Lonely Planet Austria , livre ebook

Austria

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Welcome to Austria
Austria's Top 23
Need to Know
First Time Austria
If You Like
Month by Month
Itineraries
Skiing & Snowboarding
Hiking in Austria
Cycling & Adventure Sports
Eat & Drink Like a Local
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Vienna
Sights
Activities
Tours
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Lower Austria & Burgenland
Lower Austria & Burgenland Highlights
Lower Austria
The Danube Valley
Driving & Cycling Tour
Waldviertel & Weinviertel
Wienerwald
March-Donauland
St Polten
Sud-Alpin
Burgenland
Eisenstadt
Gussing
Lockenhaus
Neusiedler See
Wiesen
Upper Austria
Upper Austria Highlights
Linz
Driving Tour
Around Linz
St Florian
Mauthausen
The Traunviertel
Steyr
Bad Hall
Nationalpark Kalkalpen
Wels
Kremsmunster
The Muhlviertel
Freistadt
The Innviertel
Braunau am Inn
Scharding
Geinberg
Styria
Styria Highlights
Graz
Around Graz
Barnbach
Southern Styria
Deutschlandsberg
Ehrenhausen
Leutschach
Riegersburg
The Sausal
Northern Styria
Mariazell
Bruck an der Mur
Leoben
Eisenerz
Nationalpark Gesause
Admont
Johnsbach
Western Styria
Schladming
Murau
The Salzkammergut
The Salzkammergut Highlights
Bad Ischl
Southern Salzkammergut
Hallstatter See
Bad Aussee
Northern Salzkammergut
Traunsee
Attersee
Wolfgangsee
Mondsee
Salzburg & Salzburgerland
Salzburg & Salzburgerland Highlights
Salzburg
City Walk
Around Salzburg
Hellbrunn
Hallein & Around
Werfen
Southern Salzburg Province
Filzmoos
Radstadt
Mauterndorf
Hohe Tauern National Park
Zell am See
Walking Trail
Bad Gastein
GrossglocknerRoad
Driving Tour
Heiligenblut
Krimml
Carinthia
Carinthia Highlights
Klagenfurt
Central Carinthia
Villach
Faaker See & Ossiacher See
Dreilandereck
Hermagor
Eastern Carinthia
Friesach
Gurk
Huttenberg
St Veit an der Glan
Burg Hochosterwitz
Worthersee
Western Carinthia
Gmund
Millstatt
Spittal an der Drau
Weissensee
Lienz
Tyrol & Vorarlberg
Innsbruck
Hall in Tirol
Wattens
Schwaz
The Zillertal
Achensee
Kitzbuhel
Kufstein
Soll
Seefeld
Stams
The Otztal
Imst
Ehrwald
Landeck
Inntal
Ischgl
Arlberg Region
Bregenz
Dornbirn
Bregenzerwald
Feldkirch
Bludenz
Montafon

Understand

Understand Austria
Austria Today
History
Architecture
Visual Arts & Music
Kaffeehauser Austrias Living Rooms
The Austrian Alps

Survive

Directory AZ
Accommodation
Climate
Children
Customs Regulations
Discount Cards
Electricity
GLBTI Travellers
Health
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
Money
Opening Hours
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Volunteering
Work
Transport
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to Austria

No country waltzes so effortlessly between the urban and the outdoors as Austria. One day you’re cresting alpine summits, the next you’re swanning around imperial Vienna.

Mountain vista, Salzburg region | Dinkaspell/Shutterstock ©


Cue High Culture
Over centuries, the Habsburgs channelled immense wealth into the fine arts and music, collecting palaces and castles the way others do stamps. You’ll still feel their cultural reverberations in Austria today – be it watching Lipizzaner stallions prance at the Spanish Riding School, or crossing the Hofburg to eyeball Rubens masterpieces in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, or Klimt and Schiele at the MuseumsQuartier. The work of classical pop stars such as Mozart, Strauss, Mahler, Haydn and Schubert echo as loudly as ever at lavishly gilded concert halls, and music festivals like Salzburg Festival and Bregenzer Festspiele are staged against uplifting lakeside or mountain backdrops.

River Deep, Mountain High
The journey really is the destination in Austria. Perhaps yours will be a meandering one through deeply carved valleys, on railways that unzip the Alps to thread improbably along sheer mountain flanks, past glaciers and through flower-freckled meadows. Chances are, however, that such lyrical landscapes will have you itching to leap onto a bicycle saddle or lace up hiking boots to reach those enticingly off-the-radar corners of the country. In winter, the slopes hum with skiers and boarders, while summer beckons white-water rafters and canyoners to glacial rivers and lakes that sparkle like gemstones. Der Berg ruft – the mountain calls!

Baroque & Beyond
Austria might conjure visions of wedding-cake-like baroque churches, dripping with lavish detail, palatial Hapsburg headquarters like Schloss Schönnbrunn, and Gothic crowning glories like the Stephansdom. But the country is more than the sum of its pomp and palaces. A fresh breath of architectural air and a feel of new-found cool is sweeping through the cities, bringing with it a happy marriage of the contemporary and historic. Some of the most eye-catching icons are actually the newbies: Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier in revamped imperial stables, the colour-shifting giant Rubik’s Cube that is Ars Electronica in Linz and the sci-fi ready Kunsthaus Graz. Prepare to see Austria in a whole new light.

Food at the Source
Guess what? There’s more to Austrian cuisine than boot-sized schnitzels and dumplings heavier than bowling balls. The country has come on in culinary leaps and bounds recently, while staying true to its ethos of careful local sourcing. Vegan, organic, foraged, Slow Food: they are more than just buzzwords. Whether you’re at a farmers market, a retro-style deli, a cool new brunch spot or a Michelin-starred restaurant, the love of the land shines through time and again. Asparagus in spring, Marille (apricots) in summer, mushrooms, game and new wine in autumn – Austria likes its food to swing with the seasons and taste of the source.


Why I Love Austria
By Kerry Christiani, Writer
Austria looks small on the map, but most of it is vertical, so there’s always another hairpin-riddled lane, off-the-radar village or knockout alpine view to discover. As a hiker, I’m never happier than when dangling off a 2000m precipice on a trail in Tyrol or Salzburgerland – watching the springtime eruption of wildflowers, say, or the last light creep down immense peaks of limestone. Alpenglühen , they call it. Then there are Vienna’s fabulous coffee houses and phenomenal art, the romance of the vine-laced Wachau, the crystal-clear lakes of Salzkammergut and Carinthia’s medieval villages, not to mention the castles, abbeys and cakes everywhere. What’s not to love?
Austria's Top 23

Grossglockner Road
Hairpin bends: 36. Length: 48km. Average slope gradient: 9%. Highest viewpoint: Edelweiss Spitze (2571m). Grossglockner Road ( www.grossglockner.at ; day ticket car/motorbike €35/25 ; h 5am-9.30pm ) is one of Europe’s greatest drives and the showpiece of Hohe Tauern National Park. The scenery unfolds as you climb higher on this serpentine road. And what scenery! Snow-capped mountains, plunging waterfalls and lakes scattered like gemstones are just the build-up to Grossglockner (3798m), Austria’s highest peak, and the Pasterze Glacier. Start early and allow enough time, as there’s a stop-the-car-and-grab-the-camera view on every corner.

Mariusz Niedzwiedzki/shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Imperial Palaces of Vienna
Imagine what you could do with unlimited riches and Austria’s top architects at hand for 640 years and you’ll have the Vienna of the Habsburgs. The monumentally graceful Hofburg whisks you back to the age of empires; marvel at the treasury’s imperial crowns, the equine ballet of the Spanische Hofreitschule and the chandelier-lit apartments fit for Empress Elisabeth. The palace is rivalled in grandeur only by the 1441-room Schloss Schönbrunn, a Unesco World Heritage site, and baroque Schloss Belvedere, both set in exquisite gardens.

Martin Hollaus/500px ©


Top Experiences
Skiing in the Alps
In a country where three-year-olds can snowplough, 70-year-olds still slalom and the tiniest speck of a village has its own lift system, skiing is more than just a sport – it’s a way of life. Why? Just look around you. There’s St Anton am Arlberg for off-piste and après-ski, Mayrhofen for freestyle boarding and its epic Harakiri, Kitzbühel for its perfect mix – the scope is limitless and the terrain fantastic. Cross-country or back-country, downhill or glacier, whatever your ski style, Austria has a piste with your name on it.

Gevision/Shutterstock ©


Top Experiences
Cafe Culture in Vienna
A pianist plays and bow-tied waiters bustle to and fro with cakes and encyclopaedic coffee menus. Ahhh, this is what the Viennese mean by Gemütlichkeit (cosiness), you realise, as you sip your melange (milky coffee), rustle your newspaper and watch life go decadently by. Café Sacher for the richest of chocolate cakes, Café Jelinek for its quirky vibe, Café Leopold Hawelka for bohemian flavour – Vienna has a coffee house for every mood and occasion. Indulge, talk, read and dream; just as Trotsky and Freud, Hundertwasser and Warhol once did.

Café Sperl | Helen Cathcart/Lonely Planet


Top Experiences
Festung Hohensalzburg
Work up a sweat on the steep walk or step into the funicular and sway up to Salzburg's glorious fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg , beckoning on a forested peak above the city. As you make your way around Europe's best-preserved fortress, glide through the Golden Hall, with its celestial ceiling capturing the starlit heavens. After all this beauty, you will find yourself cast among a chilling array of medieval torture instruments in the Fortress Museum, and don't miss the 360-degree views from the tower.

View over the cathedral to the fortress | Franz Pritz