Austria

Located at the heart of Central Europe is Austria, a federal republic comprising nine states. The country has approximately nine million inhabitants and is known for its renowned classical composers: Mozart, Haydn, Shubert, Mahler, Strauss. Also born in Austria were psychologist Sigmund Freud, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, painter Gustav Klimt, actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwartzenegger, and failed-painter-turned-dictator Adolf Hitler. Furthermore, Austria is known of course for its Alpine peaks, Empress Sisi, the Wiener Schnitzel, and the Sound of Music.

Itinerary

Vienna – Salzburg – St. Wolfgang am Salzkammergut – Hallstatt – Gosau am Dachstein – Zell am see – Heiligenblut – Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse – Zell am Ziller – Innsbruck

Although Austria’s history goes back a long way, the country as we know it has existed for a relatively short time. What is now Austria was, in the thirteenth century, the heart of the Habsburg Empire, part of the Roman Empire, which encompassed much of present-day Europe. From the sixteenth century onward, the Austrian capital, Vienna, was also the capital of the Roman Empire. Following the demise of the Roman Empire, the Habsburgs founded the Austrian Empire in 1804. Wars in the mid-nineteenth century brought this empire to an end, leading to the formation of the dual kingdom of Austria-Hungary in 1867.

In 1914, the Habsburg heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo. This marked the beginning of the First World War. This war marked the end of Austria-Hungary, and in 1918, the Republic of Austria was founded. In 1938, the country lost its independence again: during the so-called “Anschluss,” Austria was invaded by Nazi Germany and incorporated into Germany. After World War II, Austria was occupied by the Allied Forces for another ten years. It wasn’t until 1955 when the country regained its independence.

Vienna

On a Monday evening late August, we fly to Vienna International Airport, located just southeast of the city, in just under an hour and a half. We take crowded but comfortable express train to Vienna Hauptbahnhof, the Austrian capital’s central station. Our hotel is conveniently located just a stone’s throw from this station.

Vienna is located in the far east of Austria, on the Danube River. It is one of Austria’s nine federal states and has over two million inhabitants; one-third of the entire Austrian population lives in the Vienna metropolitan area. The city is the political, economic, and cultural heart of the country.

On our first (sunny and warm) day in Vienna, we explore the old city center (the Innere Stadt). Vienna was granted city rights in the thirteenth century, and three centuries later, the city, which at that time only encompassed the present-day Innere Stadt, became the capital of the Roman Empire. Until 1850, the Innere Stadt was surrounded by city walls. Unfortunately, these had to make way for motorized traffic; where the city walls once stood is now the busy Ringstrasse. Since 2001, the entire Innere Stadt has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We take tram D from Vienna Hauptbahnhof and get off at the Wiener Staatsoper. Here we begin our city walk. The Wiener Staatsoper is one of the world’s most famous concert halls and was built in 1869. During World War II, the building was severely damaged; only the outer walls remained standing. After the war, the Staatsoper was restored to its former glory and remains a concert hall today. Around the corner from the Staatsoper is the Albertina Museum, which houses a collection including Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci. The museum is housed in one of the largest city palaces of the Habsburg Empire.

We stroll through the Burggarten, a tranquil park behind the Hofburg Palace, with statues of former Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (the latter attracting considerably more attention from visitors). As mentioned, the Burggarten lies behind the Hofburg Palace, a large imperial palace complex that formed the heart of Vienna until 1918. The Hofburg was the residence of the Habsburgs, the family that ruled the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire from here. The Hofburg Palace remains the seat of the Austrian government, but the palace complex also houses several museums and attractions, including the Imperial Residences, the Imperial Treasury, the National Library, the Sisi Museum, and the Spanish Riding School.

In front of the Neue Burg, the palace built in 1869 that served as the residence of Emperor Franz Joseph, is Heldenplatz (Heroes’ Square). Originally, a palace was planned to be built on the other side of Heldenplatz, but then the First World War broke out, marking the end of the Habsburg dynasty. So today, only one side of Heldenplatz has a palace: the Neue Burg (New Castle). Two statues stand on the square: one of Archduke Karl and one of Prince Eugene of Savoy. On the south side of the square stands the Ausseres Burgtor, the outer gate of the Hofburg Palace. Personally, I find Heldenplatz a bit of a dull expanse, primarily used as a parking lot. The Vienna city council could for sure make some improvements here.

If you walk through a gate from Heldenplatz, you’ll arrive at In der Burg, the inner courtyard of the Hofburg complex. On the right, the Schweizertor gate provides access to the Schweizerhof, home to the Imperial Treasury. At the time of our visit, In der Burg is undergoing considerable renovation work. Through another gate under the Hofburg complex, past the Sisi Museum and the Spanish Riding School, we arrive at Michaelerplatz. The eye-catcher of this beautiful historic square is the impressive entryway to the Hofburg complex.

A little further on is Josefsplatz, a large square with a statue of Emperor Joseph II in the center. The Nationalbibliothek, the Austrian national library, is located on the square. It was once the royal library of the Habsburgs and is worth a visit for its impressive eighteenth-century Prunksaal, or Great Hall, filled with old books and painted ceilings.

From Michaelerplatz, Kohlmarkt, a shopping street with luxury shops, leads to Graben, a wide street also lined with shops and, in the center, the seventeenth-century Pestsäule, a memorial to the victims of the plague. Graben ends at Stephansplatz, where St. Stephen’s Cathedral stands. The most striking feature of this cathedral (built in the twelfth century, but enlarged in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries), in my opinion, is the colorful roof with geometric patterns. If you like, you can climb the cathedral tower for a view of the city.

After lunch, we stroll through Stadtpark towards Schönlaterngasse, a photogenic street lined with restored houses with colorful facades, named after the lantern at number 6. We then arrive at Hoher Markt, a long square with the St. Joseph Fountain, dating from 1729, in the center. It’s remarkable that the fountain survived the Second World War, as the buildings surrounding the square all date from after that war, when the square was largely destroyed. A little further along the narrow Wipplingerstrasse stands the Altes Rathaus, Vienna’s former city hall, and opposite it stands the fourteenth-century Bohemian Court Chancellery, a government building built between 1708 and 1714.

Am Hof ​​is Vienna’s oldest square. On the northeast side of the square stands the former Civic Armory, now a fire station; on the east side stands the Kirche am Hof ​​(Church at the Hof); and the center of the square is marked by the Marian’s Column from 1667. At Am Hof 13 stands the seventeenth-century Palais Collalto, where the six-year-old Mozart reportedly gave his first public performance. Another beautiful square is the nearby Freyung, with the Austrian Fountain from 1845 in its center. The square is surrounded by stately eighteenth-century mansions, including the Palais Kinsky, Palais Harrach, and Palais Ferstel. We end our walk through the Innere Stadt at the Burgtheater, built between 1874 and 1888.

Our first day in Vienna isn’t quite over yet, because after a short tram ride, we visit the gardens of Belvedere Palace. Belvedere consists of two buildings: a Baroque palace on the south side and the lower Belvedere on the north side, with a 17th-century palace garden in between. Belvedere Palace was built between 1714 and 1722 and initially stood outside Vienna’s city walls. It was the residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (until his death in Sarajevo in 1914) and is now a museum of Austrian paintings.

Our second day in Vienna is also sunny and warm (around thirty degrees Celsius). In the morning, we take the U-Bahn (metro) and bus to Schönbrunn Palace, located five kilometers southwest of the Innere Stadt. We don’t enter through the main entrance, on the north side near the palace, but through a side entrance at the other end of the palace garden, on the side of the Gloriette. The Gloriette is a pavilion with colonnades on either side, which was used by Emperor Franz Josef as a dining room (and now serves as a café). From the stately building, you have a magnificent view of the palace garden below. At the other end of the palace garden stands Schönbrunn Palace itself, a palace built in 1696 that was expanded in the eighteenth century by adding wings on either side (a painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum shows the original palace). Schönbrunn Palace was Emperor Franz Josef’s summer palace and boasts no fewer than 1,441 rooms (forty of which are open to the public).

In the afternoon, we visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum. This museum is one of the world’s most important art museums and is housed in a magnificent palatial building on Maria-Theresien Platz. Opposite the Kunsthistorisches Museum, on the other side of the square, stands a similar building, which houses the Natural History Museum. Both buildings were constructed between 1871 and 1891 to house the Habsburg family’s vast collections and make accessible to the public. The Kunsthistorisches Museum boasts an impressive central hall with a wide staircase, richly decorated with marble, gold, and murals and painted ceilings. We visit the sections of the museum featuring, among others, Dutch, Belgian, and Italian paintings.

Salzburg

On Thursday evening, it’s time to leave Vienna and head to our next destination: Salzburg. We take the intercity train from Vienna Hauptbahnhof to Salzburg Hauptbahnhof, just under three hundred kilometers west of Vienna, in two and a half hours. It’s raining when we arrive, and it’s also cloudy the next morning when we set out to explore Salzburg. Salzburg’s city center is compact and straddles the Salzach River; the modern part, Neustadt, is on the north bank, and the old part, Altstadt, is on the south bank. Altstadt is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We start the day on the north bank with Schloss Mirabell (Mirabell Palace). This palace was built in 1606 by order of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau and was originally called Sloss Raitenau. In the 1720s, the palace was extensively renovated and given its current name: Schloss Mirabell. The palace is surrounded by a beautifully landscaped garden, the Mirabellgarten, which offers a beautiful view from the Rosenhügel (Rose Hill).

We cross the Salzach River via a pedestrian bridge into Altstadt. Cobblestone streets lead to the modest Rathausplatz (City Hall Square) with (of course) the Rathaus, which was initially a residential building and served as the town hall from 1407. A little further on, at Getreidestrasse 9, is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The composer was born here on the third floor in 1756.

We walk through a narrow alley to the Alter Markt (Old Market). This is the heart of Altstadt, a market square surrounded by 17th-century houses with colorful facades and, in the center, St. Florian’s Fountain from 1734. The square lives up to its name, as there is indeed a market. Around the corner from the Alter Markt is the Residenzplatz, so called because the Residenz stands on the west side of the square. The Residenz is a palace built between 1600 and 1619, which served as the main residence of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg. It now houses exhibition spaces. In the middle of Residenzplatz, where renovations are taking place during our visit, stands a fountain (apparently, every square in Austrian cities has a fountain), and the south side of the square is dominated by the Dom zu Salzburg, Salzburg’s cathedral.

The Altstadt is so compact that one square flows almost instantly into the next. From Residenzplatz, you immediately walk onto Mozartplatz, a somewhat smaller square with, of course, a statue (from 1842) of Salzburg’s most famous resident. On Domplatz, the square between the Residenz and the cathedral, a grandstand is being set up on the day we visit. Perhaps for “Mozart in Concert,” posters and flyers of which you see everywhere (I didn’t know Mozart is still touring 🙂 ).

Finally, we take the funicular to Festung Hohensalzburg (High Salzburg Fortress). The oldest parts of this medieval castle date back to 1077; in the centuries that followed, the complex was further expanded, including the addition of a 15th-century fortress wall with watchtowers. Festung Hohensalzburg stands atop the Festungsberg, over five hundred meters high, and offers stunning views of Salzburg and the Alpine mountains in the background.

Salzkammergut: St. Wolfgang and Hallstatt

It’s rainy when we pick up our rental car on Saturday morning and drive out of Salzburg. We enter the Salzkammergut region, a region of lakes and mountains. The Salzkammergut Mountains, to be precise, the eastern foothills of the Alps.

It’s not far to Lake Fuschl and then Lake Wolfgang. At the latter, we stop in a small village with the long name of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut and stroll through the narrow streets with views of the lake and houses built in typical Austrian architecture. The mountains are partly shrouded in cloud, and there’s frequent rain.

Then we arrive at our next destination: the picturesque village of Hallstatt. Overtourism is real in Hallstatt: thousands of tourists visit the small village every day. Busloads of tourists turn Hallstatt into a kind of Austrian version of the Dutch fishing village of Volendam. It’s understandable why all those tourists flock to Hallstatt: the village is beautifully situated on Hallstattersee (Hallstatt Lake), the Mühlbach waterfall cascades down from the mountains above, and the village and lake are surrounded on all sides by the mountains of the Salzkammergut. Super photogenic, and super busy.

After one rainy day, the next morning the sun manages to break through the clouds, and what follows is a sunny day. We start the morning with an early walk through Hallstatt – before the tourist buses arrive. Hallstatt is built on the narrow western shore of Hallstattersee, against the mountainside. The village has fewer than eight hundred inhabitants, who live in picturesque streets lined with houses with pastel-colored plastered facades. From a viewpoint on the north side of the village, you have a magnificent view of the Hallstatt ‘skyline,’ the lake, and the surrounding mountains. Very photogenic.

If you want to avoid the crowds in Hallstatt, walk south out of the village. That’s where the Echerntal (Echern Valley), begins. It’s wonderfully peaceful there. We first walk past some houses and then further into the valley, surrounded on three sides by the mountains of the Salzkammergut region. The trail runs partly through forests, past waterfalls and viewpoints with panoramic views of the mountains and the valley. We combine the Echern Valley Trail with the Glacier Garden Trail, making it a walk of over two hours. After lunch and back in the village, we take some more photos on the shore of the lake and then enjoy a relaxing afternoon.

Via Gosau am Dachstein to Zell am See

On Monday morning, we leave Hallstatt. A fifteen-minute drive away is another picturesque village: Gosau am Dachstein. This too is a small village, with approximately 1,800 inhabitants living in houses spread across a 14-kilometer-long valley, surrounded by the Dachstein Mountains, part of the Austrian Alps, most of which rise above 2,500 meters. It’s a beautifully scenic setting. A ten-minute drive south of Gosau lies the Vorderer Gosausee, a lake at 900 meters above sea level, with stunning views of the Dachstein massif. The Dachstein Glacier is unfortunately nothing more than a remnant of the ice mass that once reached from the mountains to the lake. Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful place.

We then continue along Route 166 (also known as the Salzburg Dolomitenstrasse) past the Tennen Mountains. The road winds past green mountain slopes and small villages. At the village of Mühlbach am Hochkönig, we turn onto a narrow road that winds up the mountainside and arrives at the Arthurhaus Hotel. Here we embark on a nearly nine-kilometer hike with views of the nearly three-thousand-meter-high Hochkönig, one of the highest mountains in this part of the Alps. Both the highest peak and the surrounding mountains are called Hochkönig; from a distance, it looks like a wide, massive granite wall. The weather is beautiful and sunny, and it’s a very pleasant hike; not too difficult, mostly flat, and with views of the mountain peaks on one side and the valley on the other. Oh, and we encounter plenty of cows along the way.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we arrive in the village of Bruck an der Grossglocknerstrasse, just south of Zell am See, where we spend the night.

Heiligenblut and Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse

Our plan was to drive the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse (Grossglockner High Alpine Road) on Tuesday, but because it’s a mostly cloudy and rainy day, and the visibility in the Hohe Tauern is therefore practically zero, we change our itinerary slightly. In just over two hours, we drive around Hohe Tauern National Park to the village of Heiligenblut, which lies on the south side of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse.

Just before arriving at Heiligenblut, we pass the Jungfernsprung, a beautiful waterfall that plunges high down the steep mountainside. Heiligenblut turns out to be a tiny village with about a thousand inhabitants, where there isn’t much to see, but it’s beautifully situated in a valley with the Grossglockner and Hohe Tauern in the background. We have lunch here and relax for the rest of the afternoon.

The next day, the weather is sunny, and we finally drive the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, not from north to south as planned, but from south to north. Immediately from Heiligenblut, the road climbs steeply. The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse has a total of 36 hairpin bends, which take you to its highest point, the Hochtor Pass at over 2,500 meters. The road is the highest and most spectacular road through the Austrian Alps, open only between May and November and only during the day. Construction began in 1930 and the road was completed in 1935. The road is named after the Grossglockner, at 3,798 meters Austria’s highest mountain.

It’s a magnificent route, with a new spectacular view after every hairpin bend. From the main road, the Gletscherstrasse leads to the Franz Josef Plateau, with breathtaking views of the Grossglockner, the surrounding peaks, and the Pasterze Glacier, at 8.4 kilometers long Austria’s largest glacier (the glacier has shrunk by 50 percent since the mid-twentieth century). Another side road leads to the Edelweissspitze. A narrow stretch of cobbled road leads to a viewpoint with a 360-degree panorama of the mountains of the Hohe Tauern National Park (which boasts more than 260 peaks over 3,000 meters).

On the northern side of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, the road gradually winds back down. Again, it’s a truly magnificent route and certainly one of the highlights (literally and figuratively) of the trip.

Krimmler Wasserfälle and Zell am Ziller

After the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, we drive to the Krimmler Wasserfälle (Krimmler Waterfalls). The waterfalls consist of three sections (hence the plural) and, with a total height of 380 meters, are the highest waterfalls in Austria. It’s quite a tourist attraction and quite crowded. We walk to the lower falls, where a large mass of water plunges down, creating a mist of droplets. We continue a bit further towards the upper falls, but don’t go beyond the viewpoint at the top of the lower falls. Then it’s another half-hour drive to Zell am Ziller, the largest village (population around 1,700) in the Zillertal, where we spend the night.

The next day is another beautiful, sunny day. There are countless hiking trails to choose from in the Zillertal valley. After breakfast, we drive to the village of Hart im Zillertal, park the car, and go for a 90-minute walk. The first section of the route climbs along the mountain slopes with views of the Zillertal and the Alps on the other side of the valley. Then we walk a short distance through forests, past small waterfalls, and return via a lower route.

Innsbruck

After our walk, we drive to the final destination of this trip: Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian state of Tyrol. Emperor Maximilian I ruled the Roman Empire from Innsbruck. The name Innsbruck derives from the bridge (brücke in German) over the River Inn. In winter, it’s a very popular winter sports destination. The city is beautifully situated against the impressive backdrop of the high Alpine peaks to the north.

Innsbruck has a compact city center. We walk past the (modern) Liberation Monument to the (classical) Triumphpforte (Triumphal Gate), built in 1765 and now the center of a busy intersection. Then we walk along Maria-Theresien Strasse, the main street of Innsbruck’s city center, lined with shops, terraces, and the Annasäule, a monument erected in 1706 to commemorate the victory over Bavarian troops three years earlier. Looking out from Maria-Theresien Strasse, you can see the mountains in the background, a beautiful combination of cityscape and mountainscape.

Maria-Theresien Strasse turns into Herzog Friedrich Strasse and ends at the Stadtturm, an observation tower built around 1460, and the Goldenes Dachl, a richly decorated balcony whose roof, commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I, features 2,657 gilded tiles (the house was built in 1420, the balcony was added at the end of the fifteenth century). We continue past the Hofburg, an imperial palace commissioned by Maximilian I in the fifteenth century, via the Leopoldsbrunnen fountain and Domplatz, where Innsbruck Cathedral stands. And of course, we take a look at the Inn River and the bridge (the Innbrücke) that gives Innsbruck its name.

Innsbruck is our last stop, and on Friday it’s time to head to the airport, return the rental car, and fly home from Innsbruck via Vienna. It’s been a very nice and interesting trip, with fascinating cities and amazing scenery, combining culture and nature, and Austria proving to be a worthwhile travel destination.