Quick Facts

Area: 83,858 sq km
Population: 8,139,000
Capital: Vienna
Language: German
Currency: EUR
Religion: Roman Catholic
Climate: moderate, continental

Stacking Your Postcards

The Rathaus Park
The Rathaus Park was designed in 1863 when Emperor Franz Joseph I decided to do away with the parade ground. He asked a gardener named Dr. Rudolf Siebeck to design the park. Today the park derives much of its character from the highly varied selection of woody plants.

Wachau-Nibelugenau
The Wachau is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in Austria and is said to be one of the most beautiful riverside landscapes in Europe. In December 2000, the whole region was declared UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

From Krems to Melk, the Danube Valley covers a length of 36 km. Since many centuries the steep, terraced vineyards and the small romantic villages with many historical sights attract visitors from around the world.

The Mostviertel
The Mostviertel is also called "Austria's Orchard" because of its far-reaching orchards in the soft-hilly landscape near the Danube. 2.000 m-high mountains rise in the south, on the border to Styria. Hikers and mountainbikers feel especially well there. Its varied landscapes, the proud 4-cornered farms in lush nature, the countless cultural goods and the excellent offers, all contribute their part to making the Mostviertel so extraordinary.

Austria - Schoenbrunn Palace
A legacy of the opulent Hapsburg dynasty, Schoenbrunn is one of the many Imperial palaces scattered around Vienna and for many it is the icing on the cake. A truly magnificent Baroque style Palace set amongst splendid gardens it has great historical importance. 45 of the 1441 rooms are open to the public for guided tours. The lavish Rocco interior was mainly the responsibility of Empress Maria Theresia and the highlights include the lavish state rooms, the living quarters and offices of Emperor Francis Joseph, the Hall of Mirrors where a six year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave his first royal concert and the Vieux Lacque Room where Napoleon met with his generals. A visit to Shoenbrunn is a magnificent way to learn the history of Austria.

The Austrian Tyrol
The Austrian Tyrol is a picture-book region of outstanding beauty, where jagged, snow-capped peaks tower above fast-flowing rivers, green meadows and onion-domed churches. It is a paradise for anyone who enjoys the great outdoors, offering excellent downhill and cross-country skiing in winter, and wonderful walking in summer.

The Hofburg Palace
The Hofburg Palace, or Imperial Palace, was the home of the Austrian Hapsburgs for 600 years. The first fortifications were erected by King Ottakar Premyst in the 13th century and were added to by every generation until it became the monumental structure it is today. As well as housing the president’s offices, the palace now encompasses 22 separate museums, the National Library, a 14th-century Augustinian church, the famous Spanish Riding School and the Royal Chapel, where every Sunday the Vienna Boy’s Choir sing Mass (they have performed for the Royal Court since 1498). It will be impossible to even catch a glimpse of everything on display at the Hofburg, so visitors should be selective. The most popular of the museums is the Kaiserappartements, which takes visitors on a tour of the Kaiser’s imperial apartments. Also worth visiting is The Treasury, which houses the magnificent crown jewels, including St Stephen's Crown which dates back to the 12th century and was used to crown all Hungarian and subsequently Austrian Kaisers. The silver and Porcelain Treasury contains exquisite hand painted porcelain from all over the world.

Destination Guides

Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Its population is about 1.2 million people. The city is situated along both banks of the Vltava River. The city has traditionally been one of the principal intellectual and artistic centers of central Europe. Its brilliant cultural life declined during the period of Communist rule (1948-89) but experienced a revival with the restoration of democratic government in December 1989. Prague is the political, administrative, financial, and commercial heart of the Czech Republic

Innsburk
The capital of the Tirol and the most popular Austrian holiday destination, the city of Innsbruck lies at the very heart of the Austrian Alps. Nestling in the valley of the Inn River, tucked between the northern Alps and the Tuxer mountain range, Innsbruck is famous for its winter sports and has twice been home to the Winter Olympics.

To get an overall panorama of Innsbruck and its surroundings, start your tour of the city by climbing the 14th-century Stadtturm on Herzog Friedrich Strasse. Soak up the atmosphere of the city with a walking tour of this picturesque street, beginning with the Baroque 16th-and 17th-century buildings with the impressive Nordkette Mountains as a stunning backdrop. Named for its 2,657 gilded copper tiles shimmering atop a Gothic oriel window, the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) is an amazing sight. The Dom St Jakob is well worth a visit for its excessive Baroque interior, sumptuous art and stucco work, and its Madonna above the high altar, painted by Lukas Cranach the Elder. Don’t miss the Imperial Palace, dating from 1397, although it has been rebuilt and extended many times since. Marvel at the palace’s piece de resistance: the Riesensaal, a 31m-long stateroom with ceiling frescoes and embellishments of marble, gold and porcelain.

Vienna
Vienna is located on the Danube, in the northeast part of Austria. It is the capital of Austria and has a population of over 1.5 million people, nearly one-quarter that of the entire country. Long been the seat of the Habsburg dynasty (Holy Roman emperors and, later, emperors of Austria), Vienna retains its imperial style, with grand boulevards and imposing architecture.

Graz
Graz is the capital of Styria province in southeastern Austria. Situated on the Mur River at the foot of the Styrian Alps, it is Austria's second largest city, with a population about 250000. It is a rail, cultural, and industrial center with iron and steel works and breweries.

Its name is derived from the fortress that was located on top of the Schloßberg, a defensive site since ancient times. During the Middle Ages Graz became the principal city of Styria, and the Leopoldine Habsburgs made it their seat in 1379.
The landmark of Graz is its famous clock tower. The Zeughaus hosts the largest collection of medieval arms worldwide.

Salzburg
Up until 1816, SALZBURG led a separate life to the rest of Austria, existing as an independent city-state ruled by a sequence of powerful prince-archbishops . An ambitious and cultured bunch, they turned the city into the most Italianate city north of the Alps. Spread out below the brooding presence of the Hohensalzburg fortress, the churches, squares and alleyways of the compact Altstadt today recollect a long-disappeared Europe. For many, Salzburg is the quintessential Austria, offering the best of the country's Baroque architecture, subalpine scenery and a musical heritage largely provided by the city's most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , whose bright-eyed visage peers from every box of the ubiquitous chocolate delicacy, the Mozartkügel . Salzburg's captivation with Mozart is perhaps best reflected in the world-famous Salzburg Festival , a five-week celebration of opera, orchestral music and theatre that begins in late July, although there's a wide range of (not always Mozart-related) musical events on offer throughout the year. Souvenirs recalling the Salzburg-based musical The Sound of Music dangle round the city's neck like some bad-taste medallion, with coach tours and shows on the same theme providing an entertainingly lowbrow alternative to the more highbrow events.

Standing at the centre of a prosperous, economically booming region, Salzburg also represents Austria at its most conservative . Writer Thomas Bernhard, an acerbic critic of the postwar state who spent his formative years in Salzburg, called his home town "a fatal illness", whose Catholicism, conservatism and sheer snobbery drove its citizens to a state of terminal misery. The city certainly has a strong bourgeois ethos, easy to discern in the snooty cafés and refined restaurants of the city centre, and in a pre-Lent ball season that rivals that of Vienna. But if high culture and high society don't really turn you on, you can always take solace in the city's alternative nightlife or join the crowds at the football stadium - the local team, SV Salzburg, is one of the few outfits outside Vienna that enjoys a genuine mass following.