New Year's Eve in Vienna

At the change of year, people party across Vienna, especially on the New Year's Eve Trail in Vienna city center. The air resounds everywhere to three-four time and people dance into the new year to the Blue Danube Waltz. Join us as we celebrate life and the New Year.

Vienna is a city of pleasure. That becomes especially clear on New Year's Eve, when the whole city celebrates. High spirits abound at gala dinners, in concert halls, at the opera or in chic bars.

Vienna New Year's Eve Trail

A highlight on December 31 is the Vienna New Year's Eve Trail. From 2.00 pm in the afternoon to 2.00 am the following morning, top entertainment is guaranteed by the New Year's Eve Trail in Vienna city center. Along the New Year's Eve Trail, dozens of gastronomes serve punch, sparkling wine, and culinary specialties. Numerous areas provide entertainment with show programs, waltzes, rock, pop, disco, blues, funk, soul, and DJ lines. The New Year's Eve Trail runs from Freyung via Am Hof square, Graben, Stephansplatz, and Kärntner Strasse to Neuer Markt. The classical area on Graben is a popular fixture. Vienna's dance schools offer crash waltz dancing courses here during the afternoon and transform Graben into an idyllic open-air ballroom. The festivities will take place at a total of eight locations with free admission – not only in the city center, but also at Rathausplatz and Riesenradplatz in the Prater.

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People celebrating New Year's Eve on Graben in Vienna — © stadt wien marketing/Sebastian Toth

At midnight, visitors to the New Year's Eve Trail dance into the new year to the sounds of the Blue Danube Waltz and the Pummerin, the famous bell in St. Stephen's Cathedral. It so happens that the Pummerin only rings on special occasions. One of them is the change of year. The ringing of the Pummerin on New Year's Eve is even broadcast on radio and TV, followed by Johann Strauss's famous Blue Danube Waltz.

Please note that rockets and firecrackers (from category F2) are prohibited throughout Vienna.

"Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss is performed in traditional style at the Vienna State Opera on New Year's Eve. And on New Year's Day, all of Vienna watches the traditional TV broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert while enjoying a morning "hangover cure" brunch. The New Year’s Concert will be broadcast live from the Musikverein on January 1, 2027, starting at 11:15 am, to Stephansplatz and Riesenradplatz in the Prater. Several Viennese hotels will also host cozy brunches with live broadcasts of the New Year's Concert.

Spectacular exhibitions and many concerts, operas, and operetta hits, as well as musical highlights from Beauty and the Beast and Maria Theresia - The Musical also offer New Year’s Eve guests a varied program. Those who’d like to welcome the New Year in three-quarter time and dance into the new year to the sound of waltzes can do so at the New Year's Eve Gala at Vienna City Hall or the New Year's Eve Gala at the House of Strauss.