Last updated September 16, 2026 · Editorial policy
- 1. Vienna's imperial core
- 2. Salzburg
- 3. Hallstatt
- 4. Innsbruck & Tyrol
- 5. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road
- 6. The Wachau Valley
- 7. Winter, anywhere
- Practical Austria
- Hallstatt is the trap, and the rail card that pays for itself
- Austria is Alpine in the west and Danubian in the east
- Two seasons, and both are high
- How to choose what you actually do
Quick answer: Austria packs imperial Vienna, Mozart’s Salzburg, the postcard village of Hallstatt and serious Alpine adventure into one efficient, beautiful country — with coffee-house culture as the connective tissue.
More: When to visit Austria
1. Vienna’s imperial core
Schönbrunn Palace, the Hofburg and the Kunsthistorisches Museum by day; a Staatsoper standing-room ticket (a few euros, world-class) by night. Finish in a classic Kaffeehaus over Sachertorte — lingering is the point.
2. Salzburg
Mozart’s birthplace beneath the Hohensalzburg fortress: baroque lanes, the Mirabell Gardens and Sound of Music country in the lake district beyond. Day-trip to the Eisriesenwelt ice caves in summer.
3. Hallstatt
The lake-and-mountain village of a thousand photos — plus the world’s oldest salt mine and a skywalk above the rooftops. Sleep over: it’s a different (magical) place before 10am and after 5pm.
4. Innsbruck & Tyrol
The Nordkette cable car goes city-centre-to-2,256m in twenty minutes — hiking and ski terrain with golden-roof old town below. Tyrol’s valleys (Zillertal, Ötztal) are Austria’s adventure heart.
5. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Forty-eight kilometres of engineered drama over Austria’s highest peaks (open roughly May–October) — one of Europe’s great drives, glacier viewpoint included.
6. The Wachau Valley
Danube terraces of apricots and grüner veltliner between Melk’s abbey and Dürnstein’s castle ruin — best by bike along the river path, tasting as you go.
7. Winter, anywhere
From St. Anton’s legendary slopes to Vienna’s Christmas markets and ice skating before the Rathaus — Austria in snow is its second, equally good self.
Practical Austria
Trains link everything (ÖBB is superb — book Sparschiene fares early), tap water is glacier-good, and Sundays are genuinely quiet — plan museums or mountains, not shopping.
Hallstatt is the trap, and the rail card that pays for itself
Here’s the honest call: Hallstatt is the most overrated stop in Austria. It’s a village of around 800 people that drowns under tour buses by mid-morning, and the lakefront postcard shot takes about twenty minutes to get. Go if you must, but go at dawn or stay overnight so you have it before and after the coaches. The underrated swap is the Wachau or a slow afternoon in Graz, neither of which empties out by lunchtime.
On logistics, do the maths before you buy a pass. Austrians ride on the Vorteilscard, which costs a modest annual fee and knocks half off standard ÖBB tickets for a full year, so even two or three intercity hops can cover it. The all-you-can-ride KlimaTicket is a substantial annual sum (discounted if you’re under 26 or over 65), which only makes sense for residents, though introductory deals for new buyers appear from time to time, usually for a short window in early summe 2026. For most two-week trips, book individual Sparschiene fares early and pair them with the Vorteilscard rather than overbuying.
Planning the trip? Start with best time to visit Austria.
Austria is Alpine in the west and Danubian in the east
- The geography splits the country cleanly. Roughly two-thirds of Austria is mountain – Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Salzburg and Carinthia – while the east around Vienna and Burgenland is flat Danube plain and vineyard. The two halves offer completely different holidays.
- Vienna is a former imperial capital, and the scale of its palaces, museums and concert halls reflects an empire far larger than the modern country. It consistently ranks at or near the top of global liveability surveys.
- Salzburg is Baroque and compact. Mozart’s birthplace, the fortress above it and the old town are UNESCO-listed, and it sits at the doorstep of the Salzkammergut lakes – Hallstatt among them.
- Innsbruck puts the Alps in a city. The mountains rise directly from the streets, a funicular and cable car run from the centre to well above 2,000 metres, and it has hosted the Winter Olympics twice.
- The Danube valley is the underrated region. The Wachau, between Melk and Krems, is a UNESCO-listed stretch of terraced vineyards, abbeys and castle ruins, and it can be cycled or taken by boat.
Two seasons, and both are high
- Winter is the ski season, from December into April in the western resorts, with the Christmas markets in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck running through Advent.
- Summer is the hiking season, June to September, when the mountain huts and cable cars open and the alpine meadows are at their best. Vienna is warm and the city partly empties.
- The shoulders are genuinely quiet. November and late April to May see many mountain lifts and huts closed between seasons, which is worth knowing before booking an Alpine trip then.
- Rail is the way to travel. The network is dense, punctual and scenic, and discount cards for frequent travel exist – though the annual passes are priced for residents rather than visitors, so check whether point-to-point tickets are cheaper for your actual route.
- Hallstatt is severely overtouristed. The village has introduced measures to manage day-visitor numbers, and it is at its best very early, very late, or swapped for one of the neighbouring lakes entirely.
How to choose what you actually do
- A week in summer: Vienna, the Wachau, Salzburg and one Tyrolean valley, all by train.
- A week in winter: pick one ski region and stay in it; the transfer times between Austrian resorts are longer than they look.
- Music is worth planning around. Vienna’s concert halls and the Salzburg Festival in July and August are genuine reasons to time a trip, and standing-room and cheaper tickets are available if you book or queue.
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Written by
John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.
