I've only seen pictures and it looks so beautiful. A friend of ours had been there and absolutely loved it. We're thinking about making it part of our trip to Europe this summer, should we? And what do you recommend seeing and doing there??

Yes! We went to Salzburg and Hallstatt last summer and loved them both. We spent two nights at each place. Hallstatt is amazingly beautiful, slow pace of life, fresh fish out of the lake, hiking, salt mines, great to just walk around the town.

Salzburg has so much to see: Sound of Music sites, Mozart sites, palace, castle, great food, architecture, churches, etc. etc. GO!

Yes, yes, wholeheartedly yes. We visited Vienna, Hallstatt, and Salzburg on our most recent trip to Germany and Austria, and those three sites ranked higher for us than anything in Germany. We greatly enjoyed Austria more as a whole.

In fact, we are planning on going back to all three cities on our next planned trip to Europe (hopefully next year).

It's a don't miss!!

yes.
depends om what you are interested in, time of the year.
We visited Vienna, Klagenfurt, Melk Krems and Baden.
We liked the history, art museum and great cafes in Vienna , as well as the country side.

We lived in Vienna for 2 yrs back in the early 1980's. We fell in love with Austria and now go back on vacation. We usually include Austria with visits to Germany and/or Switzerland.

Don't know how much time you have but areas we have visited over the years and would definitely recommend:

Vienna, of course (at least 3-4 days to see Hofburg Palace, Ringstrasse, Kaertnerstrasse, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Schoenbrunn Palace and a visit to a local "Heuriger&quot

Salzburg (a beautiful city that can be seen in 1-2 days depending on your intersts)

Salzkammergut (the area around Salzburg with many gorgeous lakes and mountains). You could spend a week here but 3-4 days should give you a good overview of Hallstatt, Wolfgangsee, Bad Ischl, etc.

Austrian Tirol - most people think of Innsbruck but Hall in Tirol has a larger "old town" due to its wealth from being a saltmining town. Hall could easily be seen in a day or two if you include a side trip to Innsbruck and a visit to Swarovski's Crystal World in nearby Wattens. We have also spent several days in the Achensee area. Lovely lake/mountain area not far from Innsbruck.

Other favorites in Austria are Graz and Klagenfurt, Grossglockner (one of the highest points in Austria).

There is no shortage of lovely scenery in Austria.

Hi sc,

Definitely.

What's your draft itinerary so far?

Austria is wonderful. If going to Vienna make a reservation to see an opera at the Statsopera house, memorable. See the catacombs below St. Stephens. Travel down the Grossglockner (?) highway -pegged as one of the most beautiful highways thorugh the Alps, it is truely beautiful, and stop by Joseph's Hole glacier that you can walk on. GO TO AUSTRIA!!!!!!

Austria is my most favorite country in the world. Try to spend as much time as possible in order to soak it in. All the places that others have named are definitely worth a visit.

The famous cities shouldn't be missed, but there are also lots of lovely Austrian picture-postcard villages you could visit. I can't even begin to name them all. Get yourself a good guidebook on Austria and read it thoroughly. The country is full of visual jewels and there is plenty of good hearty food wherever you go.

I would name my two favorite parts of the country. Salzkammergut has already been identified, and my other favorite is Styria -- less visited by tourists and full of great little villages, castles, cathedrals, and the like. Study a guidebook and you'll be rarin' to go. Good luck.

Thanks for all of your advice. With all of the places we are thinking of, we might have to visit Austria on our next visit, and look forward to it. Our previous visit to Italy was a little rushed in retrospect, so we are going to go again and take our time, and maybe see Switzerland also.

Hi schnookies,

Recommend visiting Austria?
Absolutely!

What would I recommend? So many beautiful places, but just a few of our favorites that include Salzburg, the Salzkammergut, Hall in Tirol, Zell am See, the spectacular Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, Heiligenblut, Soelden and on and on. Do check out some guide books and websites.
We can help you better once we have an idea of what interests you.

Paul

More support for Hall-in-Tyrol and Graz, and all of the above.