Best Places to Visit in Austria, Top Attractions

Austria, one of Europe's most popular holiday destinations, attracts tourists year-round with places to visit in both summer and winter. Boasting the rugged tips of the Eastern Alps and the glacial caps of the Hohe Tauern, quaint medieval towns built with timber and set in the shadow of soaring mountaintops, regal cities forged by the hands of Habsburgs and Holy Roman Emperors, the world’s most famous coffee culture and sweeping forests of fir, beach and hornbeam, there’s no question that Austria is one of the handsomest countries on the European continent! Here, we delve into its major metropolises and backcountry spots to spy out all the must-see destinations this glorious nation of ski fields and strudels has to offer. In fact, with some of Europe's finest skiing, winter is almost as busy as summer in the country's spectacular mountain regions. Visitors are drawn as much for the scenic beauty of this Alpine republic's provinces as they are for splendid cities like Vienna (Wien), the historic capital, and beautiful Salzburg, birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. One of Europe's smallest countries, Austria is predominantly a nation of upland areas and high mountains, with the Eastern Alps occupying a good 60 percent of its territory. The River Danube flows for about 350 kilometers from west to east through the northern part of the country, adding to its allure as a tourist destination. The magical places to visit in Austria are known to offer the tourists with loads of once in a lifetime opportunity. Heading over to these places, you will come across some of the heritage constructions that date back to ages in the past, natural landscapes that are just no less than a paradise, and adventure getaways that pump the adrenaline faster in your veins. Plan out a trip to the top tourist places in Austria with your loved ones in the next holiday vacation to wander around the iconic attractions and make some everlasting memories. The most interesting fact about the tourists attractions in Austria is that they offer the tourists with a wholesome experience that is hard to find elsewhere starting from history, heritage, architecture, and pristine beauty.

#1- Kunsthaus Graz
Not only does the Graz Art Museum house a delightful variety of iconic artworks, it’s building itself is also a work of art. Architectural elegance meets artistic creativity in every part of this structure, making it a memorable place to visit.

#2- Sonnentherme Lutzmannsburg
Have fun on the water slides, lounge beside the pools, relax in the saunas and steam baths, and have a soothing massage session as you enjoy yourself in the thermal environment of Sonnentherme Lutzmannsburg.

#3- The Wienerwald
One of the more off-the-beaten-track destinations to make this list of Austria’s must-sees, the Wienerwald lurks just on the peripheries of Vienna and represents one of the favoured outdoors spots for locals looking to escape the capital for a spell of hiking or biking. In all, the woods of the Wienerwald run for 45 kilometers from the Danube basin, rising in steps and becoming more rugged as they reach the Northern Limestone Alps and Upper Austria.

#4- Goldenes Dachl
A landmark structure in Innsbruck, the Goldenes Dachl is renowned for its fiery copper-tiled ceiling that glows fiercely in the sun and attracts the eye from far off. Its mural covered interiors are just as lovely to experience as its exteriors.

#5- Bürserschlucht Gorge
Hike through the beautiful, naturally rich Bürserschlucht Gorge, enjoying the whispering of the wind and the gurgling of the brook in the unbroken silence of nature. This is a very memorable experience to enjoy in Vorarlberg.

#6- Hallstatt
Hallstatt has been risen from its valley amidst the gorgeous Salzkammergut to become something of the poster boy for Alpine Austria and its charming medieval towns. It comes complete with terraces of ivy-clad, half-timbered chalets that glow in hues of pink and wood-brown against the reflections of the shimmering Hallstätter See, and is oft hailed as the single most beautiful town in the country. 

#7- Feldkirch
The action centres on fairy-tale Marktgasse, which bustles with authentic beer houses and Rhineland eateries, while it’s the soaring Schattenburg Castle crowning the hillsides just on the edge of town that really draws the eye; a formidable collection of four keeps and fortified bulwarks that was once the home of the Montfort Earls.

#8- Bad Gastein
Bad Gastein bursts forth from the deep valleys of the Hohe Tauern National Park in an elegant and irresistible medley of Belle Époque and Art Deco. In the middle of the town, the gushing cataracts of the Gastein Waterfall crash around the pretty facades of 19th-century hotels and restaurants, while fir forests rise on all sides and enfold the whole centre in a symphony of green.

#9- Salzburg
No list of Austria’s must-see destinations could possibly be complete without a mention of Salzburg; a melange of magical Baroque and medieval architecture that hits its stride with one chocolate box of a UNESCO-attested Old Town. It was here that Mozart found his romantic muse, here that Julie Andrews yodelled in the valleys; here that the Salzburger bishops raised the mighty Hohensalzburg Castle to command the salt-rich hillsides that roll out towards Bavaria in the distance.

#10- Vienna
Vienna is a medley of majestic Baroque facades, elaborate palaces and romantic parks. In the centre of town the mighty Hofburg spreads its grand and neoclassical wings around the manicured Heldenplatz, while the totemic institutions of the Museumsquartier stand nearby, bursting with works by Klimt, Picasso and Warhol.

#11- Hochosterwitz Castle
It’s hailed as one of the most magnificent citadels in all of Europe, and boasts a history going back more than 1,000 years, encompassing tales of Carinthian dukes, Habsburg emperors and the fear of Turkish invasions from the east. Travellers can scale to the top of Hochosterwtitz along the old fortified entrance path, passing no fewer than 14 defensive gates as they go and watching as panoramas of Slovenia and East Austria unfold on all sides.

#12- The Grossglockner
A symphony of peaks and glacial valleys that rises to the Kleinglockner sub-summit before hitting its highest point on the Grossglockner proper, the mountain is now the second most popular tourist attraction in the country (second only to the Schönbrunn in Vienna). People come to hike in the glorious Alpine landscapes all around the peak, or to traverse the iconic High Alpine Road that hairpins around the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe viewpoints and 2,500-meter-high mountain passes.

#13- Alpbach
Surrounded by blooming meadows of buttercups, poppies and rock jasmine by summer and more than 145 kilometers of groomed skiing runs by winter, travelers can explore a medley of timber chalets and traditional Austrian homes adorned with cascading bougainvillea and carved balconies, not to mention the gorgeous St Oswald Church, where the eminent Erwin Schrödinger lays resting.

#14- Finkenberg
The charming little Tyrolean town of Finkenberg can be found cascading down a hillside in the depths of the magnificent Zillertal Valley, a medley of rustic timber homes and Austrian taverns that’s draped in pillows of packed snow by winter and enfolded by evergreen Alpine peaks during the warmer months of the year.

#15- Imst
The town itself is a charming affair of tight-knit roadways watched over by the occasional Germanic church spire or snow-dusted onion dome, while the bucolic surroundings consist of rolling farm fields, soaring limestone summits, sweeping spruce and fir forests, the occasional timber barn and countless winding hiking and mountain biking trails to boot!