Fairy tale Christmas Markets in Vienna. Are Czechs Tired of ChristmasMarkets at Home?

Many visitors to Vienna come to warm themselves with a hot punch under the Vienna City
Hall. Among them are many Czechs, for whom visiting the Christmas markets in Vienna has
become an annual activity, some may say tradition. Set to explore a few of the popular
Christmas markets, even I did not resist this year and visited the Austrian capital during
Christmas time, excited to see for myself.

The melody of the accordion and the smell of roasted chestnuts wafts through the vast
Karlsplatz. In addition to meat or milk, the traditional organic fair offers visitors a playground
where children enjoy themselves among the straw piles. The unique atmosphere is helped by
the animals. Children flock to the corral with goats and sheep, which they try to pet. Welcome
to the Christmas market in Vienna, where thousands of visitors come to enjoy the Advent
season, including many Czechs.

Czechs often arrive by car, which was my choice of transport as well. The route from Brno to
Vienna takes about an hour and a half, from Prague is about two hours longer. Others find it
more convenient to take the bus. Daniela Ledecká from Jihlava has been going to the market
in Vienna with her family for seven years. This year she took a bus from Brno to the market.
“We booked our tickets three weeks in advance. The bus is more comfortable. We change from
it to the metro and in a quarter of an hour we are in the center. Then we can have a mulled
wine or other alcohol without restrictions. I prefer an independent trip because I shape my
program according to my mood,” she says. “We go to Vienna every year. It is a nice
refreshment from the smaller markets in Jihlava (Daniela´s hometown). Plus I think the
atmosphere is better here and there is always something new to discover,” Daniela adds.

Smaller squares have a more intimate atmosphere. Vendors on the Freyung loudly greet visitors and offer them products of old Viennese craftsmanship – baskets, wooden utensils, or ceramics.  Spittelberg’s seedy markets are spread out in narrow streets. In front of small bars, guests sip steaming drinks and red lanterns glow over their heads.

But the markets at the town hall dominate Vienna’s Advent. “It’s our first time here, we’re just passing through. Otherwise, we visit the markets in Prague and Dresden. We really like it here,” says Renata Prokopová from Prague. She walks through Vienna with her daughter Gabriela, who sips Jaegertee. “We want to go around the center and check out other markets. We took the town hall as a starting point,” says the young woman.

I’ve been hearing about the magic of Vienna’s Christmas markets for years, but this year I’m experiencing them firsthand. The festive atmosphere of the Austrian city on a cold day is complemented by snow. Vienna seems to be alive with Christmas. There are baubles and bows hanging in every street, chandeliers full of lights swinging overhead. The decorations are lavish, colorful, and seemingly almost perfect. At first glance, Vienna’s markets are much larger than in Prague, so it takes much longer to walk through all the stalls. The stalls are bigger and the goods on offer are less repetitive than in Prague, which is something, the Czech visitors enjoy. “I once visited these Christmas markets (In Vienna) almost by accident, and I have been traveling here every year after that. I like to buy a lot of presents here and I like what the stalls offer. I am even willing to pay a higher price than in Prague. I know that that is something I have to expect, and I like it better than buying tourist souvenirs in Prague, which are often overpriced. Even the gas prices are worth it, ” says David, a young man visiting from Prague with his girlfriend as he smokes a cigarette.

Tanja, a young woman from Vienna I ran into at Spittelberg says, that the smaller markets have a better atmosphere. “I actually like them way more. They are way less touristic and more local, even the products are less overpriced.” Seems like higher prices are something people do not mind unless they are in their own country. From my conversations with young Czech visitors, I got a small impression, that they were solving their frustration with tourists at Prague markets by becoming tourists themselves in another city. Nevertheless, the magic of Christmas Vienna is so impressive that I myself probably was not here for the last time.

Seeing Christmas markets in Vienna and also Munich this year, in addition to Prague, inspired me to take advantage of Prague’s strategically close location and visit foreign Christmas markets more often, maybe make a tradition out of it. Seems to me that it is an idea that many Czechs have, for whatever reasons, and it certainly has something to it. The magic of Vienna´s Christmas markets draws visitors back every year. To be honest, I am not surprised.