The Viennese Ice Dream

When winter has Vienna firmly in its grip, it's time to discover the ice skating rinks. Put on your shoes, step onto the slippery surface and after a few careful steps you'll be gliding smoothly across the ice - right in the middle of Vienna.

Blue skies, sunshine and temperatures below 0 degrees: winter often shows its best side in Vienna. Especially when you wake up in the morning, look out over the city from the Hotel Am Parkring and find it covered in a snow-white layer.

The Viennese Ice Dream: Ice skating in Vienna in front of the City Hall

Probably the best-known and certainly the most beautiful ice-skating rink in Vienna is located directly on Vienna's Rathausplatz on the Ringstrasse: the Vienna Ice Dream. In the beautiful setting between the City Hall and the Burgtheater, you can try your hand at ice skating all winter long. The infrastructure here has been tried and tested down to the last detail: ice skates are available for hire, the surfaces and paths through the park are perfectly prepared, and catering is available. The perfect change of pace after a visit to one of the wonderful Christmas markets.

Especially in the evening, when it's dark and the town hall is festively lit, it's quite something here. Then, when you step off the ice, exhausted but happy, and your feet have got used to "normal" conditions again, tram line 2 will take you straight back to Hotel Am Parkring in just a few minutes.

Ice rink in Vienna: indoor and outdoor ice fun

The outdoor and indoor rinks in Vienna offer numerous opportunities to get out on the "slippery parquet". Of course, you can rent ice skates at all ice rinks.

• Wiener Eislaufverein, at the Stadtpark outdoor
• Engelmann ice rink, outdoor above the rooftops of Vienna in the 17th district
• Erste Bank Arena, Vienna's largest ice sports centre in the 22nd district, indoor
• EisStadthalle Wien, indoor at the Stadthalle in the 15th district, even all year round