Fodor's Vienna & the Best of Austria: With Salzburg & Skiing in the Alps

By Fodor's Travel Guides

Whether you want to explore Vienna's elegant palaces and concert halls, ski the Austrian Alps, or soak in the charms of Salzburg's classical music scene, the local Fodor's travel experts in Vienna are here to help! Fodor's Vienna & the Best of Austria guidebook is packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time. This new edition has been fully-redesigned with an easy-to-read layout, fresh information, and beautiful color photos.

Fodor's Vienna & the Best of Austria travel guide includes:

• AN ILLUSTRATED ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES GUIDE to the top things to see and do
• MULTIPLE ITINERARIES to effectively organize your days and maximize your time
• MORE THAN 15 DETAILED MAPS to help you navigate confidently
• COLOR PHOTOS throughout to spark your wanderlust!
• HONEST RECOMMENDATIONS FROM LOCALS on the best sights, restaurants, hotels, nightlife, shopping, performing arts, activities, side-trips, and more
• PHOTO-FILLED “BEST OF” FEATURES on “Best Museums in Vienna” and “Vienna Under the Radar,” "What to Buy in Vienna," and more
• TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS AND PRACTICAL TIPS including when to go, getting around, beating the crowds, and saving time and money
• HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INSIGHTS providing rich context on the local people, politics, art, architecture, cuisine, music, geography and more
• SPECIAL FEATURES on “What to Watch and Read Before You Visit,” "Mozart," and “What to Eat and Drink”
• LOCAL WRITERS to help you find the under-the-radar gems
• GERMAN-LANGUAGE PRIMER with useful words and essential phrases
• UP-TO-DATE COVERAGE ON: Vienna, Kunshistorisches Museum, Stephensdom, Schönbrunn Palace, The Hofburg, Belvedere Palace, the Hotel Sacher, the Vienna Woods, the Danube Valley, Salzburg, Graz, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Bratislava, and more.

Planning on visiting other destinations in Central Europe? Check out Fodor's Essential Germany, Fodor's Prague, and Fodor's Budapest.

*Important note for digital editions: The digital edition of this guide does not contain all the images or text included in the physical edition.

ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts. Fodor's has been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for over 80 years. For more travel inspiration, you can sign up for our travel newsletter at fodors.com/newsletter/signup, or follow us @FodorsTravel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We invite you to join our friendly community of travel experts at fodors.com/community to ask any other questions and share your experience with us!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fodor's Travel
• Release date: May 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9781640977112

Fodor's Travel Guides

For over 80 years, Fodor's Travel has been a trusted resource offering expert travel advice for every stage of a traveler's trip. We hire local writers who know their destinations better than anyone else, allowing us to provide the best travel recommendations for all tastes and budgets in over 7,500 worldwide destinations. Our books make it possible for every trip to be a trip of a lifetime.

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Chapter 1: Experience Vienna and the Best of Austria

12 ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES

Austria offers terrific experiences that should be on every traveler’s list. Here are Fodor’s top picks for a memorable trip.

1 Schönbrunn Palace

Play royalty for a day by visiting the summer residence of the Hapsburgs with its elegant gardens, fountains, fake Roman ruins, a hilltop café, and Europe’s oldest zoo. (Ch. 7)

2 Sachertorte

Indulge in a slice of Sachertorte, a dense chocolate cake layered with apricot jam. It was invented in the early 19th century by one of Austria’s court confectioners.

3 Grossglockner High Alpine Highway

In the Alps, you can ascend to Austria’s tallest peak and view the Pasterze glacier from 12,470 feet. See it while you can; it shrinks 30 feet every year. (Ch. 10)

4 Heurigen

Visit a wine tavern where owners serve new wines from their own vineyards. In September, sample Sturm, a drink made from the first pressing of the grapes. (Ch. 7)

5 Thermal Spas

Soak in hot springs at one of several thermal spas that dot small towns throughout Austria. Then brag that you’ve experienced the country’s unofficial leisure sport. (Ch. 10)

6 The Ringstrasse

Streetcars travel full circle along Vienna’s best-known avenue, lined with monumental buildings that recall the city’s imperial splendor. (Ch. 3)

7 The Salzkammergut

Enjoy a hike in this rural paradise in Upper Austria with 76 lakes and the Dachstein Mountain range. The opening scenes from The Sound of Music were filmed here. (Ch. 11)

8 The Viennese Ball

As many as 400 black-tie balls are held every year during Vienna’s Fasching, or carnival season, which lasts from New Year’s Eve through Mardi Gras. (Ch. 2)

9 Hofbibliothek

Browse the stacks at Vienna’s National Library, a cathedral of books and one of the world’s most ornate Baroque libraries. (Ch. 3)

10 MAK Museum

In Vienna, this gorgeous collection of Austrian art objects and contemporary works also includes a fascinating display devoted to the Wiener Werkstätte. (Ch. 3)

11 Kitzbühel

This 16th-century village with a medieval town center has carved out a reputation as one of Europe’s most fashionable winter ski resorts. (Ch. 13)

12 Fortress Hohensalzburg

Evening classical music concerts take place in the prince’s chamber of this mighty castle overlooking Salzburg’s skyline. (Ch. 9)

WHAT’S WHERE IN VIENNA

dingbat Innere Stadt. Vienna’s historic center bears traces of its development from Ancient Rome through the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the present day.

dingbat Leopoldstadt and Alsergrund. Home to the Vienna Boys’ Choir, the Sigmund Freud Museum, and the great Ferris wheel, these neighborhoods are vibrant and trendy.

dingbat Landstrasse and Wieden. From Karlskirche to the Belvedere Palace, you’ll find plenty of fascinating sights here.

dingbat Neubau, Mariahilf, and Josefstadt. These bohemian neighborhoods blend the trendy and the elegant.

dingbat Greater Vienna. Vienna’s outlying suburbs are home to beautiful parks, heurige (wine taverns), and much of the city’s residential life.

WHAT’S WHERE IN AUSTRIA

dingbat Vienna. Vienna mixes old-world charm with elements of a modern metropolis. The city’s neighborhoods offer a journey thick with history and architecture, and the famous coffeehouses are havens for an age-old coffee-drinking ritual.

dingbat Day Trips from Vienna. Vienna is surrounded with enticing options such as hiking in the Vienna Woods and exploring the nearby towns of Marchegg and Carnuntum. The famously blue Danube courses through Austria past medieval abbeys, fanciful Baroque monasteries, verdant pastures, and compact riverside villages. A convenient base is Linz, Austria’s third-largest city, and probably its most underrated.

dingbat Salzburg. Salzburg is an elegant city with a rich musical heritage that also draws visitors for its museums and architecture, the von Trapp family history, old-fashioned cafés, and glorious fountains.

dingbat The Eastern Alps. Farther south and into the Alps, panoramic little towns, spas, and an array of sports highlight this section of Austria. No road in Europe matches the Grossglockner High Alpine Highway, the most spectacular pass through the Alps.

dingbat Salzkammergut. The Salzkammergut stretches across three states—from Salzburg through Styria to Upper Austria—and includes Austria’s Lake District. Hallstatt is touted as one of the world’s prettiest lakeside villages.

dingbat Carinthia and Graz. Carinthia is the country’s sunniest (and southernmost) province. Here you’ll find the Austrian Riviera, a blend of mountains, valleys, and placid blue-green lakes with lovely resorts, while Graz, the capital of Styria, is the country’s second-largest city.

dingbat Innsbruck, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg. The Tyrol is a region graced with cosmopolitan cities and monuments, but with the glorious Alps playing the stellar role, Nature steals every scene. Nearby, Vorarlberg’s big draw is its powdery skiing regions.

What to Eat and Drink in Austria

WIENER SCHNITZEL

No city is more synonymous with a dish than Vienna (Wien in German) and Wiener schnitzel—thin breaded cutlets served with a lemon slice and sprig of parsley. By Austrian law, a Wiener schnitzel must be veal. Breaded cutlets from chicken and pork are sold under different names.

SAUSAGE

Sausages of all varieties can be found at the ever-present würstelstand. Burenwurst is a pork sausage similar to kielbasa. Bosna is a wurst served with onions. For those who like smoked meat, there’s the waldviertler, which is smoked wurst, and the more elaborate beinwurst, made of smoked pork, a selection of herbs, and wine. Bockwurst is a pork sausage, and weisswurst is a veal sausage, boiled, and often eaten for breakfast. The Nürnberger is a small spicy pork wurst, and the blutwurst is a sausage with congealed blood. Other varieties include the paprika-spiced debreziner and the cheese-filled käsekrainer.

POTATO GOULASH

Goulash has origins in Hungary as a beefy stew, but the local take on it is heavy on potatoes and onions instead. Many recipes include slices of sausage so be sure to double-check if eating meat is an issue.

KÄSESPÄTZLE

A variation on macaroni and cheese has strips of egg pasta called spätzle layered with onions and grated cheese, then pan fried to a golden brown and topped with fried onions. For vegetarians this may be the best option in many eateries.

TAFELSPITZ

The tip of meat for the table was Emperor Franz Josef I’s favorite dish. Slices of beef boiled with root vegetables are accented by apples, potatoes, horseradish, and sour cream. You’ll find Emperor Franz Josef’s favorite meal on the menu in most restaurants in Vienna. Plachutta is especially famous for its tafelspitz presentation.

SELCHFLEISCH

Chunks of smoked pork boiled in broth are mixed together with sauerkraut or steamed cabbage and served with dumplings. This rather heavy meal will warm you up on a chilly day.

TIROLER GRÖSTL

Bacon bits, potatoes, and onions fried in a pan and usually topped with a fried egg help to keep skiers and hikers going in the Alpine regions. It has its origins in using up leftovers from Sunday dinner.

BEER

While Austrian wines, particularly whites, are now recognized by wine experts around the world for their excellent quality, Austria is definitely beer territory. One of the most popular types is märzenbier, a hoppy amber-colored brew traditionally made in March and served in the summer. Also look for the cloudy weissbier (wheat beer) common to the Salzburg area. Radler, a mix of beer and lemonade, is a popular summertime refreshment in Austria.

COFFEE

Don’t ask for Viennese coffee, say kaffee mit schlagobers to get the hot caffeinated beverage with whipped cream. Ask for a Maria Theresa and your coffee will come with a shot of orange liqueur inside. The most common coffee drink is the melange, the Austrian version of the cappuccino featuring steamed milk and milk foam. The kapuziner is a coffee with a splash of sweet cream (not a cappuccino, despite the similar-sounding name). The schwarzer mokka is a straight espresso.

POWIDLTASCHERL

Crescent-shaped potato-flour dumplings filled plum jam are rolled in toasted bread crumbs and sprinkled with sugar. Austrian composer Hermann Leopoldi liked them so much he wrote a humorous song about them.

SACHERTORTE

The famous chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam and dark chocolate icing is so synonymous with Vienna that it was featured as a lyric in a Beatles song. Developed in the 19th century, the Hotel Sacher lays claim to the original recipe, supposedly known only to a few individuals and kept under lock and key.

APFELSTRUDEL

A Viennese culinary innovation that spread across Europe, the cinnamon-flavored apple strudel is often served with a dollop of cream and is the perfect accompaniment for an after-dinner coffee. The oldest known recipe is stored in Vienna’s City Hall Library.

LINZER TORTE

The famous Austrian torte with a lattice design made of pastry, cinnamon, hazelnuts, and red currant jam, dates to the 17th century and is named for the city of Linz, the capital of upper Austria. The dish is traditionally served at Christmastime but typically available year-round for visitors. Note: The finer the grid on top, the more expert the patissier.

WHITE WINE

The center of wine production in Austria is found in northern and eastern Lower Austria, in Burgenland, in Styria, and on the hilly terraces overlooking Vienna. The most popular white variety is Grüner Veltliner, followed by Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Blanc (often labeled as Weissburgunder). Wineries to look for include Wieninger, Bründlmayer, and Umathum.

Best Museums in Vienna

AZ W—ARCHITEKTURZENTRUM WIEN

The national architecture center houses a permanent show on the country’s built environment from the 1850s onward, and temporary exhibits on urban planning and similar themes. It’s one of the world’s leading institutions in its field.

LEOPOLD MUSEUM

Fans of early-20th-century Austrian art will find the largest collection of works by Egon Schiele plus pieces by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Richard Gerstl that explore Art Nouveau and Expressionism.

KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM WIEN

The domed Museum of Fine Art was built in the late 1800s to open the vast imperial collections to the public. All the big names from Michelangelo to Rubens plus a few modern masters are represented.

BELVEDERE

Prince Eugene of Savoy’s summer palace complex sits in a sculpted park. The upper and lower palaces have the largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt as well as Art Nouveau, French Impressionism, and Baroque masterpieces. There is also a modern pavilion for contemporary art and events.

KUNSTHALLE WIEN

The Art Hall of Vienna focuses on contemporary art and social change, with works by both established and rising stars. It began in a makeshift metal container but now is in the Neoclassical winter riding arena of the Imperial Mews.

ALBERTINA

Duke Albert of Saxony-Teschen, the son-in-law of Empress Maria Theresia, began collecting prints and drawings in 1776. The collection comprises more than a million prints and 60,000 drawings, and includes masterpieces by Schiele, Cézanne, Klimt, Kokoschka, Picasso, Rauschenberg, and more.

ALBERTINA MODERN

Vienna’s €50 million new venue for post-1945 art is an offspring of the world-famous Albertina set in the newly renovated Künstlerhaus. The in-house collection includes the works of such renowned Austrians as Arnulf Rainer and Maria Lassnig, as well as art by leading international artists, including Anselm Kiefer, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, and Cindy Sherman.

MAK

Design, architecture, and contemporary art meet at the Museum für angewandte Kuns (Museum of Applied Art), whose roots go back to the 1860s. Be sure to check out the gift shop for cool design objects and the stylish restaurant.

SISI MUSEUM

Sisi is the nickname of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who was the Princess Diana of the late 19th century. She remains the idol of many young women, and her personal possessions can be seen in the Hofburg Imperial Palace.

BANK AUSTRIA KUNSTFORUM WIEN

Don’t let the name put you off: the exhibits at the Art Forum are about post-war art, not banking. Recently, they have also put the spotlight on contemporary artists. The remodeled former bank building sees a quarter of a million visitors per year.

JÜDISCHES MUSEUM WIEN

The Jewish Museum Vienna offers a poignant overview of the history of the Jewish people in Austria. There are two sites (one ticket): the main venue, the Palais Eskeles, is the former town house of a noble Jewish family. The Judenplatz facility features the foundations of a 15th-century synagogue and the medieval Jewish ghetto, as well as Rachel Whiteread’s impressive monument to the 65,000 Austrian Jews who were exterminated during the Holocaust.

MUMOK

The acronym comes from Museum moderner Kunst, or Museum of Modern Art. Inside there are works by Warhol, Picasso, Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein. The core of the collection comes from industrialist Peter Ludwig.

Under the Radar Vienna

NASCHMARKT

Vienna’s largest market is best visited on a food tour to visit the market’s best small vendors and enjoy tastings while dodging the crowds. There’s a flea market on Saturday.

GÜRTEL

Nightclubs and bars thrive in the Jungenstil arches under the Stadtbahn railway, where the noise of electronic dance music won’t be an issue at night. Gürtel means belt, and refers to the busy adjacent street.

RUEFF DANCE SCHOOL

Learn how to waltz in the city where it was invented more than 150 years ago. Lessons are available in English and German (email in advance for lesson recommendations) and are tailored to the student’s experience level. Advanced dancers can join practice sessions held several evenings a week. Casual clothing is fine, but smooth-soled shoes are a must.

THE THIRD MAN MUSEUM

The postwar decade in Vienna is seen through exhibits related to the famous 1948 film The Third Man, which starred Orson Welles as a black marketeer. There are scripts, props, books, posters, and other memorabilia including personal items from Welles.

TÜRKENSCHANZPARK

The site of Turkish military encampment during sieges of the 1600s is now one of Vienna’s prettiest parks, known for its undulating landscape and rare botanical plants. A brick tower provides lovely city views. Meandering paths lead you to ponds, streams, monuments, fountains, a playground, and a café and restaurant with a large terrace.

JUSTIZCAFE

This rooftop restaurant sits atop the Renaissance-style Palace of Justice and offers unrestricted 360-degree views of Vienna’s top attractions. Most of the patrons are judges and lawyers but—shhh!—it is also open to the general public. Food and beverages are above standard and reasonably priced.

DAS ROTE WIEN WASCHSALON

Red Vienna in the Laundry Room is located in the Karl-Marx-Hof in the 19th District, a 1,300-apartment complex that extends over two-thirds of a mile and spans four tram stops. The former laundry room is now a museum that explores the history of the city of Vienna and the mark left on it by social democracy.

SIGMUND FREUD MUSEUM

The newly renovated apartments where Freud, the founder of modern psychology, lived for almost half a century trace his life though photographs. You can see his private rooms, waiting room, antiques collection, and visit his original practice space.

KURPARK OBERLAA

Flowers and lakes dot this sprawling urban park on a sloping hill in Favoriten. There’s a flower maze, a Japanese garden, a Baroque fountain, and a petting zoo, and the famous Oberlaa café and its cake shop are particularly popular attractions.

CENTRAL CEMETERY

One of the world’s largest cemeteries, you can find the tombs of composers Beethoven, Schubert, and Johann Strauss Jr., as well as a monument for Mozart, among many other famous people.

What to Buy in Vienna

FÜRST MOZARTKUGEL

If you’re sweet on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, you’ll be nuts for these pistachio marzipan and nougat–filled chocolates, with a foil wrapper sporting the composer’s likeness. Rival brands, each using a different portrait of Mozart, claim to be the original, but the blue-and-silver wrapped ones made by Fürst came first (appropriately).

LOBMEYR GLASS

Family owned J. & L. Lobmeyr has been in Vienna since 1823, supplying chandeliers to many palaces and opera houses and all manner of glassware to upper-class and noble families. Today they are known for handblown and etched stemware, vases, and decorative pieces.

HANDMADE CHOCOLATES AND PRALINES

Chocolatey treats are an art form in Vienna. Textured balls with soft centers, pink hearts with drizzled stripes, and whimsical shapes in a variety of colors are handmade daily in small shops throughout Vienna. Look for Zotter, Xocolat, and Heindl.

SVAROVSKI CRYSTAL

Internationally renowned precision-cut crystal maker Svarovski has its headquarters and museum in Wattens, near Innsbruck, and three stories filled with sparkling jewelry, watches, figurines, lighting, phone cases, and more on Kärntner Strasse in Vienna.

FREY WILLE

This enamel jewelry manufacturer was founded in the early 1950s in Vienna and is known for its colorful, hand-decorated designs. Shop for bracelets, watches, earrings, and pendants in the flagship store in Stephensplatz.

LEATHER GOODS

Austria’s long tradition of creating quality leather goods and footwear makes for quality, bespoke souvenirs. Designers to look for include traditional Viennese establishments R. Horn and Albert Pattermann, and contemporary local brands Ina Kent, Eva Blut, and Susanne Kitz. For shoes, the former Imperial and Royal Court Shoe Maker, Rudolf Scheer has been crafting bespoke shoes by hand since 1816 and for seven generations.

SNOW GLOBES

An effort by Austrian surgical supplier Erwin Perzy to improve hospital lighting with water-filled globes and reflective particles led to the creation of the first snow globes. Today, they are a favorite souvenir for travelers and still made by the third generation of the Perzy family. You’ll find the biggest selection at the Perzy snow globe museum in Vienna or at Christmas Markets. Look for globes with holiday themes and Austrian landmarks.

DIRNDL DRESS

The traditional peasant dress of Austria, the drindl, has a frilly blouse, colorful bodice, and waist apron. For a quality, traditional dirndl and other traditional folk wear, head to the flagship Gössl store in Salzburg where you can find a museum and avail of a tailor, or look for their stores in Vienna.

AUSTRIAN FASHIONS

Austria’s fashion capital is home to style-conscious locals and flagship stores of international and local designers. Local brands to look for include JCH Juergen Christian Hoerl, Lena Hoschek, Jutta Pregenzer, and Michel Meyer. Ferrari Zöchling offers limited-edition designs and collaborations with Austrian designers while Mühlbauer Hutmanufaktur has been handcrafting hats for more than 100 years.

What to Watch and Read

THE THIRD MAN BY GRAHAM GREEN

Grahame Green wrote the novel as well as the screenplay for director Carol Reed’s famed 1949 film. Both capture Vienna just after World War II, a divided city trying to recover its normalcy. A man’s search for his childhood friend leads to an investigation into a suspicious funeral, and some dark secrets. In the film, Orson Welles steals the show in a brief role.

THE MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES BY ROBERT MUSIL

A meandering philosophical story captures the mood of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At more than 1,000 pages, the unfinished novel, published in three parts between 1930 and 1943, is considered a modern masterpiece. The plot centers on a mathematician named Ulrich and his search for meaning. The same author’s 1906 semi-autobiographical debut novel The Confusions of Young Törless, about life in a boarding school, is also worth checking out and a more manageable 176 pages.

THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION BY NICHOLAS MEYER

A bit of fun finds Sherlock Holmes going to Vienna in 1891 to seek Sigmund Freud’s medical help for his cocaine problem. But a kidnapping piques Holmes’ curiosity, and he pursues the case across Austria. The stakes are high, as somehow all of this is tied to someone trying to embroil Europe in a large war. Meyer also wrote the screenplay for the 1976 film adaptation, which features Laurence Olivier in a supporting role.

THE PIANO TEACHER BY ELFRIEDE JELINEK

Nobel Prize–winning author Elfriede Jelinek’s best-known work is The Piano Teacher, published in 1983 and adapted into a French-language film in 2001. The novel tracks the strange relationship of a controlling, elderly mother and her adult daughter, who teaches piano at the Vienna Conservatory. The daughter attempts a relationship with a student, but the result is awkward to say the least.

THE PAINTED KISS BY ELIZABETH HICKEY

Painter Gustav Klimt shows Vienna’s wild side to his naive young model Emilie Floge, who posed for the famous painting The Kiss. Floge would eventually become the painter’s mistress in an on-again off-again affair. Much of the story is speculative as little is known about Floge’s real life aside from a basic outline.

THE GOALIE’S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK BY PETER HANDKE

A former football player is fired from his construction job in an insignificant town, and subsequently commits a murder for no reason. He feels completely disconnected from his actions but follows the case in the papers. The avant-garde 1970 novel was a milestone of post-war European literature. Director Wim Wenders made a 1972 film adaptation. Handke won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019.

WHEN NIETZSCHE WEPT BY IRVIN D. YALOM

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche meets Dr. Josef Breuer, an early psychologist, in Vienna in 1882. The meeting, which in reality didn’t actually happen, provides the opportunity to explore philosophy, history, and romantic desire. Notable figures such as Sigmund Freud and Richard Wagner get shout-outs as the story progresses. The discussion helps Nietzsche to formulate his ideas for Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC DIRECTED BY ROBERT WISE

The adventures of the singing von Trapp family provides the basis for this beloved musical, which won five Academy Awards and was for a time the top grossing film ever. Julie Andrews stars as a prospective nun who is sent to be the governess of some over-disciplined children. She teaches them the joys of singing and enjoying the outdoors. All the time, World War II looms on the horizon. The story is adapted from Maria von Trapp’s 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.

AMADEUS DIRECTED BY MILOŠ FORMAN

In this widely regarded film, Amadeus shows the supposed rivalry between Mozart and Austrian court composer Salieri. Tom Hulce, who has since given up acting and turned to producing, gave an unforgettable performance as the talented but juvenile Mozart. Salieri, played by F. Murray Abraham, can’t accept that his own mediocre works will be forgotten while Mozart’s will live forever. While set in 18th-century Vienna, filming actually took place in Prague. The film won eight Academy Awards.

BEFORE SUNRISE DIRECTED BY RICHARD LINKLATER

An American tourist played by Ethan Hawke meets a French woman played by Julie Delpy on a train, and they decide to explore Vienna together. Popular landmarks form the backdrop as they fall in love. The plot is very thin, but the sincere acting and well-defined characters have made it a favorite date film. It is followed by two sequels, set in Paris and a Greek island.

COLONEL REDL BY ISTVÁN SZABÓ

A West German–Hungarian–Austrian co-production from 1985 looks at the true story of Colonel Alfred Redl, played by Klaus Maria Brandauer. The officer’s stellar career in counter-intelligence gets derailed by rumors about his sexual orientation in the days before World War I. Redl was also closely involved in Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s plot to overthrow Emperor Franz Josef I. Director Szabó and Brandauer collaborated again on the 1988 Austrian co-production Hanussen, about a clairvoyant in the days before World War II.

SISSI DIRECTED BY ERNST MARISCHKA

The first of a trilogy of films about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known popularly as Sissi (or more commonly Sisi), came out in 1955 with Romy Schneider, then 16 years old, in the lead role. The films are still massively popular with young girls, while young adults have turned them into a drinking game, taking a sip every time Sissi’s name is said. The plot is an entirely fanciful account of how the real-life Bavarian princess met her future husband, Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I.

MAYERLING BY TERENCE YOUNG

Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, and Ava Gardner star in a 1968 film about the famous Mayerling Incident. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, caught in a loveless marriage, takes a mistress. He tries to institute social reforms but is met with staunch opposition. How he came to his final fate is still unexplained. There is also a 1936 French film starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux.

Vienna and Austria Today

STILL WINNING ON LIVING

According to an annual index compiled by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Austrian capital was named the most liveable city in the world in 2022 and 2023, and has consistently ranked in the top five since 2015. On the EIU’s index, which ranks 140 cities on 30 factors bunched into five categories—stability, health care, education, and infrastructure—Vienna scores a perfect 100. You don’t have to be a local to benefit from the clean air, low crime rate, and cheap, reliable public transport that comes with this ranking.

BUT THE SUBWAY SMELLS LIKE A SUBWAY

Like many cities, Vienna has been promoting public transit to reduce pollution from vehicles and reduce traffic congestion. And like all major cities, at peak times, the metro here can get crowded and a little stale, especially when the temperatures pick up. During the summer of 2019, Wiener Linien, the company that runs the city’s U-Bahn subway system, conducted an experiment to infuse the underground air with pleasing scents to improve ride quality. Green tea, grapefruit, sandalwood, and melon were piped through the train system for several months but the public turned up their noses to the perfumed trains, preferring an au naturale commute.

MUSIC

Austria is synonymous with classical music almost to the point of obsession; therefore, changes in the musical landscape often take time. After more than 500 years in existence, the famed Vienna Boys’ Choir only received their first theater all to themselves in 2012: the 400-seat MuTh (Music & Theater) concert hall, where classical enthusiasts can hear this world-renowned choir, founded in 1498 by Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I, perform music by Mozart, Schubert, and more. The theater mixes Baroque and contemporary architecture enriched with distinctive seating and panels to create some of the best acoustics in Vienna. In addition to calling on MuTh, classical devotees can listen to music (free in many cases) at Vienna’s often overlooked University of Music and Performing Arts, where students from across the globe come to study.

Perhaps more than any other genre except for Austria’s beloved classical, electronic music has grabbed national—and, increasingly, international—attention. Since the 1990s when Austrian duo Kruder & Dorfmeister began popularizing downtempo, which is more mellow than house or trance, Vienna has been the unofficial international capital of the cozy groove genre; visitors will find it playing in clubs, bars, and cafés throughout the city. Popular techno lounges frequently change up their playlists to keep things fresh for eager crowds, while more and more outdoor parties like the aptly named Kein Sonntag ohne Techno (No Sunday Without Techno) dot the city’s new musical terrain. Record stores are also filled with electronic music produced by small labels, which have helped fuel the movement. Beyond Vienna, the Ars Electronica Festival, held every September in the northern city of Linz, focuses on digital culture with the final day devoted to electronic music, while the southeastern city of Graz—a UNESCO World Heritage site—hosts the urban electronic arts and music Springfestival in May, drawing international crowds that bear witness to the growing popularity of electronica.

A CHANGING SKYLINE

Vienna may be known for its opulent and imposing imperial palaces and its Gothic, Romanesque, Art Nouveau, and Jugendstil residential buildings and stores, but a bold and innovative new Vienna has been emerging over the past decade, with assertive statements of modern architecture expanding on the somewhat conservative skyscrapers of the 2000s. The city’s tallest building, the DC Tower opened in 2014 and features a cascading façade that reflects the neighboring Danube river. The sister DC Tower 2 will be the city’s fourth-tallest building and is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Schools, hotels, restaurants, and malls across Vienna are now shifting to a more modern or even postmodern look. The Hotel Topazz by BWM Architekten und Partner, completed in 2012, boasts elliptical windows and a gemlike polished facade. Completed in 2013, the Library and Learning Centre University of Economics Vienna by Zaha Hadid Architects is a sharp futuristic polygonal block that juts out over a plaza, with an interior reminiscent of a sci-fi spaceship. The Steirereck Restaurant, expanded in 2014, uses mirror-covered wooden pavilions with large windows to reflect the surrounding park and create a unique experience inside and out. Italian star architect, Renzo Piano’s Parkapartments am Belvedere, completed in 2018, thrust high into the sky on daring-looking stilts to dominate the skyline from afar. The sleek and modern Wien Mitte The Mall, Vienna’s largest shopping center, is just minutes from St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the heart of the city and its generously dimensioned urban figure marks present-day Vienna in direct dialogue with the historic core.

FOOD

The modern sustainable food movement commonly called farm-to-table didn’t begin in Austria, but it may as well have. The country’s small size, distinct seasons, aversion to processed food, and varied growing areas from mountains to vineyards to grassy flatlands provide the perfect setting for getting food quickly from its source, something that has been normal practice in Austria since the years immediately following World War II, when the country struggled to provide enough food within its borders for its citizens. Only recently has farm-to-table been promoted as such. Austrian farms and vineyards have been known to practice biodynamic agriculture, a holistic approach that treats the farm as an entire organism, a concept developed by Austrian thinker Rudolf Steiner. Austria is considered one of the pioneers of organic farming with one-fifth of the agricultural land in the country being farmed organically, the highest percentage in the European Union. The country also has more organic farmers than all of the other EU countries together. Many restaurants have gotten into the habit of publishing the source of each ingredient, both to appease picky diners and excite foodies, with products derived from organic farming and humane animal keeping.

Austrian cuisine, like that of some of its neighbors, has long been heavy on the Wiener schnitzel (breaded and deep fried veal), tafelsptiz (boiled beef in broth), leberknödel (spiced, boiled beef-liver), and fiedermaus (pork), but it’s not all meat and potatoes here. An influx of immigrants and more environmentally aware younger generations means the restaurant scene has become more inventive in recent years and many of the new entries focus on vegan or vegetarian food, sustainable practices, and less traditional experiences.

A blast from the past is how one recent visitor described her journey through Austria. It remains, she explained, a place where children laugh at marionette shows in the parks, couples linger for hours over pastries at gilt-ceiling cafés, and Lipizzan stallions dance to Mozart minuets—in other words, Austria is a country that has not forgotten the elegance of a time gone by.

MODERN COFFEE CULTURE

Since 2011, the traditional Viennese coffeehouse culture has been classified an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Traditional coffeehouses are local institutions and lingering in one for an afternoon is an essential experience on a visit to Vienna. That said, the art of coffee hasn’t stood still in Vienna. Modern iterations of the typical Viennese café are popping up constantly to enrich the tradition with contemporary style and innovation. While traditional cafés focus on the culture of taking coffee, these new cafés focus more on the art of coffee-making. Specialty cafés to look for include Gebrüder Gepp, a combination café, cake shop, and hairdresser (with a focus on sustainability) run by three brothers—each with his own specialty. The pretty Balthazar Kaffee Bar in the 2nd District run by Otto Bayer, a former star chef from Tyrol, offers everything from slowly filtered to finely aerated flat whites. Award-winners GOTA coffee feature the typical hipster interior but their experts harvest, roast, and brew their beans.

WHAT’S NEW?

Vienna’s latest addition to the museum scene, the Albertina Modern opened its doors in 2020. The Albertina Modern, an annex of the world-famous Albertina a few blocks away, occupies the fully refurbished Künstlerhaus on Karlsplatz. The Künstlerhaus was built in 1868 and underwent a three-year renovation to bring it back to its original glory inside and out. Murals and period terrazzo flooring were restored to create a magnificent space worthy of the most important collections of Austrian art after 1945.

The Sigmund Freud Museum reopened in 2020 after 18 months of renovations. The building, where the famed psychiatrist worked and created his most famous works for almost half a century, has been expanded to include all of Freud’s private rooms as well as his original consultation room for the first time.

Vienna International Airport is undergoing a €500 million expansion and facelift. Pre-COVID-19, the airport was handling a record 31.7 million passengers, making it one of Europe’s busiest airports. Works on a slightly delayed Southern Enlargement project are back on track, which will offer passengers a more luxurious experience and more space to linger, shop, and eat. In the long term, another runway is planned, though that has met with opposition from locals.

Skiing in Austria

In Austria, skiing is much more than just a popular pastime; it’s a national obsession, a way of life. Images of Alpine ski villages conjure fairy-tale fantasies of heavily timbered houses, onion-domed churches, welcoming locals, schnapps, and glühwein. Add to the mix some of the world’s highest, treeless slopes, glaciers, and a lively après-ski scene, and you have a winter sport destination of extraordinary allure.

American skiers are often amazed to find how big European skiing is, in every sense of the word. The entire country embraces skiing, and the sport is deeply woven into the patterns of daily life in the Austrian countryside. In most cases, Alpine ski resorts are the result of the evolution of an Alpine village, where individual ski areas are linked together with a common ski pass and a spiderweb network of lifts spanning and connecting different valleys and multiple mountains. The trend of late has been resorts joining forces, creating ski circuses of stunning size.

Guides, Lifts, and Costs

To take full advantage of the promise of so much snowy terrain, American skiers should consider hiring a ski instructor–guide for a day or two. Private instructors are less expensive in Austria than in the United States, and the upper levels of Austrian ski-school classes are more about guiding than actual teaching.

It’s often possible to ski the whole day without using the same lift twice, but care must be taken so you don’t end your day at a village miles away from your hotel, or even the next country (some resorts are close to the German border). Lift systems in Austria are astonishingly sophisticated, and include double-decker cable cars and eight-person chairlifts. Many chairlifts have a weather protection bubble, and even heated seats. Magic-carpet loading aids efficiency, and nearly every lift has electronic entry, so you’ll rarely see an attendant checking a ticket or marshaling the lineups. In addition, there are no ski-area boundaries, so you may see experienced skiers going off-piste (the French term for off-trail), skiing until they reach a village in the valley or the snow runs out.

Expect costs to balance out with those in the United States. Lift tickets and rental equipment in Austria are generally cheaper than in the United States, while eating out is more expensive. Lunch isn’t a quick refueling stop here, but a leisurely midday break, and the slopes abound with unique huts welcoming skiers with hearty Austrian fare. As with skiing anywhere else in the world, you’ll save money with multiday passes. Most resorts offer choices from 4 to 14 days.

Best Slopes

There are so many choices when it comes to Austrian skiing that you’re not going to see it all, or ski it all, in one lifetime. Foreign ski enthusiasts and newcomers to Austrian slopes would do well to focus first on the biggest ski regions of the Arlberg, Tyrol, and Land Salzburg. These mega–ski regions showcase what makes Alpine skiing so special: an astonishing variety of slopes and lifts that allow the visitor to ski, day after day, often from one village to the next. True, there are many tiny and delightful ski villages in Austria, real discoveries for adventurous skiers, but it makes more sense to sample the feast of a major Skigebiet (interconnected ski region, sometimes called a ski arena) first. Here, to get you started, are some of the finest.

THE ARLBERG

This is a capital of Austrian skiing: a double constellation of ski-resort towns—Zürs, Lech, and Oberlech, in the Vorarlberg; and, just across the Arlberg Pass to the east and thus technically in the Tyrol, St. Anton, St. Christoph, and Stuben. These classic Arlberg resorts are interconnected by ski lifts and trails and share more than 260 km (160 miles) of groomed slopes (and limitless off-piste possibilities), 83 ski lifts, snowboard parks, carving areas and permanent race courses, and, significantly, a common ski pass.

St. Anton, part of the fabulous Arlberg area, is the cradle of skiing, where ski pioneer Hannes Schneider opened the world’s first ski school back in 1921. A skier here can feel like a character out of a 1930s Luis Trenker ski film: from enjoying Jaeger tea after skiing to dinner at the Post Hotel. St. Anton links with elegant Lech in Vorarlberg (once a favorite of Princess Diana) and secretive Zurs, where royalty and celebrities discreetly vacation. In turn, Lech has recently been linked by lift with the villages of Warth and Schrocken in the next valley. St. Christoph is a spartan resort for skiing purists, a handful of handsome hotels lost in a sea of white, high above timberline, and the permanent home of the Austrian National Ski School’s training and certification courses.

The pièce de résistance of Arlberg skiing is the all-day round-trip, on skis, from Zürs to Lech, Oberlech, and back. This ski epic starts with a 5-km (3-mile) off-piste run from the Madloch down to Zug and ends, late in the afternoon, many lifts and many thousands of vertical feet later, high on the opposite side of Zürs, swinging down the slopes of the Trittkopf.

THE TYROL/INNSBRUCK

Austria boasts resorts throughout the country, but the western province of Tyrol is the heart of Austrian skiing, chock-full of world-class skiing—about a third of all Austrian ski resorts are found here.

After St. Anton and the Arlberg, Kitzbühel, in the heart of the Tyrol, is Austria’s best-known ski destination, and although not as exclusive as Lech or Zürs, certainly one of Austria’s most elegant. Kitz is picture-perfect and posh—all medieval, cobbled streets, wrought-iron signs, and candles flickering in the windows of charming restaurants.

For an altogether different sort of ski vacation, especially for groups of skiers and nonskiers, consider staying in downtown Innsbruck and making day trips to the six ski areas of Olympia Ski World Innsbruck. Innsbruck has twice hosted the Winter Olympics, and boasts a stunning collection of medium-size ski areas with grand views.

In ever-increasing numbers, skiers are attracted by the excellent snow conditions and nightlife of Ischgl, in the Paznaun (Valley) southwest of Innsbruck, where you can cross-border ski into the village of Samnaun, Switzerland. Kufstein, northwest of Innsbruck, is in the center of 70 peaks more than 9,000 feet high, with more than 300 miles of skiable terrain.

In Salzburgerland, serene Zell am See overlooks a lake, and Bad Gastein dramatically sits astride a raging torrent. In Carinthia, mystical Heiligenblut broods at the foot of the Grossglockner, Austria’s highest mountain, and Nassfeld extends into Italy.

Chapter 2: Travel Smart

Know Before You Go

Austrians revel in quality of life—in fact, they’ve won many awards for it. With its wealth of cultural offerings, delicious food, and incredible sights, it’s not hard to be a very happy visitor here, but we’ve rounded up a few tips to be sure you make time for coffee and don’t honk your car horn.

YOU MIGHT WANT TO STAY

Vienna was ranked top among the 140 cities included in the EIU’s Global Liveability Ranking 2022, and consistently ranks highly on other quality of life surveys. These consider factors such as public transportation, infrastructure, health care, culture, crime rate, education, and access to nature. The locals are rightfully proud of this achievement but might be Viennese enough to frown at it when mentioned, and go on to cite a laundry list of things that could be better.

SPRECHEN SIE ENGLISCH?

German is the official language in Austria. You may want to learn a few words before you visit—Austrians are usually delighted if you make even a small effort. You’ll hear a round of grüss gott, the informal hello, every time you step into a café or pub, and you’ll be sent off with an auf wiedersehen, or a tschüs, the informal word for goodbye. In larger cities and most resorts you will usually have no problem finding people who speak English. Note that all public announcements on trams, subways, and buses are in German. Train announcements are usually given in English as well, but if you have any questions, try to get answers before boarding.

GET YOUR COFFEE TO STAY

While it’s not against the law to visit Vienna and drink coffee in Starbucks (yes, they’re here), it may be a sin, or at least silly. Coffee is not mere fuel to Austrians, it is a cultural experience. In fact, in 2011, the Viennese coffeehouse culture was officially included in the UNESCO National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Per UNESCO, The coffee houses are a place where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill. Order a mélange (served with half-steamed milk and milk froth, and with whipped cream unless you tell them no) or a grösser brauner (large brown), which comes closest to what you might think of as an ordinary coffee. Sip slowly and soak up the atmosphere.

DON’T SMOKE

Smoking is still surprisingly common in Austria, and so it is no surprise that efforts to implement smoking bans were met with resistance. In 2019, a smoking ban finally made it illegal to smoke inside pubs, restaurants, public transport, and all the expected places. So if you want to smoke, you will need to nip outside.

DO DRIVE

There are so many amazing day trips at Vienna’s doorstep that you may consider renting a car for at least part of your visit. In most European cities, this would be a terrible idea but driving is a lot less stressful in Vienna. There’s not as much congestion (okay, it’s a city so there’s congestion, just not as much), and Austrians are rule followers. Also, no one will honk, because it’s against the law.