14 things you absolutely NEED to do to make the most out of July in Vienna

Everybody together jumping into the air at the same time, and yelling – WAMP!

Vienna’s open-air international designer market is back! sweater weather doesn’t only mean the birds and other furry creatures, including humans, are making sweet tender love in the trees, but also that the open-air markets return to the city.

WAMP brings a whole bunch of Eastern European and local designers together in a great atmosphere in front of Vienna’s MQ. There are also usually a few food trucks supplying some tasty street food.

The young festival that is dedicated to showcasing Sound art, Sonic Territories, will be turning up at Seestadt in the first week of July.

For four days (beginning Thursday), you’ll be able to experience sound installations and other performances that have sound as the medium and the theme, ‘What’s between your head and mine?’, as their focus.

The chunky part of the festival will be taking place at night. There will be live sets from Viennese club icons like Therese Terror, Rosa Anschütz, and many more!

So, if you’re into sound and are obsessed with what you can do with your ears, check out the Sonic Territorries program!

We are not ones to complain but we’ll admit summer in Vienna can be a hot and sticky affair. And not in the good way. If you don’t have the time or the energy to go to the Donau or a pool, try having a real urban summer moment. Because what’s better than having a summer moment in one of the best summer cities? – Why? Check out our article on why Vienna is an awesome summer city!

Suggested scenario: visit your own/one of your friends’ terrace, roof or balcony, get in your sunbathing gear, slurp on some Radler out of a can, cool yourself off with a spray bottle and let your gaze wander over the city. Does it for us, everytime. Every. God. Damn. Time.

The moment has finally arrived that seemed so far away only a few months ago – Clubs are reopening!!!!

Getting a buzz happening in clubs, dancing, intimate conversations with absolute strangers – Oh, how we’ve missed all of these things.

So, this summer, be sure to make the most out of Vienna’s party scene’s return. We have no doubt you’ll be partying with a lot of people that are just as excited as you.

To assist you in working out what club you’ll hit up first on your club hop, check out our guide to the best clubs in Vienna. 

Vienna’s dance festival of all dance festivals, ImPulsTanz, is back in 2021 and they’ve sure got a lot of workshops and performances lined up that are worth doing your happy dance about.

There will be multiple performances and hundreds of workshops. So get your dancing pants on and get yourself tickets for one of the performances or register for one of the classes.

They’ve also got a special program called Shake the Break for kids happening.

Check out the Impulstanz program.

Good to know: The ImPulsTanz Festival also hosts special club nights to celebrate the festivities with the Kursalon. All in the name of the ImPulsTanz Social Festivallounge, which has different themes for every event. Be sure to check it out!

Vienna will be truly blessed this month when Michael Kiwanuka, British Singer-Songwriter, hits the stage at the Gasometer with his very unique style of music on the 13th of July.

Kiwanuka makes the Soul genre his own by adding his own magic and flavour. He’ll be playing from his latest album, ‘Kiwanuka’, but will also throw in a few of his older classic songs from his repertoire to keep the crowd happy.

The art and culture festival, Kultursommer Wien 2021, is made up of 100 events happening over 40 Days, at 40 different locations.

They’ve got a lot of talented music acts, workshops, parties, and performances lined up.

Ending on the 15th of August, you should dive into everything from dance classes, to parties, before the Festival is over! So be quick to check out the Kultursommer program and build some of its events into your August summer plans.

Do something different this year when you’re going for a swim in the Danube and try one of these Vienna-inspired dives from the video below.  It will be fun, we promise. Jumping into the water like a boring person is so last year, anyway.

Open air cinemas are one of the highlights of the summer season in this city. No more pondering for movie lovers on whether to stay in or head out. Open air cinemas offer those who get their tan from a movie screen a great way to spend an evening outside. Vienna offers a variety of open air cinemas, each screening a different flavour of film.

We’ve gathered the best open-air cinemas you can visit in Vienna, so be sure to check out our article!

It doesn’t take much to spend an amazing evening at the Donaukanal. And we suggest you spend a bit of time down there by the waterside during August. Make sure to follow our list of the DOs and DON’Ts so you truly enjoy the Donaukanal to the max during the summer.

Also, be sure to check out the new summer Taste Food Market that opened at the start of the summer! Check out our article on that!

If you’re going to endure a sticky Vienna summer, you might as well do it while also getting in shape, getting bendy, finding your inner peace while soaking up the sun and fresh(ish?) air, and taking in amazing views by signing up to some outdoor yoga classes!

Here’s some of the best yoga sessions happening in Vienna right now:

Supyoga & Paddeling on the Danube with Vanessa Witt

Yoga sessions in the Albertina 

Yoga sessions next to the Water by USUS am Wasser with Mori

Yoga im Park

Yoga on the Yesuitenwiese 

Vienna looooves its wine and during this time of the year, a big part of the city can be found up on the wine hills surrounding the city, throwing back bottles of the liquid of the Gods and cooling in the shade of well tangled vines.

For beginners, head out to the 19th district’s area of Grinzing and pick from the many nice Heurige gardens aligning the streets. There, you can sit and enjoy the local, self-produced wine, that you must pair with some unpretentious but tasty Schmankerl (a snack made of cold cuts, cheese and spreads). Some Heuriger have a hot buffet to choose some limited but carefully selected Austrian dishes.

For a more authentic and non-touristy wine expedition, head out to Stammersdorf where you can follow our tipsy-tips for a full experience.

The fun doesn’t stop here: the areas around Vienna are packed with Heurige, so anytime you want to be surrounded by grape vines, check out our guide to the wine growing and Heurige-hosting regions around Vienna.

And in case you want to brush up your Heurige-Know-How before heading out to one of them, we’ve got some facts about Heurige we bet you didn’t know.

If you’re feeling really adventurous you can also check out our article about the Weinwanderwege in Viennas wine hills, which we’re sure you didn’t know about.

After a long dry spell, Vienna’s famous art and culture institutions are back and there’s a raft of exhibitions you should check out.

We’ve put together a guide to the cool art exhibits taking place this summer, so you don’t have to spend time looking for them yourselves!

P.S.: You don’t have to be interested in culture to visit a museum, to be honest – sometimes, we just visit one to escape the summer heat! (Air conditioning in exhibitions = surviving summer)

Das Werk has opened up a terrace last year to fight their way back from the damage done by the Corona shutdown, and it’s a damn fine terrace, indeed. They’re calling the terrace – KulturTerrasse, and they’re back this year! It’s where street art meets music, meets visual art, meets street food, meets one very chilled atmosphere at which to enjoy a drink with friends. Find all the info you need about what’s happening on the specific day you’re going on their website.

When a former royal garden opens up for the entertainment of us peasants – like the Garden of the Palais Schwarzenberg is doing for the summer-long Theater im Park, – it might be time to dust off that suit and dress you got in the back of your closet. A good dose of culture and cabaret is going to be served up to you right in the park under the stars. It’s very much tailored to be Corona-safe, but probably not from mosquitos. Check out their programme!

This multidisciplinary art festival is offering up 5 months of events that embrace the culture and arts scene from a range of different angles.

In past years, some of the stuff in the program has been avant-garde to the point of being confusing, and some of the stuff caters to the age-old crowd that has been going to the festival for years. One thing is for sure –  you’ll always experience something new at the Wiener Festwochen.

You should check out the programme now if you’re into this sort of ‘tang.