Vienna: Christmas & New Year's Concert in St. Peter's Church
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Close your eyes and whisper the words “New Year’s Eve in Vienna”: does the image of a splendid ballroom in an imperial palace not spring to mind? Can’t you already hear the waltz music enveloping you with its enthralling notes?
Wake up from your dream and make it come true: experiencing a fairytale New Year’s Eve in Vienna is not a privilege reserved for Habsburg nobility, but an exciting experience within everyone’s reach. If you already start thinking about the details of your holiday today and book your flight and hotel as soon as possible, the cost of your holiday will not be exorbitant.
With its Central European charm, nostalgic old-world atmosphere and the vitality of a modern metropolis, Vienna is a great place to end the year and start the new one on a high note.
Here are our tips on what to do on New Year’s Eve in Vienna, with ideas suitable for couples on a romantic holiday, young people and groups of friends looking for fun, and solo travellers.
New Year’s Eve in Vienna can be romantic and fairytale-like, boisterous and jovial or wild and outrageous – how do you dream it up?
Here are some ideas for spending New Year’s Eve in Vienna, with luxury and low-cost options.
In Vienna, it is still possible to live the dream of imperial festivities by attending sumptuous gala dinners and princely balls: this is true all year round, but becomes even more evident on New Year’s Eve.
The most exclusive parties are the New Year’s Eve Ball in the Hofburg, the Imperial Palace, and the New Year’s Eve gala in the Vienna City Hall, but getting in is rather difficult.
If you are determined to experience an exclusive New Year’s Eve, you can attend New Year’s Eve dinners at luxury hotels, which often offer an entertainment programme tailored to a refined and demanding clientele, or attend one of the many classical music concerts that are performed in the capital’s theatres and concert halls.
To attend one of these expensive events, don’t forget your evening dress and your best jewellery at home.
Where better to learn to waltz than in Vienna? If you are in town to celebrate New Year’s Eve, you cannot miss the opportunity to take your first dance steps by taking advantage of the free waltz lessons organised by the capital’s dance schools.
They are usually held on the afternoon of 31 December in the Graber area. It is a fun way to learn to dance that allows those who cannot afford to spend hundreds of euros on a gala evening to enjoy the joy of the waltz.
If balls and gala dinners are the chic and somewhat snobbish face of Viennese New Year’s Eve, the Silvesterpfad, or New Year’s Eve on the square, is the joyful soul of Vienna’s end-of-year celebrations. No fancy dress code is required, no need to spend mad money or know how to waltz: here, fun is within everyone’s reach.
The entire city centre becomes a huge party area, naturally including the Rathausplatz, the venue for all the city’s major events, the Graber area and the Prater.
Already in the afternoon, the party atmosphere is in full swing, with the opening of stalls and food stands serving local and international culinary delicacies until late into the night, to be accompanied by mugs of beer or hot punch.
The wait for midnight is enlivened by all kinds of music and folk dancing: stages all over the city play pop, rock, waltzes, operettas and dance music; the climax of the festivities is reached with the exciting fireworks display at Rathausplatz and the Prater.
You don’t have to belong to society’s elite to spend a romantic New Year’s Eve in Vienna. One way to experience a dreamy New Year’s Eve without the strict etiquette imposed by gala evenings is to take a cruise on the Danube. You can enjoy an excellent dinner while the boat plies the waters of the river and enjoy the spectacular view of the festively lit city.
A New Year’s Eve dinner cruise on the Danube is recommended for those looking for a middle way between lavish but unaffordable gala dinners (remember, even Sissi didn’t like them) and rowdy street parties.
What to do on New Year’s Eve when the square empties out or if you want something more modern and trendy? Vienna has a lively nightlife that doesn’t stop on the evening of 31 December.
For youngsters and hardened party animals, we suggest spending the New Year’s Eve in one of the many bars and clubs popular with Vienna’s nightlife crowd.
The quintessential New Year ‘s Concert is the one performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on the morning of 1 January in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, the temple of classical music in Vienna. The programme includes the most traditional Viennese music, from waltzes to polkas, sometimes playful, sometimes intimate and meditative.
The most famous Viennese New Year tradition is also the most exclusive. The concert, broadcast by 90 television stations around the world, is watched live by millions of viewers; attending the New Year’s Eve concert live, however, is an entirely different matter.
It is a privilege for a select few, and not only because of the exorbitant ticket prices, which can even exceed one thousand euros. You may have all the money to spend, but to get the coveted ticket you have to enter a lottery and hope you get lucky. If you are going to do this, remember that the deadline for entering the lottery is February of the previous year!
If you didn’t manage to snag tickets, or didn’t even try, you can do as many Viennese do: on the morning of 1 January, return to the Rathausplatz and watch the concert projected on a giant screen; if the hangover from the previous evening sets in, make up for it with a hearty breakfast (Katerfrühstück).
Everyone is familiar with the concert on the morning of 1 January, but there are actually three concerts performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on 30 December and 1 January: Preview, on the morning of 30 December; the New Year’s Eve Concert, at 7.30 p.m. on 31 December; and the New Year’s Eve Concert, at 11.15 a.m. on 1 January.
Tickets for all three concerts are awarded by lottery. The most coveted and most expensive are naturally those for the performance on 1 January.
Vienna is a highly coveted New Year’s destination, so it’s a good idea to plan your accommodation in advance. Read our where to Stay in Vienna page for tips on the best parts of the city to look for a hotel and a direct link to book one.
City Card allow you to save on public transport and / or on the entrances to the main tourist attractions.
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