48 Hours in Vienna

Christmas 2025 in London hasn’t felt as Christmassy as I’d hoped unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong, the city has been full of lights and markets, but I think I’ve just been so caught up in so many other things that I haven’t been able to get into its full spirit. I even put up our tree and decorations late! Very unusual for me considering I like having it up by the end of November. There were some moments, where I got into the feel of it; an evening in Covent Garden, watching the tree lighting and enjoying a cocktail in the courtyard, walking around Battersea Power Station and Coal Drops Yard. But overall it hasn’t been the same since I’ve had so much on my mind. That being said, what better way to feel more Christmassy than to escape to Vienna!

I spent an amazingly relaxing 48 hours in Vienna with nothing to think or worry about. It helps if you have a friend out there (which I did) who basically just takes you everywhere so you don’t actually need to plan anything (lol), so many thanks to her. With Vienna being quite a small city, it’s easy to get most things done in this timeframe, unless you have a specific list of places which turns into a longer itinerary, then obviously account for more time. But one thing I will suggest is to not force everything into a short time, and this goes for any trip to be honest. If you really want to enjoy it, then take your time to smell the roses, if you are militant with your time and what you see, then you’ll miss the point of the getaway, which is to relax! But to help you along, here are my highlights from the trip:

We got really lucky with the weather, where normally at this time it’s rainy and very windy, we had just overcast and some clear skies even. Still cold so take layers or a really warm coat. We walked through multiple Christmas markets, which were scattered literally everywhere! Anywhere there was a large enough space for at least 10 stalls (not huge ones either), there was a market. One thing I loved about these was that they sold mulled wine and spiced hot punch in these cute mugs! They take a deposit for the mug, and if you return it after, you get it back, if not then it becomes your souvenir. I have two (self-proclaimed mug-a-holic over here!). Both were absolutely delicious with a good kick too, perfect for internal and external warming on the cold days. Walking around the markets and the city centre area was beautiful but also packed. The Christmas lights were so bright it was almost like they lit up the streets completely without needing any street lights. Now I knew to an extent that Vienna would be busy this time of year, but honestly, it was a bit next level! There were just so many people everywhere that you had cues to get in and out of markets and were sometimes just at a standstill until people moved. Granted it is also due to people stopping and taking pictures, or just stopping for the sake of it, in the middle of walkways, but it’s kind of to be expected for this time of year. That being said, this was weekend time, and I’ve heard weekdays aren’t as bad since locals are all working, so might be something to consider if you want less people around.

Winter in Vienna means the same early dark evenings as it does in most places in the northern hemisphere, which means if you start your day a bit later (like we did), then you enjoy a shorter amount of time being able to actually see the historic architecture in the city. Ultimately, this wasn’t an issue for me as we walked around so much so we still got to see enough to be in awe of it. There were very few ‘modern’ buildings that we saw in the centre of the city, and I loved that! From the Gothic-style St Stephen’s Cathedral, Baroque-style St Peter’s Church, Greek revival-style Parliament Building, the Imperial Palace, and the Renaissance revival-style Natural History Museum and Museum of Art History, the city is littered with history and architectural gems. We only saw these buildings from the outside at night, and they still looked magnificent, standing tall and majestic with incredible decorative carvings. There are many walking tours available as well from what I could see if you wanted to delve deeper into learning about the history, and maybe even getting tours inside some of these buildings.

Now this one was a great one, and one that might be considered as off-the beaten path for the standard tourist, but definitely felt like the perfect tourist spot. Inside one of the larger parks close to the city, Prater Park, there is a mini theme park! It gave me mini Disneyland-funfair kind of vibes. It only took up a small portion of the park but has plenty to enjoy from rides, to funfair games, to haunted-house mazes, etc. I’m sure in summertime (which is when I’d go back), it’d be filled with people chilling with picnics and soaking up the sun as well. We didn’t go on any rides or anything as we were just passing through and had also just eaten a bit, but definitely on the list for next time.

And finally, FOOD! This entire trip was designed for me to be completely unbothered by anything anyways so I wasn’t exactly ‘concerned’ with the food options for me as a vegetarian. But it wasn’t a struggle at all. I didn’t try the local cuisine really as it is predominantly meat-based, but there were enough other cuisine options around to choose from, like Mediterranean, Italian, even Indian! We started our days late-ish, so it was brunch for us and then snacking. We had two great brunches, but the French Toast on day 1 was to die for! Not overly sweet, and luscious enough to have made me wish we didn’t share it! Along with that we enjoyed bread soup bowls from the markets and arancini balls to snack on as we walked. As messy as both were, they were worth it, and for the soup bowls, do not waste the bread! I’m telling you once you get half through the soup, start ripping apart the bread bowl and soaking the pieces in the soup. It’ll taste so good, plus the soup-soaked bread at the end is one of the best parts! But you have to be quick, it is after all hot soup in a bread bowl (and it doesn’t come in a box or plate). One final food memory is of Kaiserschmarn! This is a chopped up pancake that was smothered in a hot plum sauce! We got ours from Demel Vienna Cafe, one of the best spots to get it, and we got it to-go from the window in the wall where you can see if it is freshly made and steaming hot (you’ll know it when you see the line). The best thing about this was that the plum sauce wasn’t overly tart. With some fruit-sauces I’ve found they can be quite tart since they can be used to go with already sweet dishes, but this was just the right balance. If I could have bought this sauce in a few jars, I totally would have. A must-try when in Vienna! 

So there you have it, a brief but enjoyable 48 hours in Vienna during Christmastime. Hopefully an escape isn’t what you need to get into the Christmas spirit, but if it is, Vienna will do the trick.