Karmelitermarkt, Vienna: the farmers' market on our doorstep

If you're in Vienna for a few days and someone tells you to "go to the Karmelitermarkt on Saturday", they're giving you good advice. We'd know: we've been sitting next door since 2010.

We're Kulturcafé Tachles, at Karmeliterplatz 1 in the 2nd district. In Vienna the districts have numbers as well as names, and the 2nd is Leopoldstadt. We're a café, restaurant and bar with a stage in the cellar. The market is a few steps from our door.

What is the Karmelitermarkt?

It's a food market, and one with a long memory. On Fridays and Saturdays it turns into one of the biggest farmers' markets in Vienna, with 60 pitches. According to the City of Vienna, around 17,200 people visit every week, and the city itself calls it one of the hidden gems among Vienna's markets. With 17,200 people a week it's not terribly hidden, admittedly. But we'll keep the secret if you do.

What you'll find there, according to the city:

• cheese from several countries
• fruit and vegetables
• organic produce, including smoked meats
• dairy
• fresh fish and seafood

We won't name individual stalls. Wander round, see who catches your eye – that's how markets are meant to work.

A short history, told straight

The market goes back to 1671, when Emperor Leopold I granted the local residents the right to hold a weekly food and livestock market. It was held on the square in front of the Carmelite church, the Karmeliterkirche – which is to say on Karmeliterplatz, where we sit today. The market takes its name from that church. Its older name was Markt im Werd.

The city's history wiki links the founding of the market to the expulsion of the Jews from the ghetto in the Unterer Werd, the area that is today's Leopoldstadt.

In 1910 the market moved to its present site, between the streets Im Werd, Haidgasse, Leopoldsgasse and Krummbaumgasse. Until 1888 a house of correction and workhouse had stood on that ground.

Opening hours

The market's hours are set by the city, so we won't repeat them here and risk being out of date. The City of Vienna's page on the Karmelitermarkt has the current ones.

Ours work the same way: current opening hours are at the bottom of every page.

Getting there

By public transport (the locals say "Öffis"):

• U1 to Nestroyplatz
• U2 to Taborstraße
• Tram 2
• Bus 5A

For the wider neighbourhood – the Viennese call it a Grätzl – have a look at our guide to the Karmeliterviertel.

Market first, then Tachles

Here's the plan we'd suggest.

On a Saturday: do the farmers' market in the morning, then come over. At weekends we open earlier than during the week, so you won't have to wait until the evening. Bags under the table, sit down, breathe.

On a Friday: market during the day, then us later on. During the week, Fridays included, we open in the afternoon – so the shopping trip can quietly become an evening.

What to order:

• Pierogi. Filled dumplings from the Polish kitchen, and the speciality of the house. Gault&Millau 2026 called ours "probably the best in Vienna". There are seven kinds, some of them vegan (as of autumn 2026). More in our piece on pierogi in Vienna.
• Beef broth with noodles (Rindsuppe mit Nudeln). One of the hidden gems on our menu – plenty of guests reckon it's the best in Vienna.
• Coffee from Kaffeerösterei Alt Wien. You've walked round a market. You've earned it.

Everything else is on the menu.

Sitting outside on the square

Our Schanigarten – the Viennese word for a pavement terrace – is on Karmeliterplatz, the square where the market began in 1671. It has been nominated three times for the Goldener Schani award. More in our garden on Karmeliterplatz.

Pushing a pram? You can get in with it. On a market morning with full bags, that matters.

And the name?

Tachles comes from Yiddish and means talking straight, getting to the point. We kept the name out of respect for the history and the multicultural character of the 2nd district, to which Jewish culture has been closely tied for centuries.

So: market first, pierogi second. If there are a few of you, book a table.