My husband and I are flying into Vienna on April 26th and would like to spend 3 nights in the countryside before making our way back to Vienna. I know that the weather will not be ideal but we are using FF miles so it will have to do. Here is my question: we are trying to decide where to spend the three nights. We have been to Vienna before and have also spent a fair amount of time in the Austrian countryside. We spent almost a week in the Berchtesgaden area in 2005 and explored much of the Salzkammergut. We also spent a day in the Wachau Valley biking through the villages.

We are unsure of whether we should head back to the Salzkammergut, perhaps basing ourselves in St. Gilgen for the three nights, or instead choose a region we haven’t yet visited before. We would like to stay within 3 hours or so of Vienna so the Tirol region is probably not an option, much as I would love to go back there. We are curious about the area around Klagenfurt but our initial research on the area isn’t proving to be all that helpful. Can anyone tell me more about this region? I’m also not really familiar with the region between the Wachau Valley and the Salzkammergut; is there anything of interest there? Does anyone else have a great region in Austria to recommend?

I am 28; my husband is 30. We are interested in smaller towns or villages in the countryside, preferably in the mountains. We like trying local wine and beers and love visiting interesting towns, checking out some castles, visiting beautiful churches and just relaxing in a beautiful countryside as we eat our fair share of apfelstruedel and chocolate croissants. We do like to hike, but I’m not sure if the weather will be favorable enough.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for any/all help!
Tracy

t

Thank you PalenQ...surely someone has been to the Austrian countryside and could give me some advice?!

Tracy

Well the Wachau Valley is great

between Melk and Krems - boats go and there are bike paths and i think the boats can provide bikes to mix with them.

cute wine villages dot the way. A gorge-like stretch of Danube. 3 nights may be one too many but if into hiking, biking this is one of Europe's premier such areas.

Melk is of course famous for its famous historic abbey

Richard-the-LionHearted was gaoled in Durnstein in the now ruined castle above town when he was nabbed on his return from some Crusade.

We loved the few mile walk thru vineyards from Durnstein to Krems, a much large but still neat town.

Trains go on the north side of the river. www.ddsg-blue-danube.at for boat schedules on the major line but there are others as well.

And in this area, from St Polten i think, goes the Mariazellbahn narrow-gauge mountain railway tdo Mariazell, a famous pilgrimmage church and town nestled up in the bucolic Austrian Alps so there is lots to do in the area.

I have been to the Karnten area and it is beautiful, the lakes, mountains, the food, the villages, just beautiful.

Well, you "should" go to (stay in) Rust in Burgenland, visit Sopron (Ödenburg), Forchtenstein, Eisenstadt, Franz Liszt birthplace and of course Carnuntum. The wine from Rust is (among) the best in Austria.

We spent the day in the Wachau Valley and loved it; we rented bikes and biked from town to town before taking the train back to Krems and all in all it makes for one of my favorite vacation day memories. I'm not sure if we want to spend 3 nights there, though, as we really prefer the mountains if we can get it.

I'll have to research the Karnten area, as I've never heard of it! Where abouts is it located?

logos, Rust is one of the towns we found online that sparked our interest. Thank you very much for the other town suggestions! You've given me a great place to start some research.

Thanks everyone!
Tracy

Carinthia with its capital Klagenfurt is one of Austria's top tourist destinations. (I hope I do not sound too much like a travel agency rep)
As end of April is still the low season, finding a place to stay should be no problem whatsoever.

Klagenfurt itself is a nice town with many historic buildings.

One of the most outstanding historical landmarks is Hochosterwitz Castle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochosterwitz_Castle

Other attractions are clearly more "touristy", like Minimundus, all the world (i.e. models of many world sights) in a theme park.
http://www.minimundus.at/englisch/frame_ueber_uns.htm

Whereever you go, you will find pittoresque villages, churches like the cathedral at Gurk, one of the most important romanesque buildings in Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurk_Cathedral

The northern part of Carinthia is dominated by the Hohe Tauern mountains, while Klagenfurt and the lakes get a very mild climate. To the south again more mountains, the Karawanken which also form the border to Slovenia.

I think you will need a car to explore the area.

t

Wow...you guys are wonderful!! You've given me tons of great information...sometimes its hard to do research until you know what your looking for so this will be a great jumping off point. Cowboy, thank you so much for all of the links. I'm going to check them out right now!

By the way, we will have a car. I guess I should have stated that in my original post. I'm one of those "pro automobile" people when it comes to exploring the countryside.

Thanks again!
Tracy

When we lived in Vienna, we made several trips to Mariazell. It was one of our favorites. We also visited Rust/Burgenland, which is a great wine area as mentioned.

You've received many other good suggestions including Carinthia/Klagenfurt and the Wachau.

Tracey, you pretty much can't go wrong with any place you choose in Austria!

Thank you all so much again for your replies and suggestions.

I did some research last night on the Klagenfurt region and it does look interested. We are hoping for some Alpine scenery though, and I can't really tell how mountainy the region is. Can anyone shed some light on that for me?

Thanks!
Tracy

>how mountainy the region is
It's between high alpine and moderate (from west to east). The Großglockner area is most impressive if you're interested in the high alps. I still find the "Nationalpark Hohe Tauern" to be one of the most beautiful places in Austria. If you like hiking you'll find solitude and maybe see an eagle fly. Klagenfurt is NOT in high alpine territory. The neo-conservative government of Corinthia is known for sometimes overdoing the "German heritage". But they managed to keep rather large areas (National Park) free of lifts and to much human intervention.

If you are heading from Vienna, you might consider Semmering, which is a wonderful small mountain town. You could then go to either Graz or Klagenfurt. We stayed in Semmering at Hotel-Pension-Loeffler. A really nice place indeed. The scenery on the train ride to Semmering is truly spectacular!

singfree, I'm so glad you mentioned Semmering because we found a picture of it in a guidebook a few weeks ago and thought that the town looked lovely. I wrote down the name to do more research on it, but I didn't find much online. It looked like the town is surrounded by the mountains; is this correct? How big is the town?

We just got back from Japan so I haven't been doing as much research as I should be, but I'll be putting in some more research time shortly so I'll gladly take all the suggestions I can get!

Thanks!
Tracy

The town of Semmering is fairly small. It's pretty, but I don't know if late April/early May is the best time to visit it. OTOH...when we went through it in March of this year on our way to Graz, it was a balmy, sunny day and no snow on the ground anywhere in Semmering. Two years earlier, on the exact same day, it was covered in deep snow (which I loved, I spent the afternoon walking through snowy paths breathing in the fresh mountain air).

We love Steiermark/Styria and go there whenever we can. We like staying in the "chocolate box" village of Seckau (www.seckau.at) which doesn't have a lot of touristy sites on its own, but it has a lovely hotel with good food (www.hofwirt.at) and is in a great, picturesque hiking area well off the beaten track. It's also near Piber, home to the Lipizzaner horse farm.
http://www.piber.com/index.php?id=306
As with Semmering, however, that time of year is a bit risky...a long, snowy winter could make it possibly unsuitable for hiking in late April/early May.

Does anyone have an opinion on St. Johann im Pongau and day trips from there? We have a condo there for in week next June. Thanks in advance.

For what it's worth, my hubby and I spent 9 days in Sept. in the Dachstein area in a small village called Haus. The area is gorgeous. Lots of hiking trails. Don't think it's within 3 hours drive from Vienna though.