The Complete Guide to Austria

Austria packs an outsized variety into a compact, easy-to-travel country: imperial cities, baroque old towns, storybook lake villages and some of the most accessible mountains in Europe — all stitched together by one of the continent's best railway networks. You can stand in a Habsburg palace in the morning, watch the Danube slide past vineyards at lunch, and be riding a cable car into the Alps by the next afternoon.

The natural anchor is Vienna, the former heart of an empire, where grand boulevards, world-class museums, coffee houses and the Schönbrunn and Hofburg palaces reward two or three days on their own. To the west, Salzburg wraps a UNESCO-listed baroque old town beneath a clifftop fortress — Mozart's birthplace and the backdrop to The Sound of Music — and opens straight onto the lakes and peaks of the Salzkammergut. There, tiny Hallstatt clings to a mountain lake in a scene so perfect it has become one of Europe's most photographed villages. Further west again, Innsbruck sits hemmed in by 2,000-metre walls of rock, the capital of the Tyrol and the easiest city anywhere from which to reach the high Alps — a cable car climbs from its medieval centre to an alpine ridge in twenty minutes.

Between the headline cities lie the experiences that make an Austrian trip feel complete: a boat or bike along the Wachau stretch of the Danube, with its terraced Riesling vineyards and the golden abbey of Melk; the lake resorts of the Salzkammergut; and the glaciers and ski areas of the Tyrol and Salzburgerland. Distances are short and the scenery between stops is part of the journey, especially by train.

Austria is also a comfortable, well-organised place to travel. It is safe, clean and efficient; tap water from the Alps is excellent; and German is the language, though English is widely spoken in tourist areas. The food is hearty and satisfying — schnitzel, Tafelspitz, dumplings, fresh lake fish, and a pastry-and-coffee culture that is a destination in itself. It uses the euro, sits inside the Schengen area, and runs like clockwork on trains that are punctual, fast and scenic.

Most first-time visitors combine Vienna and Salzburg with at least one alpine or lake stop. A week covers the two cities with a day trip; ten to twelve days let you add Innsbruck and the Salzkammergut at a relaxed pace; two weeks is ideal if you want to slow down in the mountains and ride the country's most beautiful rail routes. This guide breaks down when to go, how to get around, the best cities and a classic route so you can build the trip that fits you.