Naschmarkt is the most popular market in Vienna.

Welcome to the Naschmarkt, which in Austria and Vienna is by far the most famous and the most luxurious food and produce market. Nowhere else in the city, nor probably in anywhere else in Austria, will you find such a wide range of things to see, to eat, to drink and to enjoy as at the Naschmarkt.

Since the 16th century people in Austria has come to the Naschmarkt get to enjoy the many different products which would be brought here by vendors of the city farmers from the outside of the city, and those that came from overseas by boats and ships from different parts of the world that were once connected to the Austrian empire.

Today the market serves a wide variety of different purposes, serving not only the local residents of the area who come here to do their daily food shopping, but also visitors from around the globe who come to enjoy the main sights and sounds of the market.

You will find here now things to eat immediately, such as sandwiches, hotdogs, and the many fresh fruits that make such colorful displays in stalls. But there are also ingredients for sale in the market which people will take home to cook. Fresh meat butchers and fishmongers selling fresh food of the highest quality can be found here, and they will be prepared to your liking as you wait at the counter. Want a double thickness pork chop? Or a filleted piece of fish? Just point and ask and the professionals here will make your ingredients ready to use.

The colorful sights of the market are added to by the many exotic fruits and vegetables on sale, but which can also be found side-by-side with staples from Austrian cooking such as the humble potatoes, the carrot, the swede. Cucumbers, tomatoes and other greenhouse crops are often grown locally, but there are also supplies from wide afield so don’t be surprised to see a kiwifruit from New Zealand or mushrooms from Holland and so on.

The Naschmarkt is without any doubt at all the best place in the city for people watching, where you get to see both the old and Austrian doing that daily shopping as well as the visitors to the city from all over the world. The market vendors and stallholders also represent a wide cross section of the population of Vienna, and while you will see well represented the local Austrian cheesemakers bakers and so on, but you're also see a wide range of ethnic groups represented as the many immigrants to the multicultural city which is Vienna have found a place here offering no only ethnic foods also staples or Viennese culture as they have integrated into the society.

Today’s open Austrian society has shown multi-culturalism at work, and if Vienna is the crown in that then Nashmarkt is the Crown Jewel, as the rich mix of ethnic foods here demonstrates. And all the smells of 5 continents merge into something delicious that makes it hard indeed to visit the market, even if you intended only to shop or to watch, without buying something tasty to eat.

Most tourists of course will be staying in hotels, or will have hired a car to visit the city from somewhere close by. In that case buying raw meat or fish may not be a good choice, but there is always time for a picnic when you are on holiday!  Get out of the hotel restaurants and take a trip to one of the green parks for a picnic, but first stock up on some excellent picnic supplies in the Nashmarkt.

Choose from Cheese, Wine and Sausage - but also from the multi-cultural ethnic choices Donner Kebab, Japanese Sushi, Korean Kimchi and more. Whether you want to go traditional with Austrian, bread, cheese and wine, or span the glob with your choices you can everything you want and more here. Dessert in the form of cakes, for which Austria is so rightly famed, and sweets are all available as well.

And lastly, as a tourist, of course there are places to sit and to choose from snacks, drinks to whole meals. Dining alfresco in the market is one of the delights of any visit and is a great break and contrast from the formality of the traditional Austrian cafe, but both offer food which is second to none.

Why not plan your visit to the Naschmarkt Today? Don’t come too early or too late, as this is a daytime market and not a night market, but any day of the week except Sunday will provide plenty to see. From lunchtime through to evening are great times to visit Austria’s premier market!

If your schedule in Austria allows it and you can be in Vienna on a Saturday then this is an especially good time to visit, as on Saturday there is a flea market conducted at the end of the Nashmarkt, in what is normally the car park at the western end of the road. Explore not only the great edible delights of the main market, but pick up a souvenir or two from some old Austrian attic or garage!