17 Best Bars in Austria

The city's coolest cocktail bar can be found within this long and atmospheric vaulted cellar just off the Hauptplatz. Expert mixologists serve an array of unique, crafty cocktails, incorporating everything from port wine to peanut butter.

The bar in the Burg hotel in Oberlech features live music most nights.

In a cavernous subway station, Café Carina is dazzling in its dinginess. It's offbeat, artistic, and action packed—you get the sense that anything can happen here, from an air-guitar competition to an evening of 1980s hits. On weekends expect it to be packed.

In the MuseumsQuartier, this café-bar is hidden inside the large, white cube that is the Leopold Museum. Tables are scattered outside on the plaza at night, and in summer the restaurant morphs into a bar and trendy hangout in the evenings.

Located in the center of town, this place is full of character and has many dedicated fans. It's good for late-evening cocktails and attracts a somewhat more mature and relaxed clientele who prefer conversation to partying.

Many like to stop here for a cold beer, but you should ponder the historic vibes, too. In this old inn Richard Mayr—a star of Vienna's State Opera House—was born. He later became one of the organizers of the music festival. After studying the parlor of Mayr's parents—a dark, wood-carved, neo-Gothic interior from the end of the 19th century—head for a table and order yourself a drink or a bite to eat.

The bar at the Goldener Berg is usually a hot après-ski spot, often with live music.

This upstairs bar is wildly popular and has built up a jazz-loving clientele. In the winter it's something of an après-ski hangout. You can expect lots of events here, from guest DJs to jam sessions and party nights.

Near the Naschmarkt, Johnny's is the classic, every-city-has-one good old Irish bar. Good beer, inexpensive meals, quiz nights, and live music make this pub a popular hangout.

Known for its wide choice of beer—the drink of choice here rather than cocktails—Krahvogel is also something of a gastropub, with regional and international cuisine on offer. It's on one of Innsbruck's busiest shopping streets and attracts a good cross-section of customers, from tourists to local office workers and students.

The bar in the Romantik Hotel Krone is open, and remains quite lively, until 2 or 3 am.

In the center of town, Kuhstall (meaning cowshed) in the winter is a rocking, ultrapopular après-ski bar with a rustic theme. It also opens briefly in the height of summer.

Young people flock to this popular watering hole. It gets packed by fans and racers alike on big ski-race days, and can be just too crammed to get in.

Raucous, mind-boggling, and legendary, the Mooserwirt, on the piste side above St. Anton, has carved a reputation as one of skiing's most famous—or notorious—nightlife spots. By all accounts, owner Eugen Scalet decided to "kill the cows and milk the tourists" by turning his parents' farmhouse into one of the world's rowdiest après-ski bars. It's said to sell the second-largest amount of beer annually of any bar in Austria. It has a boutique (soundproofed) hotel next door—the ultimate ski-in, ski-out destination.

This popular live-music bar in the heart of St. Anton opens early and closes late, making it equally appealing for a post-slopes beer or a big night out. Unlike many of the bars in St. Anton, it's also open during the summer season. Try to catch a set from regular Gunar Franzoi, whose sublime guitar shredding has patrons dancing on the tables.

It might feel like an ancient timbered converted barn, but Trofana Alm is actually one of the most successful and slick après-ski bars in the Alps. Open from 3 pm, it switches at 7 pm from dance venue to romantic candlelit restaurant, then at 11 it's back to full-on nightclub and disco.