Weather and Climate in Vienna

How is the weather in Vienna? What is the climate of Vienna? As a person from Munich, I would answer this question in a very simple way: "Similar to our case". Finally, Munich and Vienna are only at some hundred kilometres air line - distance. But still, Vienna is less influenced by the Alps as Munich is. The foehn-effects, the way they are known from the area of the Alps, are less frequent in Vienna, as the way to the south is less mountaneous.

Of course, the comparison between Munich and Vienna would not bother a visitor of Vienna from Moscow, London or Madrid. So, how is actually the climate in Vienna? In the capital of Austria, there is a typical continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. In the summer time, the day temperatures often exceed 30°C, and there are some pleasant summer nights where the night temperatures do not fall below 20°C. To the contrary, in the winter time, the temperatures often are below 0°C; sometimes, there is frost during a couple of days.

And where the temperatures fall under the freezing point, there are of course snowfalls. As it is visible on the graph "Rainfall days per month", there are approximately 7-9 rainfall days per month throughut the year. The rainfalls days are rather unpleasant during the spring time and the autumn season when the temperatures are below 10°C. During the summer time, the rainfall days only men a small storm in the evening, a thing that is pleasantly refreshing. If during the winter time, the rainfalls appear in from of snow it is rather pleasant, as it gives a certain romantic atmosphere.

Upper bar: Average Day Temperatures; Lower bar: Average Night Temperatures

When is the best travelling time for a city trip to Vienna? Most of the tourists come in the summer time to the capital of Austria. In the summer time, the museums are overcrowded and the hotel rates are respectively high. There are long queues at many sightseeings and one gets a lot of people on the photographs. When during the high summer time there are temperatures exceeding 30°C, the viewing of the parks and the palace garden, for example Schönbrunn or Belvedere, is not a pleasure anymore. Also the walks in the inner city are rather a torture than a pleasant walk through the town.

Vienna is the most pleasant during the spring and the autumn season, specially if during the day the temperatures are around 20°C. Specially in the many parks, one enjoys then the recently blossomed trees and plants, and in the autumn time, one finds a colourful sea on leafs when the many deciduous trees let their leaves fall. During the spring and autumn time, there are also considerably less tourists in Vienna as they are in the summer time which means the queues of turists are not so long and the hotel rates are moderated. A walk through the prater park when the leaves are falling in the autumn time is an unforgettable experience.

But Vienna also has some attractions in the winter time. In one is lucky and the city is covered with snow, one can do some lovely pictures; everything seems to be brighter, during the night, the abundant snow refelcts the city lights and the city seems to be brightly illuminated. Of course, one should take some warm winter clothes to Vienna during the winter time, and the winds make the temperatures seem to be even colder thn they already are. But due to the reason that in the bigger museums (mainly with entrance fees) there are wardrobes, one can get warm during the visit of the many museums and still loaf through the exhibitions without a bothersome coat. But during the viewing of buildings, castles and churches one has to consider that many times, the sky is covered with clowds. Those beautiful pictures with a blue sky in the background are rather rare in the winter (see graph "Sunshine Hours per Day").

No matter at which time one travel to Vienna, one should always take some clothes for different weather conditions. Even in the summer time, there are some days when one should not leave the hotel withut a coat or a jumper, and in the winter there are lso days where the classic winter coat is much too warm for outside. There is always to take an umbrella during the visit of Vienna, as it can rain there at any time (see graph "Rainfall Days per Month").

Finally, I would like to give a further tip that is to take some good shoes to the trip to Vienna. High heels might be still pleasant during the castle viewing, but they will be a torture in the palace garden. Vienna is a city where people walk a lot, and this is why I recommend some solid shoes in which one has a good foothold. One should also take some shoes for replacement, as by arriving to the hotel after a tour through the rain and one wants to go out again for dining, it is nice to have some dry shoes to change.

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