Summer 2025 Events in Vienna: Festivals, Food, Theater and More

A crowd of festivalgoers looking on at the Popfet Wien mainstage in Vienna, Austria, on an overcast summer day — Popfest Wien. © Franz Reiterer

Things to Do in Vienna Summer 2025

Few cities can rival Vienna when it is decked out in its imperial summer glory. With thousands of miles of bike paths, dozens of verdant parks, hundreds of cultural offerings, and an incredible array of food and loads of great beer, Vienna makes for the ideal summer city break. Read on for our top tips for things to do in Vienna this summer, which should allow you to maximize your experience in the city and minimize the time you’d waste choosing from all the variety on offer.

Festivals

A young man standing on stage in frontof a large crowd at Donauinselfest in Vienna, with pyrotechnics going off. View from behind — Donauinselfest. (c) Alexander Müller

Donauinselfest – June 20 to 22, 2025

The Danube Island Festival (or Donauinstelfest) is Europe’s largest free open-air festival and really illustrates the Austrian capital’s commitment to ensuring cultural access for all. Spread out over three days around the summer solstice, in the midst of an island on the Danube, you’ll have a chance to listen to scores of bands and DJs on a multitude of stages across the island. With hundreds of food and drink options, we can’t think of a better way to kick off the summer.

AMADEUS Festival – June 26 to 29, 2025

Taking place in the northwest of Vienna, in the historical grounds of the former Semmelweis Women’s Clinic, this festival is a bit out of the way compared to other offers, but the open-air setting takes full advantage of the warm summer days. Musicians well-practiced in their craft, in orchestras and ensembles, perform great classical works in the acoustics of Vienna’s warm summer air. This year’s edition celebrates women’s contributions to the genre as performers and composers.

Music and concerts

A concert at night outside Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria — Summer Night Concert at Schonbrunn Gardens. © Niklas Schnaubelt

Summer Night Concert at Schonbrunn Gardens – June 13, 2025

Schonbrunn is one of Vienna’s most famous landmarks, and for good reasons — the expansive gardens and opulent palace that remains a well-preserved legacy of the Habsburg monarchy. Our Schonbrunn Tour takes you through the rooms of this grand palace, which tell the stories of various generations of the Habsburg family, from particular design quirks to the specific objects on display. Our guide will help bring those stories to life, giving you important context to the palace and its primary residents.

In the picturesque Schönbrunn Palace Gardens, with the fragrance of roses in the air and the grand palace in the background, Vienna’s annual Summer Night Concert is a delightful experience. The Wiener Philharmonic performs a varied program of classical and contemporary pieces, focusing on works by musical greats.

Popfest Wien – July 24 to 27, 2025

Those who find contemporary pop and dance music their groove can look to Popfest Wien for the latest and greatest in European pop acts. This year’s festival is bound to be full of experimentation and youthful exuberance, with young emerging artists Verifiziert and Paul Buschnegg curating the program.

Food and Drink

Schweizerhaus beer garden on a summer day, with tables full of people and lots of shade from the trees — Schweizerhaus by Gugerell, via Wikimedia Commons

Schweizerhaus – Through October 31, 2025

The Schweizerhaus is as old a Viennese outdoor tradition as you can find one. The cavernous beer garden is open from March to October and despite the hundreds of seats, is almost always full. Built into the heart of Prater Park in Leopoldstadt, with the best Pilsner and Wiener Schnitzel you’ll find in the city, there’s probably no better place to spend a hot summer evening than at the Schweizerhaus.

Summer Stage – May to September 2025

Looking for drinks, DJs and some great vibes on a summer night in Vienna? Then Summer Stage is probably your best bet. Think dozens of bustling pop-up bars and bistros built along the embankments of a Danube canal, with free concerts, shows, art pop-ups and even a sculpture park, Summer Stage is where you go to see Vienna’s young, hip crowd in action, and it has a different vibe and feel each year. Get the metro to U4 Rossauer Lände and walk along the water.

Ottakringer Bierfest (June to August 2025) dates TBA

The city’s premier brewery introduces a range of special brews for the summer season, as well as a concert series and a weekly open stage, where any amateur musician can sign up. And of course, no beerfest is complete without a range of street food vendors serving fried delights to wash down with that beer.

Exhibitions

Portrait of Viennese composer Johann Strauss from 1890, a man with dark hair and a mustache in a tuxedo

Johan Strauss: The Exhibition at Theatermuseum – closes June 23, 2025

Together with the grand reopening of Theatermuseum, celebrating the Year of Strauss in 2025, is an exhibition featuring one of Vienna’s greatest home-grown composers. Featuring original objects connected to Strauss’s work and life, including original scores and portraits, and props from his opera productions, this exhibition explores the indelible imprint the King of Waltz left on Vienna, Austria, and the world of music.

Gustav Klimt: Pigment & Pixel at Belvedere – until September 7, 2025

This exhibition, using recent technical analysis, sheds new light on famed painter Gustav Klimt’s methods and practice, exhibiting microscopic glimpses of gold leaf in his legendary gold paintings. In addition to a closer look at some of Klimt’s best-known works, the exhibition includes an AI-assisted reconstruction of Klimt’s Faculty Paintings, which were destroyed in World War II.

Gustav Klimt's unfinished painting The Bride, which is partially colored in, with parts of the canvas visible — Gustav Klimt’s unfinished painting The Bride. Public domain

IN-SIGHT: Gustav Klimt’s The Bride at the Belvedere – until October 5, 2025

Klimt’s largest and most ambitious unfinished work gets a closer look in this special exhibition. The story of the painting is put together through first-person reports from fellow painters Egon Schiele and Felix Albrecht Harta, among those who had known him, pencil drawings and sketches from Klimt’s notebook, and in-depth technical analysis done in recent years. The exhibition creates a bigger picture not only of the unfinished painting but also a portrait of the artist himself in his final years.

In the Spirit of Friendship at the Dom Museum – until August 24, 2025

Friendship is an enduring, complex, and often underexplored type of relationship, and this exhibition explores the varied nature of friendship as depicted in artistic media from dozens of artists, both contemporary and historical. Photographs, paintings, and sculptures reveal the ways in which we enjoy and rely on our friends throughout time.

Experiment Expressionism: Schiele Meets Nosferatu at the Heidi Horten Collection – closes August 31, 2025

This exhibition explores all the aspects of the Expressionist movement and the various genres that embodied it. Featuring paintings by Egon Schiele, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Max Oppenheimer, the exhibition also includes silent films that was an emerging medium at the movement’s height, drawing comparisons and parallels between the various genres and how they influenced one another. During the exhibition, the museum offers an evening program presenting silent films that will be shown for the first time in long version, accompanied by live music.

Theater

A group of people in costume dancing in blacklight, which makes the costumes look orange and the light blue and purple, in a production o Pique dame at Wiener Staatsoper — Pique Dame. © Wiener Staatsoper / Michael Pöhn

Pique Dame at Vienna State Opera – various dates, June 2025

Based on a story by Pushkin, this Tchaikovsky opera follows a compulsive gambler and card player who ends up isolating himself from all who he loves as he falls victim to his addiction and madness.

Mahler, Live at Vienna State opera – various dates, June 2025

Inspired by Gustav Mahler’s 4th symphony, this contemporary ballet performance brings fresh new perspectives on the classical masterpiece, with innovative choreography, and video performances incorporated into the program.

Theater in the Park – various dates, June to September 2025

Summer’s long days and warm weather invite all kinds of events to take place outdoors, including theater performances. Plays, musicals, and concerts populate the program of Theater im Park, every summer at Schwarzenberg Garden, amidst the magnificent atmosphere of the Belvedere. While most performances are in German, numerous concerts also take place, with genres ranging from classical, to folk, to contemporary.

Urban Escapes

Natural History Museum, the View from the Roof – Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons

A trip into the heart of one of the world’s best curated natural history museums, this historical walk goes through the exhibits on the lower floors, before culminating in a grand finale on the museum’s rooftop terrace. Offering unparalleled views of Habsburgian Vienna and deep insight into the making of the city, we can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend afternoon.

People lounging on unique blue seating called Enzis in Vienna's Museumsquartier on a sunny summer day. — MuseumsQuartier

MuseumsQuartier (MQ) Courtyard

A trendy spot in Vienna, the MQ courtyard features quirky and colorful lounge chairs, known as “Enzis,” where you can read, chat with friends, or just hang out. Outdoor art installations, seating outside Cafe Leopold, and an overall relaxed atmosphere add to the summer vibes.

short of Danube Island (Donauinsel) in Vienna on a sunny summer day, with yellow-green grass and a parked bike beneath a lush green tree.

Donauinsel

Stretching 21 kilometers (13 miles) in the middle of the Danube, Donauinsel is the perfect escape from the bustling city center and the summer heat. Locals flock here to swim, cycle, have picnics and barbecues, or just lie in the shade near the river. There’s even a sandy beach where you can relax and sip cocktails in the shade of parasols.

Family fun

Vienna City Hall on a summer day with the summer cinema set up — Vienna City Hall by Ahmed.magdy.88, via Wikimedia Commons

Rathausplatz Food and Film – June 28th to August 31, 2025

Every summer, the square in front of Vienna City Hall converts into a giant open-air cinema. While not technically a film festival, the festival screens operas, jazz concerts, dance recitals and many things in-between. Kick back under the stars, with a cocktail and some of the incredible gourmet food on offer, and make it a night to remember. Admission is free, but come early to grab a seat, especially on weekends.

Spanish Riding School: Piber meets Vienna – July 2 to August 4, 2025

Every summer, the city’s famed Spanish Riding School gives its famed stallions a break and puts on a show with the young foal from the Lippzaner Stud Piber, as it trains its next generation of stars. The show is ideal for families and young children and you get a chance to watch the playful young horses and their mothers have a summer blast.

Our tour for families with children, Tales of Dragons and Saints: Vienna for Children, makes the perfect starting point before a visit to the Spanish Riding School. Explore the various myths and legends hidden in Vienna’s architectural designs and symbols, and step back in time to learn what ordinary life was like for children in 15th-century Vienna. In addition to stops at Roman ruins and St. Stephan’s Cathedral, you’ll also have a stop for cakes at a classic Viennese confectionary. Your guide will be an engaging, entertaining leader for the kids, while holding the adults’ attention, too.