Christmas - Just Around the Corner

While most of our guests have returned home from their well deserved autumn break, preparations are running already for the various Christmas markets in Vienna. The most popular market is the one in front of the city hall. It will open in only few days from now, on November 16^th, and then it will be again Magic of Advent in Vienna…

The Magic of Advent in Vienna will be celebrating its 27th anniversary this year. Locals and visitors to the city love the market and decorations on Vienna’s Rathausplatz (City Hall Square).

The Magic of Advent in Vienna is a favorite place to meet, with many visitors returning several times each season. Young families, teens and tourists are particularly enchanted by the yuletide atmosphere on City Hall Square. It comes as no surprise that the Magic of Advent in Vienna is known as Europe’s most child-friendly Christmas market.

The amazing lighting concept will ensure that the Magic of Advent in Vienna makes a still more dazzling impression this year. Still more glittering lamps will enhance the festive atmosphere, drawing visitors away for a gentle stroll apart from the hubbub of the main market. A tour of the beautifully decorated Rathauspark – where the famous Heart Tree, festooned with 280 glowing hearts, awaits – has written the opening chapter to many a love story over the years. And perhaps you will meet the Vienna Christ Child on its walk around the park, or listen when it reads a Christmas story in front of the crib.
By the way, there is this tradition that one of the Austrian provinces presents the Christmas tree as a gift thus demonstrating their close connection to the capital city. This year the tree comes from Styria. The spruce tree from Bruck/Mur is 30 m high and about 100 years old. And therefore the local brass orchestra from Bruck/Mur will entertain all visitors at the opening ceremony on November 16th, from 4.30 pm.

There is a packed program of arts and crafts for kids and teens at the Christmas workshop. During the six weeks of the Magic of Advent, youngsters are hard at work painting, shaping, turning, sawing, stenciling, applying glitter, threading beads, sticking, firing, decorating and packing as they create a total of around 70,000 presents for their parents and grandparents. Over the years the Christmas workshops have featured virtually every imaginable art and craft. Some of the creative spirits who tried their hand at arts and crafts in the workshops back in the 1980s are now returning as adults, and can’t wait for their own children’s first cookies and artwork.

The vibrant and colorful Christmas market, offering a vast array of Christmas handicrafts, tree decorations and other yuletide gift ideas, is the centerpiece of the Magic of Advent in Vienna.

Evocative Advent aromas, festive concerts, a tall tree blazing with countless Christmas lights against the backdrop of City Hall, and the enchantingly decorated Rathauspark are just some of the highlights that give the Magic of Advent in Vienna its unique appeal.

This year the official opening will take place on November 16 and run until 6 p.m. on December 24, when Christmas really is just around the corner.