Best time to visit Vienna, month by month: weather, daylight, holidays, closures and what is on

💡 The Short Version: May and September are the months for walking: average highs of 20.7°C and 21.1°C and 248 and 192 hours of sun. July is the warmest at 26.4°C, and January the coldest, with highs of 3.5°C. December has 57 hours of sun and sunset at 16:01 in mid-month. The Christmas markets open from 6 November 2026 (see the Christmas markets), the ball season peaks from 14 January to 4 February 2027, and Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027. Shops are shut on Sundays all year. Or book a guide: the Schönbrunn Palace and gardens tourad is from €63 for 2 hours, and the garden attractions there end for the season on 2 November.

Vienna month by month

The weather is the 1991 to 2020 average at Wien Hohe Warte, the 19th-district station that the city uses for its climate statistics, from GeoSphere Austria (City of Vienna). Highs and lows are the average daily maximum and minimum in °C, rain is the monthly total, sun is the hours of sunshine, and daylight is the length of the day on the 15th.

The Karlskirche on Karlsplatz. Photo: C.Stadler/Bwag, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The weather in numbers

• Warmth. July is the warmest month, with a mean of 21.9°C and an average high of 26.4°C, ahead of August (26.1°C).
• Cold. January is the coldest month, with a mean of 1.1°C. Average new snow is 15.9 cm in January, 13.6 cm in February and 10.8 cm in December, and 50.2 cm over the year.
• Rain. 626.3 mm falls in a year, spread across the months: May is the wettest at 78.9 mm and February the driest at 38.1 mm. No month is dry.
• Sun. The year has 2,041.8 hours of sunshine. December has 57.1 and July 273.6.
• Daylight. The day runs from 8 h 23 min on 15 December to 16 h 03 min on 15 June. The shortest day, 21 December, has sunrise at 07:42 and sunset at 16:02.

Christmas, New Year, the balls and Easter

• Christmas markets. 13 markets, from 6 November 2026: dates and hours are in Vienna Christmas markets. Most close on 23 December.
• New Year’s Eve. The free Silvesterpfad runs from 14:00 to 02:00 on 31 December. The Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert tickets were a lottery that closed in February: see Vienna on New Year’s Eve.
• The balls. More than 450 a year, from 11 November to the Opera Ball on 4 February 2027. The raffle for the Opera Ball dress rehearsal is open from 11 to 18 November 2026: see Vienna ball season.
• Easter. Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027 and Easter Monday, 29 March, is a public holiday. Easter markets are held in Vienna; the 2026 ones ran from 20 March to 6 April at the Freyung and from 25 March to 28 April at Schönbrunn.

The Johann Strauss monument in the Stadtpark under snow. Photo: Art-X, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Public holidays and what they close

Shops close on Sundays and public holidays, and open Monday to Friday 06:00 to 21:00 and Saturday 06:00 to 18:00. Only souvenir and sweet shops, and food, souvenir and travel-goods kiosks up to 80 m² at stations and the airport, may open on Sundays and holidays. On 8 December, shops may open from 10:00 to 18:00; on 24 December they close by 13:00 or 14:00 and on 31 December by 17:00 (WKO Wien). Restaurants, cafés, markets and attractions are not shops, so they follow their own hours.

Closures that follow the season

• Schönbrunn. The Classic Pass, the Privy Garden, the Orangery Garden, the Maze and the Gloriette end for the season on 2 November 2026. The park fountains do not run from mid-October to mid-April. The palace stays open, with hours of 8:30 to 17:00 from 3 November. See Schönbrunn Palace tickets.
• The Prater. Rides run daily from 15 March to 31 October, then only some in good weather to 14 March, and most are closed in January. The park is free and open 24 hours. See the Prater and the Riesenrad.
• Schweizerhaus. The beer garden in the Prater opens from 15 March to 31 October, daily 11:00 to 23:00.
• Café Sperl. Closed on Sundays in July and August: see Viennese coffee houses.
• The Danube Tower. It closes on 24 December, on 11 to 14, 18 to 21, 25 and 26 January 2027, and at 18:00 on 31 December.
• Heurigen. Many are open all year, and the small ones only in the warm months: see Heurigen and wine taverns.
• The Sisi Museum. The museum rooms are closed until 18 November 2026, and the new route opens on 19 November: see the Sisi Museum and Hofburg.

The Gloriette at Schönbrunn, seen across the pond. Photo: Jorge Franganillo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Which month for what

• Walking weather and long evenings. May and September, with highs of 20.7°C and 21.1°C. April (17.2°C) is cooler and October (14.3°C) has 130 hours of sun.
• Open-air summer. June to August: highs of 25.1 to 26.4°C. The Film Festival on Rathausplatz runs from 3 July to 5 September 2027, daily 11:00 to midnight, with free entry (filmfestival-rathausplatz.at).
• The Christmas markets. 13 November to 23 December, when every market is open. Highs are 8.8°C in November and 4.0°C in December.
• The balls. 14 January to 4 February 2027, with highs of 3.5°C and 6.5°C.
• A wet or cold day. Vienna’s museums, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and a concert, see Vienna classical concerts.

The Film Festival screen on Rathausplatz. Photo: Ahmed.magdy.88, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where to stay in Vienna compares the districts, and what to book before you go to Vienna lists the tickets that need a slot. For a plan once you have the dates, see 3 days in Vienna; for the way in from the airport, Vienna airport to the city; and for getting around, Vienna public transport. To see whether a pass pays, Vienna Pass or Vienna City Card has the sums, and day trips from Vienna covers the trips out. For the food, where to eat in Vienna.