Is Vienna a Good Place to go Luxury Shopping?
During your European vacation, you may head over to Vienna, Austria. If you do, you may be wondering is Vienna a good place to go luxury shopping? The short answer is Vienna, Austria, is not the best European country to go luxury shopping. The luxury shopping is limited and have less inventory at these stores. Austria does have some big luxury brands and are constantly expanding, but in my opinion, they got into the luxury game later than other popular European cities, making them a subpar place to go luxury shopping in Europe.
Why is Vienna not a good place to go Luxury Shopping?
There are two main reasons why Vienna is not the best place to go luxury shopping in Europe. The two reasons include the luxury stores are a lot smaller and they have less inventory because of it.
The one thing I noticed about luxury shopping in Vienna is that the stores are a lot smaller than stores in Paris or Milan. Given that they are smaller, I saw that they had less inventory, which means the popular styles were often sold out.
If you are planning to go to Hermes in Vienna to get your hands on a Birkin or a Kelly bag, I would imagine it will be very difficult to due to the store is extremely small. If you're trying to buy a Kelly bag or a Birkin bag, you'll have the best luck at the stores in Paris, France.
What luxury stores does Vienna, Austria have?
Vienna has some luxury stores which include Burberry, Cartier, Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Escade, Ferragamo, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada, Rolex, Valentino, and a few others. I did see that Vienna was expanding their luxury shopping to include Van Cleef & Arpel, and other luxury stores.
In my opinion, Austria is still in its infancy stage when it comes to luxury shopping. Keep in mind, Vienna is a small city with roughly 1.8 Million people living there and 7.9 Million tourist visit every year. (For comparison, Paris has roughly 33 Million tourist every year)
Does Vienna have good vintage luxury shopping?
Due to Austria being late to the luxury game in Europe, the vintage shopping in Austria is lackluster at best. Of course, you can find some hidden gems I went to a few luxury stores but mostly saw dated, oversized, overpriced, handbags, clothes and accessories. There wasn't much focus on timeless handbags.
Where do I recommend going luxury shopping in Europe?
If you do want to go luxury shopping in Europe I recommend going to Paris, France which is home to some of the biggest designer brands in the world. Paris, has tons of department stores, outlet shopping, and vintage shopping. I would recommend going to Rome, Milan, and in the UK which has a plethora of luxury stores.
Does Vienna Offer The VAT TAX refund?
Yes, Vienna does offer the tax refund if you purchase anything over 75 Euros. Vienna’s tax refund amount varies by how much you spend, the more you spend, the more of a refund you will receive. The refund can be anywhere from 10% to 15.5%. I've written entire articles about the Paris VAT tax refund process that you can read about here.
Final thoughts
Vienna is such a beautiful country and there are tons of things to do here, but luxury shopping should not be at the top of your list if you're traveling to Vienna. Indulge in a Wiener schnitzel, explore the Belvedere Museum, and walk around this clean, beautiful city. I'd love to hearing in the comments, have you ever been to Vienna, Austria?
Sincerely Petite in Paris,
Diane
