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Austria Information

Overview

Austria is a country of startling contrasts, from the Alps in the west to the Danube Basin in the east. One of the world’s premier skiing regions, it is also noted for its historical buildings, world-class museums and galleries, and breathtaking mountain scenery.

The country’s glorious architectural riches include reminders of the once-powerful Hapsburgs, who dominated central Europe for seven centuries. The capital, Vienna, is magnificent with its ornate Opera House and the imperial Hofburg. Austria’s other cities are similarly infused with historical magic, notably Mozart’s birthplace, Salzburg, with stunning baroque churches set before a backdrop of snow-covered peaks, and Innsbruck, in the centre of Austria’s Alps.

Austria has produced and inspired a catalogue of cultural figures. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria - and, in particular, Vienna - became a focal point of the cultural renaissance. Remnants of Mozart’s legacy are everywhere. However, Austria has also yielded people such as artists Klimt and Schiele, composers Mahler and Schubert, psychologists Freud and Rank, and philosophers such as Husserl and Wittgenstein.

Austria is a hothouse of striking contemporary architecture and is at the forefront of engineering, invention and design. It enjoys an enduring reputation for music, literature and the arts; visitors are just as likely to find Alpine New Wave punk-rock as they are yodelling. Gourmet culture is evident in the cafes where coffee-drinking has been raised to a high art. Nightlife is versatile, offering laid-back taverns, beer gardens and excellent après-ski, trendy clubs and dance venues.

Celebrations marking events such as the recent 250th anniversary of Mozart’s death and Haydn’s 200th anniversary in 2009 underline Austria’s desire to embrace its rich past. Yet it also proudly fosters its contemporary cultural and social scene. Regardless, staring at a classic Austrian landscape is a reminder that some things are timeless.

Author

Sylvia Huber

Top Things To See

Soak up Vienna‘s (website: www.info.wien.at) baroque elegance, notably in the elegant First District (the Innerstadt). The Hapsburgs resided in the Hofburg where the Imperial Apartments contain the Crown Jewels. Imperial summer palace Schloss Schönbrunn is Vienna’s answer to Paris’s Versailles; its landscaped park is home to the world’s oldest zoo.

Wonder at the works of Hieronymous Bosch and more in the internationally renowned Akademie der bildenden Künste, and scores of other galleries in Vienna. The city also has more than 50 museums, including the Natural History Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museumsquartier.

While in Vienna, see the Ferris Wheel (Riesenrad) in the Prater amusement park, immortalised in the film The Third Man. Also worth a visit are St Stephen’s Cathedral, the Chapel of the Hofburg, the Parliament and the Votive Church. There are also memorial sites for Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss and Freud.

Explore Graz (website: www.graztourism.at) on foot. Must-sees include the Landesmuseum Johanneum, encompassing the Alte Galerie’s gothic paintings, the Neue Galerie in the Herbenstrein Palace, the Cathedral, the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II, the old quarter, the Schlossberg (Castle Hill) with its Uhrtrum (clock tower), and the Glockenturm (bell tower).

See the famous Lipizzaner stallions perform finely executed dressage manoeuvres to Viennese classical music in the Hofburg in Vienna, or at a stud farm in Piber, where they are looked after, trained and ridden.

Get high on Austria’s mountains: Grossglockner (3,798m/12,457ft) in Carinthia is Austria’s tallest; Hohe Tauern National Park is one of the last large undisturbed mountain environments in Europe; and the glaciers of the Silvretta mountain ranges drop dramatically to Lake Constance with its lush vegetation.

Appreciate some Austrian eccentricity from the Vorarlbergers, who speak a dialect close to Swiss German and declared independence in 1918, requesting a union with Switzerland that was subsequently refused by the Allied Powers.

Take in the awesome panorama of some of Austria’s crystal-clear lakes: they include Wörthersee, Wolfgangsee, Traunsee, Hallstättersee and Mondsee, one of the warmest lakes in the Salzkammergut; Carinthia’s lakes reach temperatures of around 28°C (82°F) and win awards for their water quality.

Visit a well-preserved medieval city, like Retz, which boasts subterranean wine-cellars, well-restored medieval city walls, windmills and a Dominican church.

Go to the last protected area of European rainforest in the Donau-Auen National Park, a floodplain area of wilderness that nurtures a diversity of plants and animals.

Take in the baroque splendour of Salzburg (website: www.salzburg.info). The Altstadt (old city) features the Hohensalzburg fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Other sights include the Peterskirche (St Peter’s Abbey, with cemetery and catacombs), the Domkirche (intended to rival St Peter’s in Rome) and the Alter Markt (old market square).

Pay homage to Salzburg’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His birthplace (Mozart Geburtshaus) is in the Getreidegasse, also the city’s main shopping street, while the family residence (Mozart Wohnhaus) is on the market square. Both are now museums.

Be overwhelmed at the magical sight of the Eisriesenwelt in Werfen: ice caves, with wonderful ice sculptures all year round. These caverns are buried deep beneath the mountain wall that flanks the valley south of Salzburg.

Explore the Tirol, Austria’s most mountainous province, with forests, pastures, valleys, mountain lakes, alpine villages, churches and castles. Capital Innsbruck has numerous historical buildings including a 12th-century castle. For spectacular views, take the funicular to Hungerburg and then the cable car to Hafelekar at 2,334m (5,928ft).
See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.

Top Things To Do

The Alps constitute approximately 60% of Austria’s surface area. It is one of Europe’s major destinations for winter sports: skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, sleigh rides, curling or skating are all available and with great facilities.

Take an old 19th-century steam train and gaze at some picturesque Austrian scenery, including the famous and beautiful village of St Wolfgang in Salzkammergut.

Once the snow has melted, walk and hike through the Alps’ varied landscapes, ranging from forests and green slopes to glaciers and rocks. The Vorarlberg’s alpine pastures provide gentle walks, while the Hohe Tauern National Park has more demanding trekking.

Go to the Opera in style; besides the many opera performances in Austria’s major towns and cities, for one with a difference, journey to Bregenz and the Upper City with its St Martinstrum (St Martin’s Tower), the world’s largest floating stage for summer opera productions.

Climb the peaks of the Alps; for the very adventurous, combine this with a spot of hang-gliding.

Tour through one of Austria’s wine-growing regions, such as Lower Austria, Southern Styria and the Burgenland; most wines, such as the well-known Riesling wine, are white, but there also some good red wines from Baden and Burgenland.

Relax and watch the world go by as you submit to Austria’s Kaffeehaus (coffee shop) culture: cakes and puddings (such as Torte, of which there are around 60 varieties) can be eaten guilt-free, knowing that it is all in the name of upholding a national institution.

Dance the night away with elegance at a recreation of a traditional Austrian ball, at the annual Johann Strauss Ball, which takes place in a beautiful ballroom within the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

Admire traditional Austrian attire at the annual Lederhosen Festival in Windischgarsten, where the wearing of the aforementioned costume is optional, but drinking good beer and chuckling at the election of ‘Miss Lederhose’ is compulsory.

Listen to classical music in the city that produced Mozart: the Salzburg Festival (website: www.salzburgfestival.at) provides a varied programme, from singers, actors, orchestras and opera, with a breathtaking baroque backdrop to boot.

Take in a Euro 2008 football match. Austria is hosting the event jointly with Switzerland for three weeks in June 2008, with venues in Vienna, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Innsbruck. For more information, contact Uefa (website: www.uefa.com).

Be a culture vulture and party with Linz as it stages a year-long celebration of events marking it European Capital of Culture in 2009 (website: www.linz09.at). Stay in a Pixelhotel room - the whole town is turning itself into a hotel, and rooms will be scattered across the town in locations as unique as industrial warehouses, shops and residential districts.

Play golf (website: www.golfinfo.at) on nearly 150 courses in what is one of Europe’s fastest-growing golf destinations, with settings from the grounds of historic castles to alpine valleys and terraces.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.

Going Out

Food and Drink

Viennese cuisine is strongly influenced by southeast European cuisine, notably that of Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Dalmatia. Austrian desserts and cake are particularly renowned.

Things to know: The main meal of the day is lunch. All restaurants have waiter service, as do most bars and coffee houses. Bills are settled with the arrival of drinks.

National specialities:
• Wiener Schnitzel is a traditional dish of breadcrumbed and fried veal escalope.
• Tafelspitz is regarded as Austria’s national dish and consists simply of boiled beef.
• Palatschinken (Austrian pancakes). 
• Apfelstrudel is the classic pudding.
• Mehlspeisen is the national term for cakes and puddings. There are around 60 varieties of Torte, which is often consumed with coffee.

National drinks:
• Local wines (often served in open carafes) are excellent and cheap: most of the wines are white and Riesling and Veltliner are particularly well-regarded.
• Obstler is made by distilling various fruits. It is usually very strong, well-flavoured and cheap.

Legal drinking age: 16 (for beer and wine); 18 (for spirits).

Tipping: On restaurant bills, a service charge of 10 to 15% is included, but it is usual to leave a further 5%. Attendants at theatres, cloakrooms or petrol pumps, expect to be tipped €0.15-0.25. Railway and airports have fixed charges for portering. Taxi drivers expect €0.25-0.50 for a short trip and 10% for a longer one. 

Nightlife

Viennese nightlife offers something for every taste: opera, theatre and cabaret as well as numerous bars and nightclubs. There are cinemas of all types, some of them of architectural interest, showing films in different languages. A good way to spend a summer evening is in one of the beer gardens found all over Austria. The wine-growing area around Vienna features wine gardens (Heurigen) where visitors can sample local wines in an open-air setting.

Shopping

High-quality goods such as handbags, glassware, chinaware and winter sports equipment represent the cream of specialist items found in Austria.

Shopping hours: Shops and stores are generally open from Mon-Fri 0800-1800 (with a one- or two-hour lunch break in smaller towns) and Sat 1200-1700. Big stores and shops in tourist resorts now open Mon-Fri 0800-2100 and Sat/Sun 0800-1800.

Climate

Austria enjoys a moderate continental climate: summers are warm and pleasant with cool nights, and winters are sunny, with snow levels high enough for widespread winter sports.

Required Clothing

European clothes according to season. Alpine wear for mountain resorts.

Public Holidays

Below are listed Public Holidays for the January 2008-December 2009 period.

2008
1 Jan New Year’s Day.
6 Jan Epiphany. 
21-24 Mar Easter. 
1 May National Holiday.
1 May Ascension Day.
12 May Whit Monday.
22 May Corpus Christi.
15 Aug Assumption.
26 Oct National Day.
1 Nov All Saints’ Day.
8 Dec Immaculate Conception.
25-26 Dec Christmas.

2009
1 Jan New Year’s Day.
6 Jan Epiphany. 
10-13 Apr Easter. 
1 May National Holiday.
21 May Ascension Day.
1 June Whit Monday.
11 Jun Corpus Christi.
15 Aug Assumption.
26 Oct National Day.
1 Nov All Saints’ Day.
8 Dec Immaculate Conception.
25-26 Dec Christmas.

Health

Diphtheria

Special Precaution: No

Hepatitis A

Special Precaution: No

Malaria

Special Precaution: No

Rabies

Special Precaution: Sometimes

Tetanus

Special Precaution: Yes

Typhoid

Special Precaution: No

Yellow Fever

Special Precaution: No

Health Care

If European visitors or any of their dependants are suddenly taken ill or have an accident during a visit to Austria, free or reduced-cost necessary treatment is available - in most cases on production of a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Full travel insurance is advised for all travellers.

Further Health Information

We advise you to check health requirements for the country you are traveling to with your GP, practice nurse or travel health clinic as health requirements and vaccinations can change at short notice.

Money

Currency

Euro (€) = 100 cents. Notes are in denominations of €500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. Coins are in denominations of €2, 1 and 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 cents.

Currency Exchange

Foreign currencies and traveller’s cheques can be exchanged at all banks, savings banks and exchange counters at airports and railway stations at the official exchange rates.

Credit/Debit Cards and ATMs

Major credit cards are accepted in large cities. However, some smaller hotels may require bills to be paid in cash.

Traveller's Cheques

These are widely accepted. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, travellers are advised to take traveller’s cheques in a major currency (Euros, US Dollars, Pounds Sterling).

Banking Hours

Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri 0800-1230 and 1330-1500; Thurs 0800-1230 and 1330-1730. Different opening hours may be kept in the various federal provinces. The exchange counters at airports and at railway stations are generally open from the first to the last flight or train, which usually means 0800-2200 including weekends.

Passport/Visa

British

Passport Required: Yes/1
Visa Required: No/4
Return Ticket Required: No

Australian

Passport Required: Yes
Visa Required: No/3
Return Ticket Required: Yes

Canadian

Passport Required: Yes
Visa Required: No/3
Return Ticket Required: Yes

USA

Passport Required: Yes
Visa Required: No/3
Return Ticket Required: Yes

Other EU

Passport Required: 2
Visa Required: No
Return Ticket Required: No

Passport Note

Austria is a signatory to the 1995 Schengen Agreement.

Passports

Passport valid for at least three months beyond length of stay required by all nationals referred to in the chart above except:
(a) 1. British nationals whose passport should be valid for intended length of stay.
(b) 2. EU nationals holding a valid national ID card.

Note: EU nationals are only required to produce evidence of their EU nationality and identity in order to be admitted to any EU member state. This evidence can take the form of a valid national passport or national identity card. Either is acceptable. Possession of a return ticket, any length of validity on their document, sufficient funds for the length of their proposed visit should not be imposed.

Visas

Not required by all nationals referred to in the chart above for the following lengths of visit:
(a) nationals of EU countries for an unlimited period, provided passport is valid;
(b) 3. nationals of Australia, Canada and USA for the purposes of business or tourism for stays of up to three months. For stays longer than three months an entry permit must be applied for which is valid for up to six months.
(c) 4. holders of the following British passports do need a visa: British subject (without right of abode in the UK); British Dependent Territories; British Overseas Citizens; British Protected Persons.

Contact Addresses

Austrian Embassy in the UK

18 Belgrave Mews West, London SW1X 8HU, UK
Tel: (020) 7245 6689 for visa enquiries or 7344 3250.
Website: www.austria.org.uk
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1200 (personal callers); 0900-1645 (telephone enquiries); 0900-1200 (visa section); 1400-1600 (telephone visa enquiries).

Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) in the UK

9-11 Richmond Buildings, off Dean Street, London W1D 3HF, UK
Tel: (020) 7440 3830 or 0845 101 1818 (holiday information and brochure request line).
Website: www.austria.info/uk or www.austriatourism.com/uk
No personal callers.

Embassy of the Republic of Austria in the USA

3524 International Court, NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA
Tel: (202) 895 6700 or 6711 (consular section).
Website: www.austria.org

Austrian Tourist Office (ATO) in the USA

120 West 45th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10036, USA
Tel: (212) 575 7723 or 944 6880.
Website: www.austria.info/us or www.austriatourism.com/us

Travel Advice

Warning

Most visits to Austria are trouble-free but you should be aware of the global risk of indiscriminate international terrorist attacks, which could be against civilian targets, including places frequented by foreigners.

There are complex driving laws in Austria, especially for caravan and motorhome owners. It is compulsory that cars are driven with headlights switched on throughout the day all year round. This regulation applies to all roads including city/towns. All drivers are required to have a warning vest.

Travellers intending to ski should be aware that during and around the winter season there is continued danger of avalanches in some areas of Austria. Even during summer time this danger still exists for snow covered areas. Travellers should take advice on weather and avalanche conditions before they travel and also whilst in the resort.

This advice is based on information provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK. It is correct at time of publishing. As the situation can change rapidly, visitors are advised to contact the following organisations for the latest travel advice:

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Tel: 0845 850 2829.
Website: www.fco.gov.uk

US Department of State
Website: http://travel.state.gov/travel

• Austria Overview
• Austria Things to See
• Austria Things to Do
• Austria Events
• Austria Climate
• Austria Public Holidays
• Austria Health
• Austria Currency
• Austria Passport & Visas
• Austria Contact Addresses
• Austria Travel Advice