286 Best Sights in Austria

Founded in 1077, the Hohensalzburg is Salzburg's acropolis and the largest preserved medieval fortress in Central Europe. Brooding over the city from atop the Festungsberg, it was originally founded by Salzburg's Archbishop Gebhard, who had supported the pope in the investiture controversy against the Holy Roman Emperor. Over the centuries the archbishops gradually enlarged the castle, originally using it only sometimes as a residence, then as a siege-proof haven against invaders and their own rebellious subjects. The exterior may look grim, but inside there are lavish state rooms, such as the glittering Golden Room, the Castle Museum (dedicated to life in the fortress over the centuries), and the Rainer's Museum, with its collections honoring Salzburg's former home regiment. There's also a torture chamber not far from the exquisite late-Gothic St. George's Chapel (although the implements on view came from another castle and were not used here). The 200-pipe organ from the beginning of the 16th century, played three times daily, is best heard from a respectful distance (it's called "the Bull" for a reason). Children will also enjoy the World of Marionettes, including the chance to try their hands at being a puppeteer. To reach the fortress, walk up the zigzag path that begins just beyond the Stieglkeller on the Festungsgasse, or take the 110-year-old Festungsbahn (funicular railway) from behind St. Peter's Cemetery. A standard entry ticket (€10.80) includes access to the castle area, the museums, and a descent on the funicular; an all-inclusive ticket (€17.40) allows you to go both ways by funicular and includes access to a multimedia theater exhibition.

Climb up the 100 tiny steps to the Recturm, a grand outpost with a sweeping view of Salzburg and the mountains.

There are a choice of entrances to the Mirabell Gardens—from the Makartplatz (framed by the statues of Roman gods), the Schwarzstrasse, and Mirabell Square—but you'll want to enter from the Rainerstrasse and head for the Rosenhügel (Rosebush Hill). That way, you'll arrive at the top of the steps where Julie Andrews and her seven charges showed off their singing ability in The Sound of Music. This is also an ideal vantage point from which to admire the formal gardens and one of the best views of Salzburg, as it shows how harmoniously architects of the Baroque period laid out the city. The center of the gardens—one of Europe's most beautiful parks, partly designed by Fischer von Erlach as the grand frame for the Mirabell Palace—is dominated by four large groups of statues representing the elements water, fire, air, and earth, and designed by Ottavio Mosto, who came to live in Salzburg from Padua. A bronze version of the winged horse Pegasus stands in front of the south facade of the palace in the center of a circular water basin. The most famous part of the Mirabell Gardens is the Zwerglgarten (Dwarfs' Garden), which can be found opposite the Pegasus fountain. Here you'll find 12 statues of "Danubian" dwarves sculpted in marble—the real-life models for which were presented to the bishop by the Landgrave of Göttweig. Prince-Archbishop Franz Anton von Harrach had the figures made for a kind of stone theater below. The Heckentheater (Hedge Theater) is an enchanting natural stage setting that dates from 1700.

Just 6 km (4 miles) south of Salzburg, Schloss Hellbrunn was the prince-archbishops' pleasure palace. It was built early in the 17th century by Santino Solari for Markus Sittikus, after the latter had imprisoned his uncle, Wolf-Dietrich, in the fortress. The castle has some fascinating rooms, including an octagonal music room and a banquet hall with a trompe-l'oeil ceiling. Look out for the homemade "unicorn." Hellbrunn Park became famous far and wide because of its Wasserspiele, or trick fountains. In the formal gardens (a beautiful example of the Mannerist style) owners added an outstanding mechanical theater that includes exotic and humorous fountains spurting water from strange places at unexpected times. You will probably get doused, so bring a raincoat. A visit to the gardens is highly recommended: nowhere else can you experience so completely the realm of fantasy in which the grand Salzburg archbishops indulged. The Monatsschlösschen, the old hunting lodge, contains an excellent folklore museum. Following the path over the hill you find the Steintheater (Stone Theater), an old quarry made into the earliest open-air opera stage north of the Alps. The former palace deer park has become a zoo featuring free-flying vultures and Alpine animals that largely roam unhindered. You can get to Hellbrunn by Bus 25, by car via the B150, or by bike or on foot along the beautiful Hellbrunner Allee past several 17th-century mansions. On the estate grounds is the little gazebo filmed in The Sound of Music ("I am 16, going on 17")—though the doors are now locked. To reach Schloss Hellbrunn from Salzburg Altstadt, take bus 25.

Consider going one stop further on the bus to the zoo; there's a lovely walk from here through the park into the palace gardens.

Opened in 2020, the Künstlerverein graces a Neoclassical palace and iconic Viennese building just steps away from the opera house and its sister, the famed Albertina Museum. Exhibits focus on modern and contemporary art, and the permanent collection features works by famous Austrians like Maria Lassnig and Arnulf Rainer, and leading international artists, including Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Anselm Kiefer, and Cindy Sherman.

One of the largest of the Hapsburg residences, the Albertina rests on one of the last remaining fortresses of the Old City. The must-see collection of nearly 65,000 drawings and almost a million prints is one of the most prized graphic collections in the world. All the Old Masters are showcased here: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt. The Batliner Collection includes excellent examples of French and German Impressionism and Russian avant-garde. The mansion's early-19th-century salons—all gilt boiserie and mirrors—provide a jewel-box setting. The excellent Do & Co restaurant, with a patio long enough for an empress's promenade, offers splendid vistas of the historical center, and the Burggarten is the perfect place to take a break.

Just across the Nibelungen Bridge from the Hauptplatz, this highly acclaimed "Museum of the Future," opened in 2009, pays tribute to the confluence of art, technology, and society. Permanent features at the museum include the 3D cinema room, which allows you to fly over Renaissance cathedrals or explore ancient civilizations, as well as exhibits on the latest developments in robotics and the origins of the universe—all with English explanations. As well as its permanent exhibits, the center also hosts annual festivals, with a different theme each year. Allow at least half a day to experience all the cybersites here. When you need a break, visit the Cubus bistro on the third floor for refreshments and a spectacular view overlooking the Danube and Lentos Kunstmuseum opposite ( www.cubus.at).

Founded in 1718, Europe's second-oldest porcelain factory is located in a former pleasure palace in Augarten Park, and is indeed a pleasure palace for lovers of handmade and painted porcelain. This company is renowned for its high-quality porcelain, delicate patterns, and constant innovation in its design and production. Augarten porcelain is still produced and painted by the hands of employees in the manufactory, just as it has been for almost 300 years. One wing of the factory houses a museum, designed around the 18th century bottle kiln that reaches to the rooftop of the first level. Guided tours of the factory (Monday to Thursday at 10:15 am and 11:30 am) take visitors behind the scenes to see creators at work and to explain the different phases of the process as well as the history and evolution of the art. Your wonder, appreciation, and awe at the final creations and the fact that it takes a porcelain artist three months to create them will be put to good use in the gift shop. Visitors looking for a more immersive experience can book a two-day seminar on the creation and painting of porcelain.

One of the most splendid pieces of Baroque architecture anywhere, the Belvedere Palace—actually two imposing palaces separated by a 17th-century French-style garden parterre—is one of the masterpieces of architect Lucas von Hildebrandt. Built outside the city fortifications between 1714 and 1722, the complex originally served as the summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Much later it became the home of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in 1914 precipitated World War I. Though the lower palace is impressive in its own right, it is the much larger upper palace, used for state receptions, banquets, and balls, that is acknowledged as Hildebrandt's masterpiece. The upper palace displays a wealth of architectural invention in its facade, avoiding the main design problems common to palaces: monotony on the one hand and pomposity on the other.

Hildebrandt's decorative manner here approaches the Rococo, that final style of the Baroque era when traditional classical motifs all but disappeared in a whirlwind of seductive asymmetric fancy. The main interiors of the palace go even further: columns are transformed into muscle-bound giants, pilasters grow torsos, capitals sprout great piles of symbolic imperial paraphernalia, and the ceilings are aswirl with ornately molded stucco. The result is the finest Rococo interior in the city.

Both the upper and lower palaces of the Belvedere are museums devoted to Austrian painting. The Belvedere's main attraction is the collection of 19th- and 20th-century Austrian paintings, centering on the work of Vienna's three preeminent early-20th-century artists: Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka. Klimt was the oldest, and by the time he helped found the Secession movement he had forged an idiosyncratic painting style that combined realistic and decorative elements in a way that was revolutionary. The Kiss—his greatest painting—is here on display. Schiele and Kokoschka went even further, rejecting the decorative appeal of Klimt's glittering abstract designs and producing works that ignored conventional ideas of beauty.

An ambitious 2016 European Union initiative brought 3D technology to the Belvedere. The project, entitled AMBAVis (Access to Museums for Blind and Visually-Impaired Persons), transformed Klimt's The Kiss into a remarkable and unprecedented interactive experience. Finger-tracking technology allows viewers to scan the relief, prompting audio to play. In conjunction with the Belvedere’s 300^th anniversary in 2023, the museum launched an augmented reality game sending players with their cell phones on a game of exploration, searching for creatures who may have hidden here in Prince Eugene’s time.

Seemingly lifted from the pages of a German fairy tale, Burg Kreuzenstein bristles with storybook turrets and towers. Sitting atop a hillside 3 km (2 miles) beyond Korneuburg, "Castle Cross-stone" is, in fact, a 19th-century architectural fantasy built to conjure up "the last of the knights"—Emperor Maximilian I himself. Occupying the site of a previously destroyed fort, the enormous structure was built by Count Nepomuk Wilczek between 1879 and 1908. Using old elements and Gothic and Romanesque bits and pieces, the castle was carefully laid out according to the rules of yore, complete with a towering Burgtor, "kennel" corridor (where attackers would have been cornered), Gothic arcades, and tracery parapet walls. Discover the Burghof courtyard, with its half-timbered facade and Baltic loggia, a festival and banquet hall, a library, a stained-glass chapel, vassal kitchens, and the Narwalzahn, a room devoted to hunting trophies (if you've ever wanted to see a "unicorn horn," here's your chance). Guided tours are available on the hour.

A group of falconers keeps peregrine falcons and other birds of prey near the castle grounds, and there are regular shows April through October.

The quickest and most pleasant way to reach the castle is to take the suburban train (S-Bahn) to Leobendorf, followed by a 45-minute uphill walk. Only cash payment is accepted, and there is no ATM at the castle.

How was a medieval castle built? The team at Burgbau are finding out, building a castle to exacting medieval standards: no electricity, no modern tools, and only natural materials. The aim is not only to build an "authentic" castle, but also to keep these heritage crafts alive. When complete, the complex will include a residential tower, residential building with a chapel, castle courtyard, farm buildings, and a castle garden. You will see stone workers, ironmongers, and carpenters at work and discover the how and why of medieval construction practices.

The remains of the important Roman legionary fortress and civil town of Carnuntum, which once numbered 55,000 inhabitants, extend about 5 kilometers (3 miles) along the Danube from the tiny village of Petronell to the next town of Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. The discovery here of an ancient school of gladiators delighted archaeologists and significantly raised Carnuntum's stature, and rightfully so. Visitors can tour the grounds, which include two amphitheaters (the first one seating 8,000) and the foundations of former residences, reconstructed baths, and trading centers—some with mosaic floors. The ruins are quite spread out, with the impressive remains of a Roman arch, the Heidentor (Pagans' Gate), a pleasant 15-minute walk from the main excavations in Petronell. You can experience what Roman life was like circa AD 380 in the elegantly furnished Villa Urbana. Many of the excavated finds are housed at the Museum Carnuntinum at Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. The star of the collection is a carving of Mithras killing a bull. Guided tours in English are available in July and August at noon; otherwise they are in German only.

This is one of the most impressive sights of the Eastern Alps—vast ice caverns, many of which are hundreds of years old and aglitter with ice stalactites and stalagmites, illuminated by an eerie light. The most famous sights are the Rieseneishöhle (Giant Ice Cave) and the Mammuthöhle (Mammoth Cave), but there are other caves and assorted frozen waterfalls in the area. The cave entrance is at about 6,500 feet, accessed via cable car and a hike (or you can hike all the way), but still well below the 9,750-foot Dachstein peak farther south. 

Be sure to wear warm, weatherproof clothing and good shoes; inside the caves it is very cold, and outside the slopes can be swept by chilling winds. Start before 2 pm to see both caves.

Set within the beautiful Domplatz with the Virgin's Column in its center, this gorgeous cathedral is considered to be the first early-Italian Baroque building north of the Alps. Its facade is of marble, its towers reach 250 feet into the air, and it holds 10,000 people. There has been a cathedral on this spot since the 8th century, but the present structure dates from the 17th century. The cathedral honors the patron saint of Salzburg, St. Rupert, who founded Nonnberg Abbey around 700, and also the Irish St. Virgil, the founder of the first cathedral, consecrated in 774, whose relics lie buried beneath the altar. Archbishop Wolf-Dietrich took advantage of the old Romanesque-Gothic cathedral's destruction by fire in 1598 to demolish the remains and make plans for a huge new structure facing onto the Residenzplatz to reaffirm Salzburg's commitment to the Catholic cause. His successor, Markus Sittikus, and the new court architect, Santino Solari, started the present cathedral in 1614; it was consecrated with great ceremony in 1628 during the Thirty Years' War. The church's simple sepia-and-white interior, a peaceful counterpoint to the usual Baroque splendor, dates from a later renovation. To see remains of the old cathedral, go down the steps from the left-side aisle into the crypt where the archbishops from 1600 on are buried. Mozart's parents, Leopold and Anna-Maria, were married here in 1747 and Mozart was christened, the day after he was born, at the 14th-century font. He later served as organist here from 1779 to 1781 and wrote some of his compositions such as the Coronation Mass specifically for the cathedral. It was a good fit, as this is the only house of worship in the world with five independent fixed organs. Today, they are sometimes played together during special church-music concerts.

On Sunday and all Catholic holidays, mass is held at 10 am—the most glorious time to experience the cathedral's full splendor.

For the first time since the early 1800s, you can look down on the original heart of Salzburg as once only the powerful archbishops could, as you walk the top-floor corridors surrounding the Domplatz that connect the Residenz (palace), Dom (cathedral), and St. Peter's Abbey. In the Residenz, see the magnificent State Rooms, including the Kaisersaal (Imperial Hall) and the Rittersaal (Knight's Hall). Of particular note are the frescoes by Johann Michael Rottmayr and Martino Altomonte depicting the history of Alexander the Great. Upstairs on the third floor is the Residenzgalerie, a princely art collection specializing in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art and 19th-century paintings of Salzburg. On the State Rooms floor, Mozart's opera La Finta Semplice premiered in 1769 in the Guard Room. Also included is the fascinating Dommuseum, with cathedral art from the 8th to 18th centuries, as well as the Museum St. Peter with valuable art treasures from the monastery's collections. You'll also enjoy a beautiful balcony view of the cathedral interior, as well as expansive vistas of the city. The interior walkways make it particularly appealing on one of Salzburg's frequent rainy days.

The state-of-the-art Galzigbahn cable car rises from the heart of St. Anton up to the Galzig mountain, where it connects with the two-part Vallugabahn and climbs even higher, crossing from the province of Tirol into neighboring Vorarlberg. As well as offering spectacular mountain vistas all along the way—the panoramic mountain views from the platform at 9,222 feet are simply breathtaking—there's also a great selection of hiking and biking trails, as well as restaurants and refreshment huts along the way. It's open in the summer from July through early September (when you pay for a 'pedestrian ticket') and in winter as part of the St. Anton ski resort (when cable car access is included in your ski pass).

Any walking tour of Innsbruck should start at the Goldenes Dachl, which made famous the late-Gothic mansion whose balcony it covers. In fact, the roof is capped with 2,657 gilded copper tiles, and its refurbishment is said to have taken nearly 31 pounds of gold. The house was built in 1420 for Frederick IV as the residence of the Tyrolean sovereign. The legend persists that he added the golden look to counter rumors that he was penniless, but the balcony was, in fact, added by Emperor Maximilian I in the late 15th century as a "royal box" for watching various performances in the square below. He had the roof gilded to symbolize the wealth and power of Tyrol, which had recently undergone massive financial reform. The structure was altered and expanded at the beginning of the 18th century, and now only the loggia and the alcove are identifiable as original. Maximilian is pictured in the two central sculpted panels on the balcony. In the one on the left, he is with his first and second wives, Maria of Burgundy and Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan; on the right, he is pictured with an adviser and a court jester. The magnificent coats of arms representing Austria, Hungary, Burgundy, Milan, the Holy Roman Empire, Styria, Tyrol, and royal Germany are copies. You can see the originals (and up close, too) in the Ferdinandeum. The Golden Roof building houses the Goldenes Dachl Museum with memorabilia and paintings from the life of Emperor Maximilian I.