Vienna Christmas Markets – December 2018
My new tradition of visiting European Christmas Markets drew me to Vienna this year. The Viennese Christmas Markets start in mid-November and continue until Christmas and the end of the year. The city hosts several markets scattered throughout and all have a slightly different flavor from one another. Here are just a few that we visited:
- Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz
- Dozens of vendors including gifts, traditional food and drinks
- Ice skating with skate rental
- Christmas Village / New Year’s Eve Village at the Maria Theresien Platz
- Popular market that lasts until the New Year
- Old Viennese Christmas Market at the Freyung
- Very small market near Town Hall with a few
We found great local foods and the obligatory Weihnachtspunsch (Christmas Punch), a warm and sweet alcoholic drink. The crafts we abundant and too many to list. One of my favorites was jewelry made from the graffiti street art around the city and along the banks of the Danube Canal.
If a November or December visit to Europe is on your schedule, a trip to a city with traditional Christmas Markets is well worth the effort.
I’ve started a new personal tradition of visiting European Christmas markets. Before I get to Vienna, I’ll share the trip details. Flying standby requires a little extra planning so at the last minute I chose Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) as our gateway to Europe. This is all based on which flight loads look best for us. We arrived at IAD from out origin at about 12:00 EST so we had several hours to kill. Using the great benefit of my Priority Pass Lounge Card, included with my Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa, we had a couple lounges from which to choose for our four hour wait.
- Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse (Concourse A)
- British Airways Galleries Lounge (Concourse B)
- Turkish Airlines Lounge (Concourse B)
There’s also a restaurant option of Chef Geoff’s in Concourse C.
I had never been to any of the IAD lounges so I wanted to experience all I could. We started at the Virgin Clubhouse. We entered the lounge and found it mostly empty. There was a limited selection of food. While the lounge was quiet and comfortable, I was a little disappointed. I’ve flown Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and expected more from its fun, hip reputation.
After we finished our coffee and eggs, we moved on to the Turkish Airlines Lounge. We found this club much more inviting and comfortable. The food and drink options were typically Middle Eastern including hummus, tabbouleh, olives, lamb and beef. There was a nice vegetable and fruit selection and of course, Turkish coffee. One wall had several televisions with American football playing as well as two TVs, each connected to a Roku. The largest of all screens seemed to be for Turkish self-promotion. There was plenty of seating, though it did fill up as we got later in the afternoon.
The British Airways Club is only open until 2:00 PM so we didn’t try it.
Turkish Airlines has done well with their club and that will be my first choice when killing time at IAD.
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