No bad weather should stop you from enjoying your stay in Vienna and to explore the city. From visiting its museums and attending indoor concerts to playing VR games and enjoying Viennese cuisine, there's no shortage of rainy day activities in this lovely city! Here's the list of our favourite things you can do on a rainy day:
Visit the Spanish Riding School
Spanische Hofreitschule | ©Stefan Seelig
A very special and typical Viennese rainy day program is to watch the world-famous performances by the Lipizzans that take place in the unique, baroque Winter Riding School at Hofburg Palace.
The training offers you an insight into the exercises of the riders with their Lipizzaners. You will see both the exercise of the often still grey young stallions and the fully trained school stallions - the "white stars" - in the imperial setting of the baroque Winter Riding School, accompanied by classical Viennese music.
Here you can book the trainings but also guided tours and wonderful performances. These indoor events are perfect for rainy weather.
Watch a movie in one of Vienna's cinemas
Metro Kinokulturhaus | ©Rubert Steiner
The classic bad weather program - cinema! Vienna has a lot of cinemas which show Original Version Films with or without subtitles! Many movie theatres specialise entirely in English-language films - just look out for the abbreviations "OV", "OmU" or "OmdU" in the movie programs. There is an extensive array of locations that cater to a diverse range of preferences, offering everything from timeless classics to the latest blockbusters, as well as art-house films. In short, there is a cinema to suit every individual's taste.
These are our favourite cinemas that offer english movies:
Have a wine tasting in an hidden wine cellar
©Wien mal anders
Here's a romantic rainy weather idea for you! Experience Vienna's unique wine culture by joining a wine cellar hopping tour. Discover hidden wine cellars of Vienna's 1st district, taste fine wines, and savor Austrian specialties while it's raining outside. You can book this tour here.
Other indoor tours can be found on our website as well!
Visit a famous or unusual museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Vienna offers a variety of museums that exhibits famous artworks like Picasso’s "Woman in a Green Hat", Monet’s “The Water Lily Pond” or Klimt's "The Kiss". But there are also other museums that offer interesting exhibitions!
From strolling through the royal rooms at Schönbrunn Palace to watching exotic fish at Vienna's Aqua Terra Zoo "Haus des Meeres" in an old flak tower while it's raining outside - there's something for everyone!
Here's a list that shows how diverse Viennese museums and activities can be:
Schönbrunn Palace (Ticket)
Belvedere Museum (Ticket)
Art History Museum (Ticket)
Natural History Museum
Albertina (Ticket)
Mumok - Museum of modern art (Ticket)
House of Music (Ticket)
Spanish Riding School (Ticket)
Technical Museum (Ticket)
Madame Tussauds (Ticket)
Sisi Museum
Wien Museum
Imperial Treasury (Ticket)
Austrian Film Museum
Museum Of Illusions (Ticket)
Haus des Meeres (Aqua Terra Zoo)
Folter Museum
MAK - Museum of applied arts (Ticket)
Mozarthaus Vienna (Ticket)
Museum of Art Fakes
Play a Virtual Reality Game at Zero Latency
The perfect escape from bad weather mood! This is a personal recommendation. A few weeks ago Zero Latency invited us to play a virtual reality game and we really enjoyed it to get away into another univere, where the weather was great! It's your turn - put on the VR headset and pick up your gun controller. You and your friends are about to be transported into the virtual world full of adventure and sunshine.
You can book your VR experience here.
📍 Zero Latency, Shopping City Süd
Go indoor shopping in a shopping mall
Shopping helps against rainy day blues! The malls in Vienna offer you a wide selection to choose from, so there's no doubt you'll find your own personal shopping paradise right next to where you work, live or study. And you don't have to go outside while walking from one shop to another!
Here's our list of malls for your best indoor shooping experience:
Take cool reflection photographs in the city
Michaelerplatz | @nurielmolcho
Use the rain for your advantage for your creative reflection photography! And you can even combine that with a short sightseeing tour through the inner city of Vienna! Beautiful reflections can be anywhere in the city, but you’ll need to be aware of your surroundings to find puddles to use in your shots. Some cool picture spots could be Michaelerplatz, Graben or Karlsplatz.
Have a wellness day in a thermal bath or indoor swimming pool
Amalienbad
For those seeking relaxation on a rainy day, Vienna's thermal bath and indoor swimming pools are the perfect destination. As Europe's largest and most state-of-the-art city spa, Therme Wien brings wellness fantasies to life. 26 pools, 25 sauna and steam rooms, 2,500 loungers and a 6,000 m2 health and fitness area make this thermal bath the largest one in Austria. Alternatively there are many other indoor pools that combine exercise with relations, especially when it's rainy outside:
Solve riddles in an Escape Room
Escape the rain - in an escape room! This game is a popular activity for families, friends, team building groups and dates. Exciting scripted stories make for a live interactive experience that will no longer let you think of the bad weather outside. The perfect alternative to going to the cinema or visiting museums if you want to do something new and exciting. There are many different escape room offerer in Vienna, just choose your favourite riddle on their website!
Enjoy Viennese Cuisine
Figlmüller, Wiener Schnitzel
Have you ever tried Wiener Schnitzel? This meal let you forget about the bad weather! The thinbreaded and pan-fried veal cutlet is traditionally served with either a classic potato salad or buttered parsley potatoes. However: a dollop of lingonberry jam is a must, otherwise it’s just not the “real deal”. Other typical Viennese dishes you have to try:
Schnitzel
Kaiserschmarrn
Sachertorte
Apfelstrudel
Tafelspitz
Käsekrainer
Saftgulasch
Palatschinken
Marillenknödel
Here you can read all about typical Viennese dishes and where to find them.
Attend a musical, play or concert
Rainy day - Culture day! Vienna is one of Europe’s classical music capitals, having been home to Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Strauss, and Beethoven. Nowadays Vienna's theaters offer entertainment to suit every taste, from contemporary to classical spoken theater. Of course there are also a lot of concerts and other events that take place in Vienna's event locations like Stadthalle, Gasometer, MetaStadt, Marx Halle and more. Here's a list of some classic theatres and opera houses:
Read or borrow books from a library
Austrian National Library
The rainy weather is the perfect opportunity for reading a book! Vienna's libraries were established by the City of Vienna as a major source of information and education and to promote cultural and leisure time activities. About 47,000 of the more than 1.3 million books are foreign-language books.
The main library directly above underground station Burggasse - Stadthalle is much more than a borrowing library. Its pleasing design, long opening hours, reading areas and work stations for the different media will make you want to stay a while. Another amazing library and one of the most beautiful ones worldwide is the Austrian National Library located in the Hofburg at Michaelerplatz. It's definelty worth a visit especially when it's raining outside! Other possibilities to borrow and read books are Vienna's cute book Cafés!
Experience Vienna's coffee house culture
Café Central | @jamesanthony777
A cozy spot during the rain: A coffehouse. The tradition of Viennese coffeehouse culture is characterised by a very special atmosphere. People gathered in cafes to chat, eat, read, work, play, gamble and discuss. You feel at home in a coffee house as you step inside: Typical elements are small marble-topped tables on which the coffee is served, Thonet chairs, alcoves, newspaper tables, interior design details in the style of Historicism and mirrors reflecting the mood. More than 300 years later the Kaffeehaus is still an institution.
If you want to learn more about coffee our experience "Wiener Melange - Coffee house Classics" may interest you. If you would like to learn how to make your own Kaiserschmarrn, we have the right experience for you too: "Kaiserschmarrn Workshop".
Go on a tour through the city hall
Rathaus | @lazytravelphoto
Have you already been inside Vienna's city hall? Visitors are stunned by the magnificent appointments of the state rooms, which frequently provide an atmospheric backdrop to various events such as press conferences, concerts or balls. You can visit them free of charge and without registration on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 pm. If you want, you can borrow an audio guide in English, French, Spanish and Italian free of charge upon depositing your ID. The meeting point for the tours is the city information center in the town hall, entrance.
📍 Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 1, 1010
Have dinner at a rooftop bar
Sofitel | @michutravel
Watch the rain from a rooftop bar! Vienna, the enchanting and romantic city, has transformed into a captivating rooftop hot-spot, boasting numerous new and thrilling elevated venues. Up there you can enjoy the most amazing views above the city while drinking cocktails and having dinner. Maybe you will even discover a rainbow from up there!
Visit the Justizpalast
Justizpalast
The Palace of Justice sits just off the famous Ring boulevard, between the parliament building and the Museum of Natural History - if it starts raining while you're there, quickly jump into that building. After a security check, you can enter this beautiful building for free and marvel at the architecture. Maybe it has stopped raining after your sightseeing tour!
To-Dos on a Rainy Day
13 mins reading time
Jul 22, 2023
Kathrin Schwarz
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