Schönbrunn Christmas market

Hot chestnuts and an apricot punch – what more could you ask for?

Älgbert Elgson

In December, small wooden houses accumulate in many villages and towns in Austria. Most of the time you will also find a lot of people who come to one or the other small hut for various reasons to do barter – mostly money for goods. Be it because of the physical well-being or the acquisition of stuff that you don’t really need but you still want it.
This phenomenon is commonly known as the „Christmas market“.

In Austria, this hustle and bustle at Christmas time is also known as „Christkindlmarkt“.
Since Älgbert grew up with Santa Claus, he is naturally very enthusiastic about Christmas. We met him for the first time in the Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi and together we decided to take him on our travels.

Therefore, the idea was obvious to take a trip with Älgbert to our capital and to visit the Christkindlmarkt at Schönbrunn Palace.

The outward journey by car was more relaxed than expected. We were already worried that we would go down in traffic chaos as anti-urbanites.
If we hadn’t had anything else to do in the outskirts of Vienna, we would definitely have traveled relaxed to Vienna by train. The public transport network to and in Vienna is really good developed and really recommended if you are traveling in the city. With the help of the bus and subway, you can get (almost) anywhere – and it’s also relatively cheap.
Schönbrunn Palace is close to several subway stations and Vienna West Station („Westbahnhof“).

But driving in and out of Vienna is also more relaxed than expected with your own car. The capital of Austria is one of the most car-friendly cities in the world.
The Schönbrunn Zoo and the Technical Museum are located right next to the palace. In this case, it is a truly fortunate circumstance.
There are numerous parking garages all around, but also free parking spaces – if you know where to look.
In a small street called „Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg“, near the veterinary office of Schönbrunn Zoo, there are some free parking spaces that are intended for visiting the zoo. But only while stocks last 😉

Already on the way from our parking lot we met some feathered inhabitants of the area around the castle. The paths of the park are very wide and straight, this was a common means of the park architects of the 18th century to create visual axes.

We used the time and strolled first through the large area of the castle park. Past the Gloriette it went over the (false) Roman ruins towards the Crown Prince Garden and finally past the castle to the Christmas market.

Once there, it is difficult to decide which sales booth you want to go to first. Smells come from everywhere, from cheesy-hearty to sweet-fruity, which invite you to one or the other dish. The selection leaves nothing to be desired. There is warm goulash, served in loaves of bread, cheese spaetzle, reclined bread, Kaiserschmarrn and much more. In over 80 huts, traditional handicrafts, nostalgic toys and Christmas decorations made of wood, ceramics, glass or paper are offered at the castle’s courtyard. This year there are also two „exchange huts“, which share different small exhibitors in succession and thus get the opportunity to bring their goods and products closer to the visitors.
For more information, such as on the exhibitors, please visit the official website of the organizer.

After just a few meters, we were drawn to the first „delicacies huts“ with their traditional delicacies, as if by invisible threads. Equipped with raclette bread, chocolate-dipped marzipan balls and punch, we sat a little apart and let the action take its toll on us. There was a lot going on and you can hear many different languages. The Christmas market seems to be very popular with tourists.
We were also impressed by the various Christmas items. On some Christmas markets you can unfortunately see too much junk that is offered instead of handicrafts. Not so here. You can also watch the exhibitors at work in their small wooden houses and bring in their own ideas if you are interested in buying, so you can easily get into a conversation with them. All exhibitors are very helpful and happy to answer all questions asked.

When it started to get dark, we continued our walk through the Schönbrunn palace gardens, past the palm house and the maze back to the café in the Gloriette.
At the end of the beautiful day, we rewarded ourselves with a Viennese apple strudel and hot chocolate in this beautiful atmosphere. The Café Gloriette benefits immensely from its location opposite the castle.
The building was completed as the last part of the garden’s construction in 1775 and was used as a breakfast and dining room until the end of the monarchy.

So the day was unfortunately over and we had to go home.
We will definitely come back next year and take more time to visit the castle.