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Hallstatt's church spire and lakeside houses on the Hallstätter See, under steep wooded mountains on a clear day
The yellow facade of Schönbrunn Palace in early morning sun, seen across the empty main courtyard
Hohensalzburg Fortress above Salzburg, seen from the north-east
The Upper Belvedere palace above its garden in Vienna
Melk Abbey above the Danube, seen from Emmersdorf
The entrance of the Eisriesenwelt ice cave in the cliffs above Werfen

Things to do in Austria: 28 experiences worth the trip

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Photo: C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0

Vienna

Tour Schönbrunn Palace on a timed ticket and walk to the Gloriette

Check dates and prices

Photo: Conny Duck, CC BY-SA 4.0

Salzburg

Walk up to Hohensalzburg Fortress

Check dates and prices

Photo: Andreas Stiasny, CC BY-SA 4.0

Vienna

See Klimt's The Kiss at the Upper Belvedere

Check dates and prices

Photo: Felix König, CC BY 3.0

Melk

Tour Melk Abbey's Marble Hall and library

Check dates and prices

Photo: Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0

Werfen

Tour the Eisriesenwelt ice cave above Werfen

Tours in Austria

Photo: Lianguanlun, CC BY 4.0

Austria works as three trips that join up along one railway: imperial Vienna with the Danube's Wachau valley as its day out, Salzburg with Hallstatt and the lakes of the Salzkammergut, and the Alps of Tyrol and the Hohe Tauern around Innsbruck. The list below runs roughly in that order, from Vienna westwards.

The one planning fact that shapes everything: the big Vienna sights now sell fixed time slots (Schönbrunn, the Hofburg, the Belvedere and, since September 2026, the Kunsthistorisches Museum), while the Alpine sights run on seasons. The Grossglockner road, the Eisriesenwelt, the Krimml trail and most summit lifts open from about May to early November, so a winter trip is a Vienna, Salzburg and Christmas market trip. The national tourism board, austria.info, has regional detail.

28 things to do in Austria

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The yellow facade of Schönbrunn Palace in early morning sun, seen across the empty main courtyard

Tour Schönbrunn Palace on a timed ticket and walk to the Gloriette

Vienna

3 to 4 hours with the gardensTimed entry

Walk the Habsburgs' summer palace through the private apartments of Franz Joseph and Sisi, then walk up through the free park to the Gloriette.

Check dates and pricesTwo-hour guided palace and gardens tour
Vienna's rooftops seen from the South Tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral

Climb the 343 steps of St. Stephen's South Tower

Vienna

No booking needed

Climb 343 tight spiral steps up St. Stephen's South Tower and look down on a roof tiled with the double-headed imperial eagle.

Tours in Austria
Stalls along the Naschmarkt in Vienna

Shop the Naschmarkt on a Saturday morning

Vienna

1 to 2 hoursFree

Shop Vienna's best known market on a Saturday morning, when the farmers are selling and a flea market sets up next door.

Tours in Austria
The auditorium and stage of the Vienna State Opera

Catch an opera at the Staatsoper from standing room

Vienna

Book ahead

Opera at the Staatsoper for €13 to €18: standing room is kept for every performance, with your own subtitle screen and no dress code.

Tours in Austria
The Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel at the entrance to the Prater

Ride the 1897 Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater

Vienna

No booking needed

Slow turns in the Prater's 1897 wheel, in the gondolas of The Third Man, with the Danube and St. Stephen's spire in view.

Tours in Austria
A giant panda at Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna

See the new giant pandas at Schönbrunn Zoo

Vienna

3 to 4 hoursNo booking needed

Meet Lan Yun and He Feng, the pandas who arrived from China in 2025, in a zoo that calls itself the world's oldest.

Tours in Austria
The vaulted hall of Café Central in the Palais Ferstel

Order a Melange at Café Central (closed for renovation in 2026)

Vienna

About 1 hourNo booking needed

A Melange and a slice of cake in the Central's vaulted hall, or at DECENTRAL a few steps away while the hall is closed.

Tours in Austria
The Upper Belvedere palace above its garden in Vienna

See Klimt's The Kiss at the Upper Belvedere

Vienna

1.5 to 2 hoursTimed entry

Stand in front of Klimt's The Kiss before the room fills, then walk down through the free palace gardens towards the centre.

Check dates and pricesUpper Belvedere timed entry with The Kiss
The Baroque Winter Riding School hall of the Spanish Riding School

Watch the Lipizzaners at the Spanish Riding School

Vienna

45 to 70 minutesBook ahead

White stallions in a Baroque hall inside the Hofburg: see them at a performance, or at the Morning Exercise from €17.

Tours in Austria
The Christmas market on Rathausplatz in front of Vienna's City Hall

Walk the Christmas market and ice rink at Rathausplatz

Vienna

1 to 2 hoursFree

Glühwein, roasted chestnuts and an ice rink in front of the neo-Gothic City Hall, at the biggest of Vienna's Christmas markets.

Tours in Austria
The Michaelertrakt wing of the Hofburg on Michaelerplatz

Visit the Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments in the Hofburg

Vienna

About 2 hours, more with the TreasuryBook ahead

The Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments of the Hofburg, on one ticket under the Michaelerkuppel dome.

Tours in Austria
The yellow façade of Mozart's Birthplace on Hagenauerplatz

Visit Mozart's Birthplace on Getreidegasse

Salzburg

About 1 hourNo booking needed

Stand in the house where Mozart was born and find his childhood violin and the clavichord that started the Mozarteum's collection.

Tours in Austria
Hohensalzburg Fortress above Salzburg, seen from the north-east

Walk up to Hohensalzburg Fortress

Salzburg

2 to 3 hoursGo alone or with a tour

Walk up to the fortress above Salzburg's old town, begun in 1077, by the city's count Central Europe's largest fully preserved castle.

Check dates and pricesFortress admission, funicular as an option
The Pegasus fountain in the Mirabell Gardens, Salzburg

Find the Do-Re-Mi fountain in the Mirabell Gardens

Salzburg

30 to 45 minutesFree

Find the Pegasus fountain where Maria and the children dance in The Sound of Music, with the fortress on the skyline behind.

Tours in Austria
The Neptune fountain in the trick fountains of Hellbrunn Palace

Get soaked at the Hellbrunn trick fountains

Salzburg

About 50 minutes, 2 hours with the parkBook ahead

A prince-archbishop's summer palace full of practical jokes, where the guests' seats spray water and the host's stays dry.

Tours in Austria
Hallstatt's houses and church spire on the shore of Lake Hallstatt

Photograph Hallstatt at dawn, before the day-trippers

Hallstatt

1 to 2 hours at first lightFree

Hallstatt faces east across its lake, so at dawn the first sun lights the houses and the classic view is yours before the coaches.

Tours in Austria
A wooden miners' slide inside the Hallstatt salt mine

Slide into the Hallstatt salt mine

Hallstatt

At least 3 hours with the funicularBook ahead

Go down the miners' wooden slides in the salt mine above Hallstatt, see the salt lake and ride out on the mine train.

Tours in Austria
The entrance of the Eisriesenwelt ice cave in the cliffs above Werfen

Tour the Eisriesenwelt ice cave above Werfen

Werfen

About 3 hours in totalBook ahead

Walk the first kilometre of a limestone cave more than 42 km long, coated in ice and usually below zero even in July.

Tours in Austria
Hairpin bends of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road among the mountains

Drive the Grossglockner High Alpine Road

Hohe Tauern

A full day with stopsNo booking needed

Drive 36 hairpins over the main Alpine ridge, up to 2,504 metres, then face Austria's highest mountain and the Pasterze glacier.

Tours in Austria
The Krimml Waterfalls dropping through forest in the Hohe Tauern

Hike up beside the Krimml Waterfalls

Krimml

30 minutes to 3 hoursNo booking needed

Climb beside water dropping 380 metres in three stages, on a zigzag trail with viewpoints right at the edge of the spray.

Tours in Austria
The Golden Roof balcony on Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, Innsbruck

See the Golden Roof in Innsbruck's old town

Innsbruck

15 minutes, 1 hour with the museumFree

A balcony roofed with 2,657 gilded copper shingles, from which Emperor Maximilian I watched tournaments in the square below.

Tours in Austria
Innsbruck and the Inn valley seen from the Nordkette

Ride the Nordkette lifts from Innsbruck to 2,269 metres

Innsbruck

Half a dayNo booking needed

Three lifts from the old town to Hafelekar at 2,269 metres, then a short climb to look north into the Karwendel.

Tours in Austria
The grass-covered Giant at the entrance to Swarovski Crystal Worlds

Explore Swarovski Crystal Worlds in Wattens

Wattens

2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed

A grass-covered giant's head with glowing eyes guards Swarovski's underground rooms of installations by artists and designers.

Tours in Austria
Melk Abbey above the Danube, seen from Emmersdorf

Tour Melk Abbey's Marble Hall and library

Melk

1.5 to 2 hoursGo alone or with a tour

One route through a Benedictine abbey on its rock above the Danube: the Marble Hall, a balcony over the river and the library.

Check dates and pricesDay trip from Vienna with Melk Abbey entry
Terraced vineyards above the Danube in the Wachau valley

Cycle the Wachau and taste Grüner Veltliner at a Heuriger

Wachau

A full day by bikeNo booking needed

Ride along the Danube between steep vineyard terraces and stop at a winemaker's own tavern for a glass of Grüner Veltliner.

Tours in Austria
The Kunsthistorisches Museum on Maria-Theresien-Platz, Vienna

See the Bruegel room at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Vienna

3 hoursBook ahead

The Habsburgs' art collection, planned around a room of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and a Kunstkammer of ivory, coral, gold and clockwork.

Tours in Austria
The 5fingers viewing platform on the Krippenstein above Lake Hallstatt

Stand on the 5fingers platform above Lake Hallstatt

Obertraun

Half a dayNo booking needed

A hand-shaped platform reaching out over a 400-metre drop, with Hallstatt, the lake and the inner Salzkammergut below.

Tours in Austria
A SchafbergBahn train at the Schafbergspitze summit station

Ride the SchafbergBahn cog railway from St. Wolfgang

St. Wolfgang

Half a dayNo booking needed

A cog railway running since 1893 climbs to 1,732 metres in 35 minutes, and the Salzkammergut lakes spread out around the summit.

Tours in Austria

Plan your trip

  • When to go

    May, June and September give you the mountains open and the cities without the July and August peak. The high Alpine sights are seasonal: the Grossglockner road runs from early May to early November, the Eisriesenwelt from early May to 1 November, the Krimml waterfall trail to the end of October and the Nordkette summit lifts from late April to 1 November. From mid November Vienna switches to Christmas markets: the one on Rathausplatz runs from 13 November to 26 December 2026, with the ice rink until 6 January.

  • How many days

    Seven to ten days covers the classic line. Give Vienna three full days (four if you add the Kunsthistorisches Museum and a Wachau day), Salzburg two plus a day for Hallstatt, and Innsbruck two, one of them up the Nordkette. The trains make this easy: Vienna to Salzburg takes under two and a half hours, Salzburg to Innsbruck under two, and Vienna to Innsbruck about four hours and a quarter. Add a car day for the Grossglockner and Krimml.

  • Getting around

    ÖBB Railjet trains link Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck many times a day, and city transport covers almost everything on this list in the three cities. A car pays off for the Grossglockner, Krimml and an early Hallstatt morning. Motorways and expressways need a vignette: in 2026 a digital one costs €9.60 for one day, €12.80 for ten days, €32 for two months and €106.80 for a year. Bought online, the two-month and annual versions only start on the 18th day, so short trips should buy the one-day or ten-day version, which can start at once. The Grossglockner road has its own toll on top.

  • Booking ahead

    Book these before you travel: Schönbrunn Palace and the Hofburg's Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments (fixed admission times; the palaces say genuine online tickets are sold only at imperialtickets.com), the Upper Belvedere (time slot tickets), the Kunsthistorisches Museum (time slots since 8 September 2026) and Spanish Riding School performances, whose cheaper categories sell out. The State Opera's standing places are sold on the day, online from 10:00 and at the box office from 80 minutes before curtain.

Questions travellers ask

Do I need a vignette to drive in Austria?

Yes, on motorways and expressways. The digital vignette costs €9.60 for one day or €12.80 for ten days in 2026 and can start immediately if you buy one of those two; online two-month and annual vignettes only become valid on the 18th day after purchase. 2026 is the last year the sticker version is sold. Toll roads such as the Grossglockner High Alpine Road charge separately.

Do you need to book Schönbrunn Palace in advance?

In practice, yes. Admission to the palace runs on fixed times, and the palace recommends buying online to secure a slot, warning that genuine tickets are sold online only at imperialtickets.com. The park around it is free and opens at 6:30.

How many days do you need in Vienna?

Three full days cover Schönbrunn, the Hofburg, the Belvedere, St. Stephen's and an evening at the opera. A fourth day fits the Kunsthistorisches Museum or a day trip west to Melk Abbey and the Wachau valley, best done by train to Melk and bike or boat onwards.

Is Hallstatt worth visiting?

Yes, if you avoid the middle of the day. About 780 people live there and around a million visitors arrive each year, mostly on short day trips. Visitors cannot drive into the centre and the car parks cannot be reserved, so arrive early, come by train and ferry, or stay the night.

When is the Grossglockner High Alpine Road open?

From early May to early November, weather permitting. In summer the gates open as early as 5:30; from 27 October 2026 the road runs from 8:00 to 17:00 and cars need winter equipment. A car day ticket costs €46.50 in 2026, less after 18:00 and in the autumn weeks.

When do the Vienna Christmas markets open?

The main market on Rathausplatz runs from 13 November to 26 December 2026, daily from 10:00 to 22:00, closing at 18:30 on 24 December. The ice rink on the same square stays open until 6 January 2027.

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