- Preparing for the trip
- How New Year is celebrated in Austria
- Will you go to the ball?
- Down the slope behind Santa Claus
If you choose a country where it is worth celebrating the New Year, Austria is the best choice for organizing the perfect holiday. Long before Christmas, Vienna's squares are decorated with festive illumination, the enticing smell of mulled wine and cinnamon biscuits floats through the streets, and the facades of houses sparkle with millions of colored lights.
Celebrating the New Year in Austria will appeal to music lovers and shopaholics, lovers of sweet cakes and meat dishes, ballet fans and opera fans. You can dance at balls and listen to a performance at the famous Vienna Opera, stroll along the New Year's trail in the Austrian capital or go to the ski slopes, where there is always a place for sports feats and the opportunity to relax with the whole family or a close company of friends is simply excellent.
Preparing for the trip
When planning to go on New Year's Eve both to Austria and to another country in the world, take care of booking hotels and plane tickets in advance. At this time, Europe is becoming one of the most popular travel destinations, and therefore prices for flights and hotel services may increase significantly, and there may not be vacancies at all:
- If you book in advance (three or more months in advance), it is most profitable to fly from Moscow to the Austrian capital with transfers in Warsaw or Brussels. The ticket will cost 170 euros. A direct flight on the wings of S7 Airlines or Austrian Airlines will last only three hours, but it will cost about 250 euros.
- If you are planning to visit the Vienna Opera on New Year's Eve, make sure you book your tickets well in advance. They begin to buy them for a traditional performance on the last day of the outgoing year and on January 1 many months in advance.
- To participate in the famous Viennese New Year's balls, you will need to observe a special dress code. If you do not plan to purchase a special outfit, you can rent a tailcoat and evening dress.
Be sure to stock up on warm clothing while traveling. In winter, snow often falls in the Austrian capital, and the air temperature drops to subzero values.
How New Year is celebrated in Austria
The tradition of celebrating the onset of the next year on January 1 was born in Austria at the end of the 17th century. The last evening of the outgoing year, the Austrians call Silvesterabend and they honor St. Sylvester during these hours. The main drink of the last evening of the year is prepared with special love. Punch with cinnamon, orange juice and sugar is becoming a symbol of the Christmas holidays in Vienna and other cities of the country. On the New Year's table, the Austrians will certainly find a pig with horseradish and green peas and gingerbread.
The holiday is traditionally celebrated with friends and colleagues in cafes and restaurants, in contrast to Christmas, which is customary to gather in a family circle. The city streets, richly decorated by December 25, remain elegant until the New Year, festive fireworks traditionally start at midnight, and at the Vienna Opera they give Strauss's operetta, which has become a New Year's symbol of the Austrian capital. The lucky ones who were able to buy tickets for The Bat will remember the new year in Austria for years to come.
Will you go to the ball?
You have certainly heard about the famous Viennese balls. They are not only famous all over the world, but are also protected by UNESCO in the lists of the intangible cultural heritage of mankind. The organization determined the criteria for meeting the Viennese ball: opening of the evening with young debutants and a polonaise dance, midnight performance, adherence to a special protocol and a ceremonial closing in the early morning.
The ball season begins on November 11 and continues until Ash Wednesday, thus capturing the time of carnivals, called fascing in Austria.
The New Years Eve Ball, or the Imperial Ball, is held in the Hofburg and is the first major in the next ballroom season.
Do you want to dance in the Hofburg and become a member of the Vienna Balls? To do this, you will have to fulfill several conditions:
- To participate in the balls, you must observe the dress code. Men should come to the evening in tailcoats, and ladies - in long ball gowns. If you're on a budget, you'll love the ball costumes from Popp & Kretschmer. Expensive pleasure will be exclusive, and this is the main thing at Vienna balls. Detailed information on the store's website - www.popp-kretschmer.at.
- Dresses are an order of magnitude cheaper in the Flossmann salon, which specializes in ball gowns. Store address in Vienna: 11, Reimergasse.
- Flea markets in Vienna are a special treat. In addition to inexpensive ball gowns, you will find a lot of interesting things here, but if the goal of your trip is a floor-length evening dress, prepare from 20 to 50 euros.
- In addition to the dress code, the Viennese balls require at least elementary dance skills from the participants. Practice early as your ability to complete the waltz tour will be assessed.
- Information about the schedule of balls, ticket prices, conditions of participation and other necessary information is available on the official website of the balls - www.wiener-staatsoper.at. The cheapest ticket, allowing you to watch the dancers from the height of the balcony at the opera, will cost 15 euros. Participation with dances costs 250 euros, and a place in a box with wine and snacks costs about 18 thousand euros.
It is necessary to declare participation in balls, book and buy tickets very well in advance. For six months already, an announcement appears on the website of the Vienna Opera that all tickets have been sold, and therefore the most experienced fans of the unique action begin to prepare for the next balls when the New Year has just begun.
Down the slope behind Santa Claus
Many tourists prefer to celebrate the New Year in Austria on the ski slopes, especially since this alpine country offers ideal conditions for practicing their favorite winter sports.
The season on most ski slopes in Tyrol and other regions starts in November, when a solid and stable snow cover sets in on the mountain slopes. You can ride in Austria until April, and on the highest mountain slopes, snow can persist until the May holidays.
Choosing resorts in Austria as a destination for the New Year holidays, take care of the advance booking of plane tickets and hotel rooms. The Alpine slopes, which are at the peak of their popularity, are popular with a huge number of tourists from all over the world and finding accommodation and a flight at a reasonable price is more difficult, the closer the time of Santa's reign on the calendar.
