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Vienna

Vienna is one of the great cities of human civilisation — the seat of the Habsburg Empire for six centuries, a city that shaped classical music, psychoanalysis, and Modernism, and whose Ringstrasse boulevard of imperial museums, opera houses, and parliament buildings constitutes the most concentrated assembly of nineteenth-century cultural ambition in the world. The Kunsthistorisches Museum's collection of Vermeer, Bruegel, and Velázquez, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Spanish Riding School, and the Naschmarkt's food stalls stretch across centuries of excellence without any sense of contradiction. Coffeehouse culture — the Viennese café as a room of one's own, a place to read newspapers, argue philosophy, and nurse a Melange for hours — is UNESCO-listed intangible heritage and the city's most sustainable gift to civilisation.

Salzburg

Salzburg is arguably the most beautiful city in the Alps, a compact Baroque jewel on the Salzach River whose UNESCO-listed old town, fortress, and surrounding salt-trade heritage feel almost implausibly well-preserved. Mozart was born here in 1756 at Getreidegasse 9, and the city has never quite recovered from the marketing opportunity — the Mozarteum, the countless concerts, the Mozartkugeln chocolate balls sold at every corner are all entirely sincere expressions of a city that genuinely lives its musical heritage. The surrounding Salzburg state offers the Salzkammergut lakes to the east and the Hohe Tauern mountains to the south, giving the whole region a natural framework that the Sound of Music filming crew recognised immediately.

Tyrol

Tyrol is Austria's mountain heartland and the country's most internationally recognised ski destination, anchored by Innsbruck — the only city in the world to have hosted the Winter Olympics twice — and a ring of world-famous resorts including Kitzbühel, St. Anton, Ischgl, and the Ötztal valley. The Nordkette mountain chain rises directly behind Innsbruck's old town and can be reached by funicular from the city centre in under 20 minutes, a vertical transport miracle that makes the city's combination of urban culture and Alpine wilderness genuinely unique. The Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old glacially preserved prehistoric man found in the Ötztal Alps, is now displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano — a reminder that these mountains have been a highway between north and south Europe since before recorded history.

Styria

Styria is the green heart of Austria, a state of forested mountains, vine-terraced hills, and spa towns that has somehow remained less internationally famous than its considerable attractions deserve. Graz, the state capital and Austria's second-largest city, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right — its Renaissance old town and the cliff-top Schlossberg, topped by a clock tower visible from every corner of the city, make it one of the most rewarding urban destinations in Central Europe. The southern Styrian wine road through the Südsteiermark, lined with Buschenschanken serving local Sauvignon Blanc and pumpkin-seed oil cuisine, is Austria's answer to Tuscany.

Carinthia

Carinthia occupies Austria's southernmost corner, a land of warm Alpine lakes — Wörthersee, Millstätter See, Faaker See — that make it the country's summer swimming destination par excellence, with water temperatures reaching 28°C in July. Klagenfurt, the state capital, sits on the Wörthersee's eastern end and offers a Venetian-influenced old town, a dragon fountain that has been the city's emblem since 1593, and easy access to the lakeside promenades that fill with Austrian and Italian holidaymakers all summer. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, snaking up to Austria's highest peak at 3,798 metres, begins in Carinthia and is widely considered the most spectacular mountain road in the Alps.

Upper Austria

Upper Austria stretches from the Bohemian Forest in the north to the Dachstein glacier in the south, encompassing Linz — Austria's third-largest city and a former European Capital of Culture — and the extraordinary Salzkammergut lake district that occupies its eastern reaches. Hallstatt, perched on the narrow strip of land between mountain and lake in the Salzkammergut, is so perfectly picturesque that it has inspired a full-scale replica in China, and the salt mines above the village have been worked continuously for over 7,000 years. Linz, long associated with its industrial past, has reinvented itself through the Ars Electronica Centre and the Lentos art museum, establishing a cultural credibility that now competes seriously with Graz.

Lower Austria

Lower Austria is the largest of the nine federal states by area and frames the capital on all sides, making it easy to overlook in favour of Vienna — which would be a mistake. The Wachau Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape of apricot orchards, Danube vineyards, and medieval abbeys perched on cliffs above the river, is one of the most beautiful stretches of the entire Danube. Melk Abbey, the fortress-monastery that towers above the valley from a granite spur, contains a library of illuminated manuscripts and a gilded church interior that rank among the finest Baroque achievements in Central Europe.

Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg is Austria's westernmost and second-smallest state, a compact Alpine territory bordering Switzerland and Liechtenstein that has developed an identity stubbornly distinct from the rest of the country — closer in dialect, architecture, and cultural sensibility to neighbouring Switzerland than to Vienna. Bregenz, the state capital, sits on the eastern shore of Lake Constance and hosts the Bregenz Festival, whose floating stage on the lake is one of the most dramatic opera venues in the world. The Bregenzerwald valley inland offers traditional Baroque farmhouses, award-winning contemporary architecture, and a cheese-making tradition that has turned the region into one of Austria's most surprising culinary destinations.

Burgenland

Burgenland is Austria's youngest and easternmost state, a narrow strip of lowland running along the Hungarian border that was only formally incorporated in 1921 and retains a cultural blend quite unlike anywhere else in the country. The Neusiedler See, a vast steppe lake shared with Hungary and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the surrounding national park, is one of Central Europe's most important wetland habitats and a paradise for birdwatchers and windsurfers in equal measure. The region's sunny, continental climate produces Hungary-influenced red wines — Blaufränkisch above all — that have earned Burgenland a place on serious wine lists across Europe.

Vienna

Vienna is an imperial city on a scale that still overwhelms — the Habsburgs built the Ringstrasse boulevard as a deliberate statement of civilisational confidence, and the opera house, art history museum, and parliament that line it are among the finest neoclassical buildings in Europe. Schönbrunn and Belvedere palaces, the Spanish Riding School's Lipizzaner horses, and the Naschmarkt's morning bustle complete a city where every neighbourhood holds a surprise. The Viennese café — Café Central, Café Landtmann, Café Schwarzenberg — remains the best place in the world to spend an afternoon with a newspaper and a Melange.

Salzburg

Salzburg is the city Mozart was born in and the Sound of Music was filmed around, two facts that between them account for an entirely disproportionate share of the world's goodwill toward Austria. The old town, compressed between the Salzach River and the Hohensalzburg Fortress on its cliffs above, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Baroque churches, archways, and pedestrian lanes that rewards aimless wandering in any season. The Salzburg Festival in July and August, the world's most prestigious classical music and opera festival, has been drawing audiences since 1920 and remains extraordinarily difficult to ticket.

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is one of Europe's most dramatically sited cities, its historic centre of medieval arcades and the gilded Golden Roof overlooked by the sheer rock faces of the Nordkette range, reachable by funicular in under 20 minutes. The city hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976, and the ski infrastructure around it — Patscherkofel, Nordkette, Mutters — remains world class. The Imperial Palace, the Court Church with its oversized bronze statues guarding Emperor Maximilian I's cenotaph, and the Tirolean State Museum give the city a cultural depth that goes far beyond its mountain-resort identity.

Graz

Graz is Austria's second-largest city and, outside Vienna, its most rewarding urban destination — a UNESCO World Heritage old town of Renaissance courtyards, Baroque fountains, and the Schlossberg cliff rising from the centre with its sixteenth-century clock tower. The Kunsthaus Graz, an alien-looking contemporary art museum known locally as the 'friendly alien', and the armour collection at the Landeszeughaus — the largest intact medieval armoury in the world — give the city a cultural range that puts many larger cities to shame. Graz also serves as the gateway to the southern Styrian wine road, one of Austria's most beautiful and least crowded wine-touring routes.

Hallstatt

Hallstatt is the village that inspired a replica in China, which is perhaps the most surreal tribute any settlement has ever received — but the original, clinging to a narrow shelf between a mirror-calm lake and sheer mountains, earns every superlative. The salt mines above the village have been worked for over 7,000 years, making this the oldest continuously operating industrial site in the world, and the ossuary at the parish church, its skulls decoratively painted with names and dates, adds an unexpected and oddly moving dimension. The UNESCO-listed Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut cultural landscape surrounding the village is one of the most beautiful regions in Central Europe.

Kitzbühel

Kitzbühel is Austria's most glamorous ski resort, a medieval market town whose Gothic church towers and pastel facades have been supplementing the après-ski scene since the early twentieth century. The Hahnenkamm downhill, held each January, is the most prestigious and terrifying race on the World Cup circuit, attracting crowds that treat race day like a national celebration. In summer the ski runs become mountain bike trails and the surrounding meadows bloom with wildflowers, making Kitzbühel one of the Alps' most successful year-round destinations.

St. Anton am Arlberg

St. Anton am Arlberg is where modern alpine skiing was effectively invented — Hannes Schneider developed the Arlberg technique here in the 1920s, and the resort has been defined by that spirit of serious skiing ever since. The Arlberg ski area, which St. Anton shares with Lech, Zürs, and Stuben, is the largest interconnected ski region in Austria and one of the deepest powder destinations in the Alps after a storm. The après-ski scene at the Mooserwirt and Krazy Kanguruh has become notorious enough to appear in ski travel writing as a cultural phenomenon in its own right.

Hallein

Hallein sits on the Salzach River just south of Salzburg city, a small town whose salt-mining history is preserved in the Keltenmuseum and the spectacular Dürrnberg salt mine tours that wind through illuminated galleries deep in the mountain. The town is also the birthplace of the organist Franz Xaver Gruber, who composed Silent Night in 1818 — a fact commemorated in a museum and an annual pilgrimage that the town wears with considerable charm. Its position as a day trip from Salzburg keeps it relatively uncrowded even in summer.

Klagenfurt

Klagenfurt is the capital of Carinthia and a city whose Venetian-influenced old town and dragon fountain betray centuries of cultural exchange with Italy to the south. The Wörthersee promenade, a short tram ride from the city centre, transforms in summer into a waterfront of cafés, sailing clubs, and swimmers enjoying water temperatures that regularly exceed those of the Mediterranean. Minimundus, a garden of scale models of the world's great architectural monuments built on the lakeshore, has been the city's most eccentric attraction since 1958.

Linz

Linz spent decades living under the shadow of its industrial heritage and its unhappy role in twentieth-century history, but its 2009 turn as European Capital of Culture marked a decisive reinvention. The Ars Electronica Centre, devoted to the intersection of art, technology, and society, and the Lentos art museum on the Danube riverbank are now among Austria's most visited contemporary cultural institutions. The old town's Hauptplatz, one of the largest medieval market squares in Central Europe, and the Pöstlingberg hill pilgrimage church give the city a historical depth that balances its forward-looking cultural programme.

Zell am See

Zell am See is one of the most perfectly situated resort towns in the Alps, its compact centre on the western shore of a cobalt-blue mountain lake surrounded by peaks that host ski resorts in winter and hiking trails in summer. The Schmittenhöhe mountain directly above the town connects to the Kaprun glacier ski area, creating the Zell am See-Kaprun ski region with reliable snow conditions from October through May. The lakeside promenade and the medieval town centre beneath the fortress tower make Zell am See considerably more characterful than most purpose-built Alpine resorts.

Bregenz

Bregenz sits on the eastern shore of Lake Constance and hosts one of the world's most theatrical opera festivals — its floating stage on the lake, with productions designed to be visible from the far shore, has staged everything from Puccini to Verdi under open summer skies. The old upper town, Oberstadt, retains its medieval tower and fortified walls above the lake, while the Kunsthaus Bregenz below is one of the finest contemporary art spaces in the German-speaking world. Its location at the meeting point of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein makes Bregenz an improbably international small city.

Melk

Melk is a small town in Lower Austria that would be entirely unremarkable were it not for the Benedictine abbey that towers above it from a granite outcrop over the Danube — one of the most dramatic architectural statements in Central Europe. The abbey's church, library, and marble hall are masterworks of Austrian Baroque, and the view from its terrace down the Wachau Valley is one of the finest in the country. Umberto Eco made the abbey — thinly disguised — the setting for The Name of the Rose, which has added a layer of literary pilgrimage to an already substantial tourist draw.

Baden bei Wien

Baden bei Wien is a spa town at the edge of the Vienna Woods, less than an hour south of the capital, whose sulphurous thermal springs have been drawing visitors since Roman times and whose nineteenth-century heyday left behind a remarkably intact Biedermeier streetscape. Beethoven spent several summers here working on his Ninth Symphony, and the Casino Baden, one of Austria's oldest, has been operating since 1821. The surrounding Thermenregion wine country produces Grüner Veltliner and Pinot Noir of genuine quality.

Rust

Rust is the smallest town in Austria with its own statutory city rights, a wine-producing community on the western shore of the Neusiedler See whose rooftops are famously colonised by white stork nests each spring. The burghers' houses lining the main square, many bearing the painted crests of medieval wine-trading families, give the town a prosperity born entirely from the exceptional Ausbruch dessert wine that Rust has produced for centuries. The shallow, reed-fringed Neusiedler See a few steps from the main street offers sailing, cycling along the dyke paths, and birdwatching in one of Europe's most important wetland habitats.