Ideas for Vienna
Grey outside? Vienna is a strong indoor city. These are ideas that still work well when the weather turns.
Plans that happen indoors: museums, theatres, concerts, coffee houses and covered markets. Weatherproof and easy to decide on at short notice.
Rain is no reason to stay home in Vienna. The city has coffee houses, major museums, smaller galleries, theatres and concert halls, so a good day out does not depend on sunshine.
Instead of scrolling through endless calendars, this page keeps the choice short: indoor ideas that help you decide quickly. For a long afternoon, a museum followed by coffee is often enough.
The events below are currently active and mostly indoors. The list updates regularly, so it is worth checking back when the forecast keeps changing.
If you prefer browsing by mood, the art and culture and live music categories are usually the safest indoor bets.
Selected events that currently take place indoors.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum presents the city views of Canaletto and his nephew Bernardo Bellotto together for the first time in the German-speaking world. Paintings of Venice, London and Vienna reveal how optical precision, atmosphere and painterly staging shaped images of European cities.
Kunsthalle Wien brings together current positions of contemporary art from Vienna across various media. The exhibition at MuseumsQuartier runs from May to October, showcasing how artists today produce and respond to the city.
Photo Brut explores photographic positions outside established visual languages, connecting personal, raw, and experimental approaches. The exhibition is on view until September 6 at FOTO ARSENAL Wien.
Mira Gáberová, Marei Loellmann and Mario Mu explore how memory, the body and the surrounding world intersect in Where Boundaries Blur. Video, textiles and digital imagery form an intimate group exhibition in the freely accessible MQ Pop Up Showroom.
The anniversary exhibition traces the long and contested path from the imperial stables to today's MuseumsQuartier. Architectural proposals, political decisions and public debates show how the cultural complex changed Vienna.
Helmut Chlada presents large-format oil and acrylic paintings centred on geometric abstraction, alongside surrealist works. The exhibition opened on 16 August and runs until 13 September.
Young people aged 10 to 14 create avatars, collective creatures and animated worlds in two three-day workshop blocks. Each block ends with a presentation at FOTO ARSENAL WIEN.
This evening Danube cruise combines Viennese music, a buffet and live entertainment on board. Boarding starts at 6:15 pm, the cruise runs from 7 to 10 pm in all weather, and different ships and music acts are used on the remaining dates.
The group exhibition Water Resistance brings together artistic approaches to water, bodies, materials and urban infrastructure in the historic Alte Schieberkammer. Alongside the opening and closing events, the exhibition has two regular afternoon openings; additional visits can be arranged.
During the 33rd Restaurant Week, numerous leading Vienna restaurants offer specially created fixed-price lunch and dinner menus. The standard offer starts at €19.50 for a two-course lunch and €39.50 for a three-course dinner; restaurants without a Gault&Millau toque serve one additional course at the same price. Supplements apply for additional toques, drinks and any cover charge. Reservations are made exclusively online through Restaurant Week, where diners can choose a restaurant, menu and available time slot.
FROM CARINTHIA presents artistic positions from Carinthia at Vienna's Künstlerhaus. The exhibition connects established names including Maria Lassnig, Kiki Kogelnik, Hans Staudacher and Bruno Gironcoli with further perspectives from southern Austria.
Unsafe+Sounds connects experimental and electronic music, club culture, sound art and social discourse. The 2026 edition moves from Wotruba Church to AIL, Porgy & Bess, ORF RadioKulturhaus, WUK and FLUCC, spanning concerts, audiovisual work and late-night club programmes.
This open family studio approaches the start of school through ink-eraser art, modelling-clay study buddies and playful concentration exercises. Entry is available every hour on four Saturdays, with each session lasting about 40 minutes.
Parallel Vienna is an exhibition and art fair for contemporary art at the Otto Wagner site. From September 9 to 13, galleries and artists present their work throughout the former hospital complex, accompanied by a programme such as tours and talks.
Astoria Artshow is the preview edition of a new Vienna art fair. Around 70 Austrian and international galleries present established and emerging positions in the historic Astoria Garage.
After 13 years, the post-migrant theatre, film and performance laboratory diverCITYLAB closes with a multi-part festival. The Kabelwerk programme combines sound performance, theatre and Titanic – Das Brot ist voll, followed by additional festival evenings at Kosmos Theater.
Curated by Sarah Johanna Theurer and Aditi Kapoor, this group exhibition examines the psychological costs of producing, using and consuming goods and infrastructure. Time-based media reveal hidden connections and dependencies within these systems.
For the curated by gallery festival, international curators develop exhibitions for 24 Vienna galleries. The opening weekend brings extended hours and tours, followed by the festival programme through mid-October.
Roasteries, baristas, and manufacturers showcase the diversity of coffee through its origins, craftsmanship, and technology over three days. Entry includes tastings, along with demonstrations, machines, accessories, street food, and music.
WestLicht presents the World Press Photo exhibition in Vienna for the 25th time. It features 42 award-winning works selected from 57,376 submissions by more than 3,747 photographers from 141 countries.
Austria's nationwide Cinema Festival brings current releases and special screenings to Hollywood Megaplex Gasometer for a standard ticket price of EUR 5.90. The day also features a prize wheel, previews, family programming and a Disney Channel participation screening; premium formats may carry surcharges.
A charity dance night in the covered arcade courtyard of Vienna City Hall with Discofieber All Star DJ Phil T. and DJ Mauri. Disco classics and hits from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and summer favourites run from 7 PM to 3 AM, with proceeds supporting Vienna Red Cross projects.
Die SchlossCapelle performs works by Mozart, Haydn and Vivaldi in the Brahms Hall. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is the centrepiece; according to Musikverein, the concert runs from 8 pm to 10 pm.
Vienna Fashion Week brings around 40 Austrian and international designers to Hall E+G at MuseumsQuartier for fashion shows, side events, a shopping area and pop-up stores.
Lotte brings her Wenn du tanzen willst tour to the WUK Hall. New songs blending dream pop, expansive melodies and a 1970s aesthetic meet the singer's direct, personal live presence with her band.
ART VIENNA brings Austrian and international galleries to the Schönbrunn Orangery with contemporary art, classical modernism and works spanning the 19th to 21st centuries. The three-day fair connects established positions with emerging artists.
The ALBERTINA brings Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon together in a major exhibition of around 70 key works from international museums and private collections. Their radical depictions of the human figure, vulnerability, pain and desire take centre stage.
For its eleventh edition, Vienna Rumfestival presents hundreds of rums from around the world alongside tastings, cocktails, Cuban live music, rum walks, a rarity auction and the European Rum Award. Visitors book one of three time slots on each day.
The Heidi Horten Collection presents a major solo exhibition of Elisabeth von Samsonow, bringing together sculpture, painting, drawing, film and a site-specific installation. The show centres on earth, the body, memory and transformation, while also connecting to works in the museum collection.
At Ginmarkt, exhibitors present gins, matching tonics, cocktails and tastings at Ottakringer Brewery. DJs, food options and bookable add-on tastings round out the programme.
AnnenMayKantereit perform at Wiener Stadthalle, Hall D, on September 19, 2026 at 7:30 pm. The official shop currently lists the concert as sold out.
The 17th SLASH Film Festival presents horror, science fiction and other forms of fantastic cinema across four Vienna venues, accompanied by talks, guests and late-night screenings.
The 20th Vienna Design Week showcases product, furniture, industrial, graphic and social design through exhibitions, installations, workshops, talks and tours at locations across Vienna.
Open House Vienna opens 53 doors to architecturally significant buildings and open spaces in 2026, some of which are normally inaccessible to the public. Every site can be visited free of charge and without advance registration through volunteer or expert tours.
The Vienna City Gallery Walk features guided tours and events in downtown galleries over several days. Participating venues showcase exhibitions, artist talks, and specials focusing on contemporary art and positions from Vienna and beyond.
This one-day symposium with an international line-up explores how cultural institutions can actively shape the future and foster participation in society. It focuses on responsibility, accessibility, sustainability and new forms of exchange in times of social transformation; the event is held in German and English.
At Tagebuch Slam people read from their real teenage diaries - embarrassing, honest and very funny. After years at TAG the series has been at Rabenhof since 2025, with four evenings in autumn 2026. On 12 September there is also a short appearance at Literaturmeile Zieglergasse.
Waves Vienna combines a three-day international showcase festival with a music conference, panels, workshops and networking. The programme includes more than 100 concerts and industry events.
Psychology Day at Vienna City Hall presents a free public programme on digitalisation, artificial intelligence, mental health, the future of work and residential psychology. Talks alternate with short participatory exercises, followed by a poetry slam hosted by FOMP Vienna.
More than 130 museums and galleries in Vienna stay open from 6 p.m. to midnight with one shared ticket, special tours, short programmes and shuttle routes.
The two-day Vienna Tea Festival brings international producers, tea merchants, ceramic artists and specialists to REAKTOR. Visitors can taste rare teas, discover handcrafted teaware and attend talks, ceremonies, tastings and separately bookable workshops exploring traditional and contemporary tea culture.
FAIR FOR ART Vienna returns to the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 2026, presenting modern and contemporary art from Austrian and international galleries. The public fair runs for five days; the preview and vernissage on the preceding evening are by personal invitation only.
Design District turns Vienna's Hofburg into a three-day fair for interior design and lifestyle. Across more than 7,500 square metres, Austrian and international brands present furniture, interiors, real estate, technology, art and accessories to explore and try out.
Riccardo Muti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein's Golden Hall. Mitsuko Uchida is the soloist in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, followed by Brahms's Second Symphony.
