For a country of roughly nine million people, Austria produces a remarkable concentration of goods that are either unique to Austrian craft tradition or produced here with a quality and heritage that no competitor has replicated. Shopping in Vienna — or in Salzburg, Innsbruck, or Graz — is an opportunity far more interesting than the usual tourist-souvenir circuit, provided you know what to look for beyond the Mozart chocolate balls at airport security.
Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten: The World's Second-Oldest Porcelain
The Augarten porcelain manufactory was established in Vienna in 1718 — making it the second-oldest porcelain manufacturer in Europe (after Meissen in Germany, founded 1710) and one of the few places in the world still producing hand-painted porcelain using techniques and designs that have been continuous for over 300 years. The manufactory occupies a Baroque palace in the Augarten park in Vienna's 2nd district, and visitors can tour the production facility to watch painters working by hand on the distinctive white-and-floral pieces.
Augarten porcelain is genuinely irreplaceable. The specific white of the porcelain body (developed from kaolin sources in Bohemia, now more difficult to source identically), the archive of historical design patterns that have been in continuous production, and the labour required for hand-painting make each piece a functional work of art. Prices reflect this — a small decorative plate begins around €100, and complete service sets for eight can run into the thousands. Available in the Augarten shop in the palace and in the flagship store on the Graben in Vienna's first district.
Loden Cloth and Traditional Austrian Dress
Austrian Loden cloth — a dense, water-repellent wool fabric with a characteristic felted surface — has been produced in the Salzkammergut and Tyrolean regions for centuries. In the form of the traditional Trachten (folk dress) — the Janker jacket, the Lederhosen (leather breeches), the Dirndl (women's traditional dress) — it represents a living craft tradition rather than a costume. In Austria, Trachten is worn at weddings, at the opera, at Heuriger wine taverns, and in everyday life in rural and mountain communities without any sense of irony or historical distance.
The finest Trachten is made to measure. Established Viennese tailors and the great Trachten houses — Lanz in Salzburg, Gössl with shops across the country, Loden-Plankl in Vienna — offer both ready-to-wear and bespoke pieces. A quality Dirndl from a serious maker begins around €300–400; an authentic Loden Janker around €250–500. These are garments built to last decades, not tourist novelties.
Handmade Glass from Riedel
The Riedel glassware dynasty has been producing handblown glass in the Tyrolean town of Kufstein (and Wattens) since 1756. While Riedel is now a globally sold brand, the hand-crafted Sommeliers series and the bespoke commission pieces still produced at the Kufstein factory represent work not replicable elsewhere. A factory tour and purchase directly from the production site in the Tirol is an experience in itself. The grape-variety-specific glasses Riedel pioneered in the 1950s — the concept that the shape of the glass affects the taste of the wine — changed the international wine industry permanently.
Austrian Schnapps and Alpine Spirits
Austrian Obstler (fruit schnapps) produced by small mountain distilleries is one of the most overlooked and genuinely distinctive spirits traditions in the world. Williams pear schnapps, apricot schnapps (particularly from the Wachau valley, where the world's finest apricots are grown), and gentian root schnapps are all products that cannot be replicated outside the specific alpine agricultural context that produces them. The finest producers — Rochelt in the Tirol, Reisetbauer in Upper Austria — are internationally recognised but extremely limited in distribution. Buying a bottle directly in Austria is often the only practical way to obtain them outside specialist import markets.
Demel Torte and Confectionery
Vienna's confectionery tradition, centred on the great Konditorei (pastry shops) of the first district, produces things that exist in a more refined form here than anywhere else. The Sacher torte — a dense chocolate cake with apricot jam, invented in 1832 — is made by two competing establishments (Hotel Sacher and Demel) according to closely guarded recipes and sold worldwide, but the Viennese versions have a freshness and a standard that the widely distributed export versions cannot match. Demel on the Kohlmarkt has been operating continuously since 1786 and its sugar confections, violet chocolates, and hand-crafted marzipan animals and figures are works of edible art.
Mozartkugeln: The Real Version
The marzipan-and-pistachio-nougat chocolate balls called Mozartkugeln were invented by Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürst in 1890. The original Fürst Mozartkugel is still hand-made at the Fürst shop on Brodgasse in Salzburg, wrapped in foil by hand, and sold only in-store and through extremely limited channels. They are perishable (unlike the mass-produced factory versions sold worldwide) and taste fundamentally different — more delicate, less sweet, more recognisably of almond and pistachio. This is the product people mean when they say Mozartkugel. What most people have eaten from airport carousels is a factory approximation. Buy them at Fürst in Salzburg, eat them within a few days, and the difference will be self-evident.