Austria, Vienna, the Danube and the Alps in one small country.

Austria fits into a trip and a half: an imperial capital with some of the best museums in Europe, the Danube among vineyards, mountain lakes and, to the west, the Alps. It is a small country of around nine million people with a good rail network, it uses the euro and it is in the Schengen area, so you enter with just your ID card. For travellers coming from Spain, there are two ways to see it: one city as a base with day trips, or an east-to-west route by train.

How to get there from Spain

The main gateway is Vienna-Schwechat (VIE), with direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities. Salzburg (SZG) and Innsbruck (INN) have fewer routes; if you cannot find a flight, fly to Vienna or Munich and continue by train. From Vienna airport to the centre, the CAT runs as a coach to Wien Mitte until October 2027, while the central stretch of the S-Bahn between Praterstern and Hauptbahnhof is closed for works. In the meantime, long-distance and regional trains leave from Wien Hauptbahnhof and Meidling: always check the station on ÖBB.

Vienna and its day trips

Vienna deserves three or four days: Schönbrunn, the Hofburg, the Museum of Fine Arts, standing-room opera and the cafés. Within one or two hours of the city there are day trips that do not require changing hotel:

• The Wachau, the Danube between Melk and Krems, with Melk Abbey, boat trips and cycling among the vineyards.
• Baden bei Wien, the Habsburgs' spa town, an hour by tram from the Opera, with Heiligenkreuz Abbey and Mayerling nearby.
• The Semmering, with its World Heritage mountain railway and the ski resort closest to Vienna.
• Lake Neusiedl, in Burgenland, with Rust and its storks and the Mörbisch lake festival.
• Carnuntum, the Roman town on the Danube, 45 minutes by train, and next to it Schloss Hof, Prince Eugene's palace.
• Eisenstadt, the court of the Esterházys and Haydn's town.
• The Rax, the Viennese people's mountain, with Austria's first cable car.
• And another capital: Bratislava, in Slovakia, an hour away by train or boat.

The west: Salzburg, lakes and Alps

To the south, two and a half hours by train over the Semmering, Graz, the capital of Styria, is the great city break from Vienna. About two and a half hours from Vienna by train is Salzburg, the city of Mozart and the summer festival, with its fortress above the Baroque old town. Next door, the Salzkammergut is lake country, with Hallstatt and its salt mine. Further west, Innsbruck is the Alpine capital of the Tyrol, with mountains at the end of its streets, and to the south, in Carinthia and Salzburg, the Hohe Tauern have the Grossglockner road and the Krimml waterfalls. A good route of a week or ten days goes from Vienna to Salzburg, the Salzkammergut and Innsbruck by train.

Getting around

The train is the natural way to get around Austria: it links Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck in a few hours and reaches almost every valley. For Alpine valleys and small villages, a car gives you freedom; Austrian motorways require a vignette, which you buy before entering them. You do not need a car in the cities.

When to go

May, June, September and October are the best months: pleasant temperatures, fewer groups and everything open. July and August are the festival and high-mountain season, with more people. December has the Christmas markets in Vienna and Salzburg. From December to March the Alps are for skiing; in Vienna it is dry and cold, and prices drop. Many seasonal services, such as the Wachau boats or the hotels on some lakes, close in winter.

What to eat

Austrian cooking is tavern and pastry-shop food: veal schnitzel, tafelspitz (boiled beef with apple and horseradish sauces), goulash, and a long list of sweets, from Sacher torte to apple strudel and the apricot Marillenknödel of the Wachau. The wine is mostly white: grüner veltliner and riesling from the Danube. In and around Vienna, the Heuriger is the winegrower's tavern serving its own wine of the year.