stand to enjoy our food and drink without getting bumped around. Although it was one of our favorites in Vienna along with the market at Schönnbrunn Palace, we still had to give Germany the win for overall best Christmas markets.
Magnificent Architecture
While the Christmas markets, taverns, and cafés captured the majority of our attention while in Vienna, we would be remiss to not share a handful of other significant buildings that truly make this city a pleasure to wander. Arriving late in the evening on our first day, we only had time for dinner and a leisurely stroll across town back to our hotel. The city is lovely at night, and we had no idea where we were going or what we were looking at. Oh, isn’t this a gorgeous building.
We found out the next day while on our Rick Steves’ audio tour, it is THE Hofburg Palace, dating from the 13th century. We ended up also touring the inside and being incredibly impressed with the ornate collections, including a 100-foot gilded Milan centerpiece created in 1838.
Perhaps you thought two palaces was enough for the Habsburgs in Vienna, but nope, the Belvedere is a complex of two Baroque palaces, an Orangery, the stables, and a Baroque park landscape complete with fountains, wrought-iron gates, and sculptures built specifically as the summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy in the 18th century.
Of course, like every great European city, there is an impressive cathedral in Vienna. St. Stephen’s is a 12th-century Gothic cathedral with an ornately patterned roof richly colored with 230,000 glazed tiles!
Inside, the stone pulpit is a late Gothic sculpture masterpiece, and one of the most beloved pieces in the cathedral is the carved self-portrait of the sculptor gawking out a window below the stairs.
The 18th century baroque Karlskirche (St. Charles Church) is another one of the city’s great buildings and one of our favorites.
The architecture is quite unique combining Romanesque columns, a Grecian portico, Asian pagodas, and Baroque domes. We were able to take a temporary elevator up to scaffolding that encircled the dome to take a closer look at the gorgeous, intricate frescoes on the ceiling.
Last, but certainly not least, one of the most iconic buildings of Vienna: the Opera House.
The Neo-Renaissance opera house was built in the late 19th century and carried on the grand tradition of being one of the world’s great capitals of culture. Vienna gained international fame with the celebrated composers who lived there, such as Strauss and Beethoven, and today still has one of the world’s best orchestras and choirs with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Boys’ Choir.
The architecture of Vienna will take your breath away. The cafes and taverns will fill your belly with delicious, traditional cuisine in a cozy, relaxed ambiance. And the Christmas markets are sure to fill any Grinch’s heart with Christmas spirit.
Stunning architecture! I took an art class in college and studied some of the churches…amazing! I love the deep rooted history in Vienna. Definitely on our bucket list! Thank you both for sharing!