Stephansplatz is lined with stalls selling Mozartkugeln, Empress Sisi magnets and snow globes. Almost none of it is made in Vienna, and the Mozartkugel is a Salzburg invention in the first place. You can do better, and usually not for more money.
This guide sorts Viennese souvenirs by price bracket and tells you where to find each one. Everything here is genuinely available in Vienna, and most of it is made here too.
Under 10 euros: the honest classics
Manner wafers. The pink packet is the Viennese souvenir, produced in Vienna’s Hernals district since 1890 and cheap in any supermarket. For the extra symbolism there is the Manner shop on Stephansplatz - the wafer inside is identical, the supermarket price is lower. Some varieties are hard to find outside Austria.
Coffee from a Viennese roastery. Half a kilo of beans from Alt Wien Kaffee or one of the smaller roasteries travels easily and keeps for months. Viennese roasting is darker than Scandinavian, which is exactly what you need to rebuild a Melange at home.
Staud’s jam and preserves. The company sits at the Brunnenmarkt in the 16th district and is a Viennese fixture. Also stocked in supermarkets. Note for the trip home: jars belong in checked baggage.
A postcard with a real stamp from a Trafik. The Trafik is an Austrian institution, half newsagent and half tobacconist, often family-run for decades. It costs almost nothing and is the only souvenir that arrives before you do.
10 to 50 euros: Viennese craft and food
Original Sacher-Torte. In the wooden box, from the Hotel Sacher behind the State Opera and from Café Sacher. It keeps for weeks unrefrigerated, which makes it the most practical of the upmarket gifts. The smallest size sits in the lower double digits, large cakes well above that.
Wine straight from a Heuriger. In Grinzing, Nussdorf and Neustift am Walde the wine estates sell directly - more honest and cheaper than a supermarket, and you know where it came from. Wiener Gemischter Satz is the city’s own speciality and protected as a DAC wine. Details are in our Heuriger guide.
Coffee house hardware. A Kleiner-Brauner spoon, a water glass set or a Melange cup from a specialist shop. Unspectacular, but genuinely used at home afterwards.
Viennese soap and cosmetics. The Wiener Seifenmanufaktur and similar small producers make in the city. Light, unbreakable, fine in hand luggage.
Books and prints from museum shops. The shops at the Albertina, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Leopold Museum in the MuseumsQuartier carry decent Klimt and Schiele prints. A rolled print survives the flight home; a framed one does not.
50 to 200 euros: the pieces that last
A Mühlbauer hat. A Viennese hat manufactory, family-run since 1903, with workshop and shops in the city. A hat that fits lasts decades, and few Viennese products have a clearer signature.
Traditional dress from Tostmann. The Schottengasse branch carries genuine Austrian Tracht. A full Dirndl is an investment, but a Tracht jacket or blouse works as a gift and can be worn outside Austria too.
Wolford hosiery. An Austrian brand founded in Bregenz in 1950, with shops on Mariahilfer Straße and in the centre. Considerably more durable than mass-market equivalents, and priced accordingly.
Lobmeyr glass. J. & L. Lobmeyr on Kärntner Straße has made glass and chandeliers since 1823, including for the Metropolitan Opera. Individual glasses from the production range are more affordable than the address suggests. There is a small free museum on the upper floor.
Above 200 euros: something for life
Augarten porcelain. Vienna’s porcelain manufactory has produced in Leopoldstadt since 1718, and every piece is hand-painted. The manufactory can be visited, and the city-centre shop carries the full range. Single cups are the cheapest way in; full services cost far more.
Antiques from the Naschmarkt flea market or the Dorotheum. The Dorotheum is one of Europe’s oldest auction houses and sells outside auctions as well. The Saturday flea market at the Naschmarkt is more of a lottery, but haggling is part of the deal. For both: objects above a certain age may need an export permit, so ask the dealer if in doubt.
What to leave on the shelf
- Mozartkugeln as a “Viennese” souvenir. They come from Salzburg. If you want them, the Fürst originals are sold only in Salzburg itself.
- Sisi merchandise from street stalls. Mass-produced. If you want Sisi, buy from the Sisi Museum shop in the Hofburg.
- Snow globes from Stephansplatz. Ironically the snow globe was invented in Vienna, and the Perzy family still makes them in the 17th district. What is sold by the cathedral is not the original.
- “Authentic Viennese coffee” in tourist packaging. Usually overpriced standard stock. Go to a real roastery instead.
Where to buy: addresses by district
Most manufacturer shops are in the Innere Stadt - Lobmeyr and Manner on Kärntner Straße and Stephansplatz respectively, Tostmann on Schottengasse, Augarten and the Dorotheum also in the 1st.
For design and small labels, head to Neubau, to Neubaugasse and Kirchengasse. Food and preserves are cheapest at the Brunnenmarkt in the 16th district or the Karmelitermarkt in Leopoldstadt. Which shopping street is good for what is covered in our guide to Vienna’s shopping streets.
One practical warning: retail in Austria is closed on Sundays. If you leave souvenirs to the day you fly out and that day is a Sunday, only airport and railway station shops will be open. Buy a day earlier.