Vienna ball season 2026/27: how a visitor goes to a ball, with dates, ticket sales, dress codes and the Opera Ball dress rehearsal

💡 The Short Version: The season opens on 11 November 2026 at 11:11 with a public waltz on the Graben and peaks in January and February. The Opera Ball is on Thursday 4 February 2027, and its entrance tickets (€435) are gone. The one way in that is still open is the dress-rehearsal raffle, with registration from 11 to 18 November 2026: the rehearsal is on 3 February 2027, with seats from €50 to €120 and no dress code. Balls that sell tickets to visitors: the ZuckerBäckerball (sale opens 27 October), the Ball of Sciences (from 9 November, €150) and the Philharmonic Ball (from 11 January, €220). Or learn the steps first: a waltz lessonad is from €131 for 50 minutes.

⚠️ Registration for the Opera Ball dress-rehearsal raffle is 11 to 18 November 2026. Registering gives the right to buy, not a ticket: winners are told by 12 December and must pay within 14 days. Registration is on the Opera Ball site.

The season

More than 450 balls take place in Vienna every year, and the season starts on 11 November at 11:11, the opening of the carnival, with a public waltz on the Graben (Vienna Tourist Board). The traditional balls follow a fixed ceremony: women in long evening dresses, men in tails or a dinner jacket, young couples opening the ball with a polonaise, the dance floor opened by the words “Alles Walzer”, and the Fledermaus quadrille, danced by the guests under the direction of dance teachers, which ends in cheerful chaos. At the end the lights dim and the band plays a slow waltz; the Tourist Board adds that a ball night ends at a sausage stand or over a goulash in a coffee house.

Dates are the Tourist Board’s list. The Hofburg ball season ends with the Ukrainian charity ball. For the Hofburg itself, see the Sisi Museum and Hofburg.

The Opera Ball

Vienna Opera Ball, 4 February 2027

State Opera, Opernring 2 · Thursday 4 February 2027 · entrance ticket €435 · table seat €665

Tickets are sold only by the Opera Ball Office of the State Opera, and nowhere else. Every ticket includes a €35 contribution to Österreich hilft Österreich. An entrance ticket (up to four per person) was allocated by raffle: registration ran from 1 to 5 June 2026 and has closed, and the raffle gave the right to buy, not a free ticket. Table seats, which include the entrance ticket and are limited to six per booking, were sold first come, first served from 24 June 2026 at €665. Boxes are €19,000 and up, and spectator tickets, €110 for standing to €290 in the first rows, go primarily to members of the Opera’s Circle of Friends (Opera Ball tickets). The Opera Ball Office is on +43 1 51444 2614, Monday to Friday 10:00 to 14:00.

The boxes of the State Opera on Opera Ball night. Photo: prolog84, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The dress code is fixed. Women wear a floor-length ball gown in any colour, but not a traditional costume or a festive dirndl. Men wear a black tailcoat, white dress shirt, white bow tie and black patent leather shoes, or a gala uniform (Opera Ball dress code).

The dress rehearsal of the opening, 3 February 2027

State Opera · Wednesday 3 February 2027 · doors 19:00, rehearsal 20:00 to 21:00 · from €50 to €120

The Opera rehearses the whole opening the evening before the ball. Guests can look at the rooms and halls, some already decorated, and use the Main Staircase, the Gallery, the Balcony, the Gustav Mahler Hall, the Schwindfoyer and the Schwindloggia. The Palmenbar in the Schwindfoyer and a buffet in the Parterrefoyer are open, run by Gerstner. There is no dancing, and the orchestra does not yet wear tailcoats or the opening committee its ball dress. The Opera says there is no dress code, though guests often dress festively.

Tickets go through a raffle (Opera Ball dress rehearsal):

• Registration: 11 to 18 November 2026. The time you register does not matter.
• Who can register: anyone aged 18 or over, once per email address and customer number. Tour operators and resellers are excluded.
• Winners: told by 12 December 2026, with up to four tickets per registration, and must pay within 14 days.

Balls a visitor can buy

Vienna Philharmonic Ball, 21 January 2027

Musikverein, Musikvereinsplatz 1 · Thursday 21 January 2027 · admission 21:00, opening 22:00 to 05:00 · €220

The 84th ball, in all the halls of the Musikverein, opens with the Vienna Philharmonic. Tickets are €220, students to age 27 pay €75, and a late-night ticket at €170 admits from 00:30. Sales begin on 11 January 2027 at the Philharmonic’s ticket office, Kärntner Ring 12, Monday to Friday 9:30 to 15:30, and online. The dress code is a floor-length evening gown or tails (Vienna Philharmonic). Tables are reserved by email, and the standing-room tables are sold out.

Vienna Ball of Sciences, 23 January 2027

Rathaus · Saturday 23 January 2027 · full-price ticket €150, students to 27 €60

The 12th ball. Online sales open on 9 November 2026; tickets cannot be reserved, and the ball takes payment by bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay and credit card. Anyone aged up to 27 with an official student ID can buy the student ticket, from any country. The dress code is wider than at the traditional balls: ball gown, tails, floor-length evening dress, dinner jacket, cocktail dress, black suit or gala uniform, and the committee may refuse entry to anyone dressed otherwise (Ball of Sciences). The ball also runs a dress swap, the Ballkleidertausch.

ZuckerBäckerball, 14 January 2027

Hofburg · Thursday 14 January 2027 · ticket sale opens Tuesday 27 October 2026 at 11:00

The 124th ball of the pastry cooks. Men wear a dinner jacket, gala uniform or a dark suit with a bow tie, and guests who do not meet the dress code are refused entry without a refund (ZuckerBäckerball).

Kaffeesiederball, 22 January 2027

Hofburg · Friday 22 January 2027 · doors 19:30

The 68th ball of the coffee-house owners turns the Hofburg into what the organisers call “the most beautiful and biggest coffee house in the world”. The online ticket quota is sold out. Women wear a large ball robe or a floor-length evening dress, and men a tailcoat with decorations, a tailcoat, a dinner jacket or a gala uniform (Kaffeesiederball).

A ball in the Zeremoniensaal of the Hofburg. Photo: Manfred Werner - Tsui, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Learn the steps

The waltz on the Graben on 11 November and the afternoon waltz courses there on New Year’s Eve are open to anyone in the street. For a lesson of your own, The Original Viennese Waltz Dance Experiencead is from €131 for 50 minutes, and is personalised to the dances you choose.

Where to stay

Most balls are in the Hofburg, the Rathaus, the Musikverein and the State Opera, all in the first district. Where to stay in Vienna compares the districts, and hotels near St Stephen’s lists the hotels within 850 m of the cathedral. The season runs in the cold months: average highs are 3.5°C in January and 6.5°C in February, so see the best time to visit Vienna.

Next

For the same weeks, Vienna on New Year’s Eve covers the Silvestergala, the Philharmonic concerts and the State Opera’s Fledermaus, and the Christmas markets run until 26 December. For music in a hall rather than a ballroom, see Vienna classical concerts and Vienna State Opera tickets. 3 days in Vienna fits the sights round an evening like this, and what to book before you go to Vienna lists the tickets.