Advent in Vienna: Measures for arrival to the Christmas markets

Advent in Vienna: Measures for arrival to the Christmas markets

With the upcoming first weekend in Advent, the city of Vienna expects a rush of visitors who want to explore the festive Christkindl and Christmas markets. This results in numerous changes in traffic and restrictions that are supposed to make the journey easier.

Traditionally, the Inner Mariahilfer Straße is completely closed to traffic on the Advent Days. The block affects the section between the grain market and Kaiserstrasse. The Neubaugasse is also affected, here the lock between Mariahilfer Straße and Westbahnstrasse applies. These measures are comprehensive and include all types of vehicles, including cars, bicycles and e-scooters. In order to relieve the traffic around these popular shopping streets, one -way regulations are also lifted in adjacent streets.

special bus concept

An important part of the traffic planning is the specialized bus concept that comes into force to regulate bus rises to the Advent markets. On the four days of Advent, a general driving ban for buses to the city center and the districts of inner city, Mariahilf, Neubau, Josefstadt and Alsergrund applies between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Exceptions only form regular buses and buses with a valid entry -card, of which a maximum of 350 pieces are available per day.

The journey to the Christmas market via the bus has specific routes. Buses without a valid entrance ticket must not go to Schwedenplatz. Instead, buses that arrive from southern directions are led to the out and entry point on the Praterstern, while buses that come from the north keep near the Westbahnhof on the belt. This redirection has the goal of keeping the residents a calm atmosphere and not unnecessarily burdening private transport.

For guests who arrive by bus without a entry-card, there are diversion routes available that lead to important subway stations such as Karlsplatz and the U2 Station Vorgartenstrasse. In addition, the Pierre-de-Coubertin-Platz was set up as a parking lot, from where passengers can easily get into the city center with the U2. All of these measures are part of the city's efforts to make the visit of the Advent markets as pleasant and smooth as possible, while the traffic load in the city center is reduced.