Fodor's Expert Review Pöstlingberg

When you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Linz, just hop on the electric railway Pöstlingbergbahn for a scenic ride up to the famous mountain belvedere, the Pöstlingberg. The narrow-gauge marvel has been making the journey since 1898, and today the line extends to Hauptplatz. Europe's steepest non-cog mountain railway gains 750 feet in elevation in a journey of roughly four kilometers (2½ miles) in just 20 minutes, with neither pulleys nor cables to prevent it from slipping. Halfway up is the Linz Zoological Garden and a children's petting zoo, but it's at the top where you'll enjoy the best views, with the city and the wide sweep of the Danube filling the foreground and the snowcapped Alps on the horizon. Also here is the Church of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin (Sieben Schmerzen Mariens), an immense and opulent twin-towered Baroque pilgrimage church (1748) visible for miles around. Kids will enjoy the Grottenbahn, or Dragon Express, where they're whisked through a world of dwarves, forest creatures, and other fairy-tale folk, while adults can drink in the views—along with a glass of chilled white wine—from the terrace of the Pöstlingberg Schlössl restaurant.