Headed to Salzburg, Austria for the Christmas Markets? While visiting Salzburg’s Christmas Markets, whatever you do, you can NOT miss the fairytale Christmas Market at Schloss Hellbrunn. Oozing with charm, this Christmas Market with it’s foresty decorations, vibrant red ornaments everywhere and the quaintness of this market will leave you in awe. But what makes it so special?
Where is Hellbrunn Palace, you might ask?
Just a 10 minute drive south of Salzburg, Hellbrunn Palace is easy to reach from the city center. A fee for parking is available, directly at the castle. However, you can also take the Bus No. 25 from the city center and arrive within 25 minutes. Cars: €3 for the first two hours, then €1/hour (max €10/day).
For more information, visit the Hellbrunner Adventzauber at Schloss Hellbrunn
Opening Times:
Dates: November 20th, 2025 – Christmas Eve December 24th, 2025
Times : Monday to Friday : 13.00 – 20.00 (1pm – 8pm)
Saturday and Sunday : 10.00 – 20.00 (10am – 8pm)
Christmas Eve : 10.00 – 14.00 (10am – 2pm)
Entrance fee: Around €7–8, often including a hot drink voucher; younger children often enter free
A Brief History on Schloss Hellbrunn
Salzburg’s prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus commissioned the construction of Hellbrunn Palace as a summer residence to be enjoyed with sprawling palace gardens. Construction sprang up in record-setting time, taking only from 1612 until 1615. Today, you can explore the palace and the palace grounds and is a quaint and scenic place used as a popular wedding location in Salzburg. If you’ve never heard of this palace, you may not be a die-hard Sound of Music fan, as it is here, that the Gazebo from the Sound of Music, during the “16 Going on 17” scene, was relocated after the filming of the movie.
However, during the Advent season, since 2001, this Late Renaissance palace turns into an enchanting forest Christmas Market wonderland!
The Hellbrunner Adventzauber
From mid-November, leading up to Christmas Eve, the soft yellow palace is transformed into an oversized Advent calendar. The façade of Hellbrunn Palace looms ahead, regal and glowing, its 24 windows lit like a giant Advent calendar, as you walk down the Schlossallee. The chill is in the air, and the clouds threaten to sprinkle winter snowflakes on us and snow already dusts the rooftops.
The sprawling palace grounds are turned into a fairy-tale forest with over 700 conifers adorned with 10,000 red ornaments and warm twinkling lights aglow, illuminating the palace with a magical ambience. Conifers transform into gnomes and reindeer litter the grounds, making this Christmas Market popular with families with children.
The crisp, cold winter air smells of cinnamon, orange and Punsch as aromas from the mulled wine and toasted and sugared nuts permeates every corner and makes you salivate for a warm Glühwein to warm you up from the inside. Cozy huts decorated in pine and twinkling lights with standing tables are available to snuggle up against to warm up.
It’s a Christmas Market that brings Christmas to life, for a brief moment in the palace courtyard.
Activities for Families with Children
The Hellbrunn Adventzauber is especially popular with families due to its extensive children’s program which includes a children’s train ride through the park. The youngest visitors can play to their hearts content at the Children`s World of Christmas.
They can write a letter to Christkind and deliver it directly to the Christmas post office, hoping it reaches the Christkind in time (the Austrian version of Santa Claus). Additionally, there are lots of adorable little farm animals the children can interact with.
To continue in the true German/Austrian tradition, there is a Krampus World on display, where parents can stroll through with their children to teach them about being good children before the Christkind arrives. It is a terrifying Christmas tradition, but with good intentions behind the fear!
Also, at the Müllner Scouts, children can grill up sausages around a cozy campfire.
Shopping for Unique Christmas Gifts
Around 60 local artesian crafters from the surrounding Salzburger Region set up their stalls along the Schlossallee (Palace Alley) and throughout the palace grounds for your holiday shopping perusal. Here, you’ll find true craftmanship in every item on display. Here you will find handmade ornaments, beeswax candles, wool mittens, and glass-blown angels and so much more!
I came home with a beautiful three tiered afternoon tea display, with the top not as a plate, but a tea cup!
Food and Drinks at the Christmas Market
Of course, no Christmas Market throughout the cold winter season is complete without Glühwein (mulled red or white wine with spices). Warm up with as many cups as you want. You’ll even find a Weinbar (Wine Bar) at the Schlossplatz for parents to enjoy a brief respite.
In terms of food, there was a lot to pick from any number of traditional Christmas Market meals, as well as a few not-so-traditional. We enjoyed a small cup of warm Käsespätzle – a form of mac & cheese, before later coming upon a stall offering Weisswurst mit Brezen. Typically, a Weisswurst (white sausage) is not something you would find at a Christmas Market, as it is more of a breakfast item only found in restaurants. However, what drew our attention is not the sausage, but the sweet mustard that accompanied it. What made this one so different, is they offered a Truffle Sweet Mustard. It was so delicious, we bought a jar to take home with us!
Visitors can also pop into the Orangery for a warm plate of Apfelstrudel and yet another cup of Glühwein.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to stay long, as we also wanted the chance to visit the Salzburg Christmas Market in the city center before it got to dark. I wish we could have stayed here forever and in some ways, it reminded me of another wooded forest Christmas Market that came alive, the Schweinhütter Waldweihnachtsmarkt deep in the Bavarian Forest, in Germany.
Other Christmas Markets in Salzburg
The Salzburger Christkindlmarkt is also definitely worth a visit. Spread throughout the city center, you can enjoy this Christmas Market against the backdrop of the Salzburg Cathedral and Residenz. There are a variety of stalls selling all kinds of magical goodies and delicious snacks. You can even enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride through beautiful Salzburg and it’s Christmas Market.
Other Posts About Austria:
Guide to Vienna’s Christmas Markets
New Year’s Eve in Salzburg, Austria
A Delicious Guide to Coffee & Cake in Vienna
Hallstatt in Autumn: The MOST Picturesque Town in Austria
Europe’s MOST Breathtaking Libraries
Your 7 Day Road Trip Through Austria
12 Day Itinerary: Prague, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest
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