286 Best Sights in Austria

One of Vienna's major crossroads, the Graben's unusual width gives it the presence and weight of a city square. Its shape is due to the Romans, who chose this spot for the city's southwestern moat (Graben literally means "moat" or "ditch"). The Graben's centerpiece is the effulgently Baroque Pestsäule, or Plague Column. Erected by Emperor Leopold I between 1687 and 1693 as thanks to God for delivering the city from a particularly virulent plague, today the representation looks more like a host of cherubs doing their best to cope with the icing of a wedding cake wilting under a hot sun. Protestants may be disappointed to learn that the foul figure of the Pest also stands for the heretic plunging away from the "true faith" into the depths of hell.

A visit to this 400-year-old bell foundry includes a tour of the foundry and a fascinating little museum, which will give you an idea of how bells are cast and tuned. There's also a sound chamber where you can try your hand at bell ringing and a shop where you can buy a (smaller) bell of your own. Guided tours in English can be arranged.

This is the excursion over the longest and most spectacular highway through the Alps. The road was completed in 1935, after five years of labor by 3,200 workers. From Heiligenblut the climb begins up the Carinthian side of the Grossglockner Mountain. The peak itself—at 12,461 feet the highest point in Austria—is to the west. The Grossglocknerstrasse twists and turns as it struggles to the 8,370-foot Hochtor, the highest point on the through road and the border between Carinthia and Salzburg Province.

A side trip on the Edelweiss-Strasse leads to the scenic vantage point at the Edelweissspitze. It's an unbelievable 360-degree view out over East Tyrol, Carinthia, and Salzburg, including 19 glaciers and 37 peaks rising above the 9,600-foot mark. The rare white edelweiss—the von Trapps sang its praises in The Sound of Music—grows here. Though the species is protected, don't worry about the plants you get as souvenirs; they are cultivated for this purpose.

It is strictly forbidden to pick a wild edelweiss (or several other plant species).

You can get somewhat closer to Grossglockner peak than the main road takes you by following the highly scenic but steep Gletscherstrasse westward up to the Gletscherbahn on the Franz-Josef-Plateau, where there is a visitors' center and hiking trails with absolutely breathtaking views of the Grossglockner peak and surrounding Alps, of the vast glacier in the valley below, and, on a clear day, even into Italy. You might see marmots and even ibex.

Designed by the late Hans Hollein, one of Austria's best-known contemporary architects, who died in 2014, the Haas-Haus is one of Vienna's more controversial buildings. The modern lines contrast sharply with the venerable walls of St. Stephen's just across the way, which can be seen in the mirrored facade of the Haas-Haus. It now houses the Do & Co. Hotel as well as shops and offices.

This triangular area was converted from a swampy pastureland to a town square by traveling merchants in 1164; today it's the central meeting spot of Graz. In its center stands the Erzherzog Johann Brunnen (Archduke Johann Fountain), dedicated to the popular 19th-century patron whose enlightened policies did much to develop Graz as a cultural and scientific center. The four female figures represent what were Styria's four main rivers; today only the Mur and the Enns are still within the province. The Luegg House, at the corner of Sporgasse, is noted for its Baroque stucco facade. On the west side of the square are Gothic and Renaissance houses. The spectacular, late-19th-century Rathaus (City Hall) totally dominates the south side. From the Neue-Welt-Gasse and Schmiedgasse you get a superb view of the Hauptplatz.

It's easy to find the Hauptplatz (main square), with its old town hall and gleaming, multicolor, pastel facades. As you stroll you'll discover aspects of the medieval-era town: beautiful stone houses, the double wall, and the towers, gates, and water-filled moat.

One of Vienna's newest museums explores what it means to be Austrian today through the lens of culture and events since the founding of the democratic republic in 1918. Exhibits tackle themes from the growth of fascism, Nazi occupation, post-WWII development, inequality, and immigration. You'll find everything from original footage of Vienna after the end of the First World War, displays on the complicity of locals in the rise of fascism, the dress that Austria's most famous drag queen Conchita Wurst wore when she won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest for Austria, and the infamous USB stick with “Ibiza” footage that brought down the Austrian government in 2019.

Just a five-minute drive south of Petronell, the tiny village of Rohrau was the birthplace of Joseph Haydn—and the quaint, reed-thatched cottage where the composer, son of the local blacksmith, was born in 1732 is now a small museum. You'll see a pianoforte he is supposed to have played, as well as letters and other memorabilia. The furnishings are homey, if a bit spartan. After Haydn had gained worldwide renown, he is said to have returned to his native Rohrau and knelt to kiss the steps of his humble home. Concerts are occasionally held on the grounds.

The composer Joseph Haydn lived in the simple house on a street that now bears his name from 1766 until 1778. Now a house museum—the house itself, with its original wall paintings and flower-filled courtyard, is quite delightful— it contains several first editions of his music and other memorabilia. There are also some fun interactive exhibits, including a miniature scene from Haydn's opera La fedeltà premiata. English-language guided tours are available for an extra fee of €29 per group; call to book in advance.

Joseph Haydn spent the last twelve years of his life at this house and so it's fitting that the permanent exhibition at his final residence-turned-museum focuses on the last years of the composer's life. The museum is small but offers insight into the Vienna of Haydn's last days as well as an opportunity to stand where one of the world's greatest composers stood and imagine him at work in this very space. You'll see his fortepiano and his clavichord (which was later owned by Brahms), as well as medals, certificates, and gifts Haydn had received and displayed with pride. The small garden has been re-created according to historical models, so you can sit here and imagine the great master admiring his fruit trees as he created melodies. Haydn bought the house—which was then considered to be in the suburbs—and added another floor, where his valet stayed. He moved in at the age of 65 in 1797 and lived here until his death on May 31, 1809. He was the most famous composer in all of Europe in the final years of his life and displays on the ground floor of the house show portraits and comments from his many famous visitors. These last years were also one of the most creatively productive periods of his life; Haydn created the two oratorios “The Creation” (1796–1798) and “The Seasons” (1799–1801) while living here. There's a first-edition score of the latter on display.

Off the narrow streets and alleys behind the Stephansdom is this peaceful spot, approximately ½ km (¼ mile) from the cathedral. The beautiful Baroque courtyard has the distinct feeling of a retreat into the 18th century.

The Neue Burg was never completed and so the Heldenplatz was left without a discernible shape, but the space is punctuated by two superb equestrian statues depicting Archduke Karl and Prince Eugene of Savoy. The older section on the north includes the offices of the federal president.

The twin red-brick towers of the neo-Gothic Herz-Jesu Kirche are visible from far and wide. Built between 1905 and 1908 and entirely funded by the people of Bregenz, it is particularly notable for its bright and colorful stained-glass windows by Martin Hausle.

The maze of tiny streets surrounding Himmelpfortgasse (literally, "Gates of Heaven Street") conjures up the Vienna of the 19th century. The most impressive house on the street is the Ministry of Finance. The rear of the Steffl department store on Rauhensteingasse now marks the site of the house in which Mozart died in 1791. There's a commemorative plaque that once identified the street-side site.

One of Innsbruck's most historic attractions is the Hofburg, or Imperial Palace, which Maximilian I and Archduke Sigmund the Rich commissioned to be built in late-Gothic style in the 15th century. Center stage is the Giant's Hall—designated a marvel of the 18th century as soon as it was topped off with its magnificent trompe-l'oeil ceiling painted by Franz Anton Maulpertsch in 1775. The Rococo decoration and the portraits of Hapsburg ancestors in the ornate, white-and-gold great reception hall were added in the 18th century by the Empress Maria Theresa. Look for the portrait of "Primal" (Primrose)—to use the childhood nickname of the empress's daughter, Marie Antoinette. Skip the 3D show at the end.

Fittingly, this is the main venue for the beloved Vienna Boys' Choir, since the group has its roots in the Hofmusikkapelle choir founded by Emperor Maximilian I five centuries ago (Haydn and Schubert were both participants as young boys). The choir sings mass here at 9:15 on Sunday from mid-September to June. Be aware that you hear the choirboys but don't see them; soprano and alto voices peal forth from a gallery behind the seating area.

Home to one of the most extensive arms and armor collections in the world, the Imperial Armory displays the armor and ornamental weapons of almost all western European princes from the 15th to the early 20th centuries. It's located within the Neue Burg museum complex, and you can enter at the triumphal arch set into the middle of the curved portion of the facade.

Close by the Hofburg, the Court Church was built as a mausoleum for Maximilian I (although he is actually buried in Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna). The emperor's ornate black-marble tomb is surrounded by 24 marble reliefs depicting his accomplishments, as well as 28 larger-than-life-size bronze statues of his ancestors (real and imagined), including the legendary King Arthur of England. Freedom fighter Andreas Hofer is also buried here. Don't miss the 16th-century Silver Chapel, up the stairs opposite the entrance, with its elaborate altar and silver Madonna. The chapel was built in 1578 to be the tomb of Archduke Ferdinand II and his wife, Philippine Welser, the daughter of a rich and powerful merchant family.  Visit the chapel for picture taking in the morning; the blinding afternoon sun comes in directly behind the altar.

In the days of the Hapsburg Empire, palaces remained practically empty if the ruling family was not in residence. Cavalcades laden with enough furniture to fill a palace would set out in anticipation of a change of scene, while another caravan accompanied the royal party, carrying everything from traveling thrones to velvet-lined portable toilets. Much of this furniture is on display here, allowing a glimpse into everyday court life. The upper floors contain re-created rooms from the Biedermeier to the Jugendstil periods, and document the tradition of furniture making in Vienna. Temporary exhibitions showcase architecture, design, and furniture of the 20th century. Explanations are in German and English.

This is one of the most varied and unspoiled landscapes on the planet—high Alpine meadows, deep evergreen woods, endless spiraling rock cliffs, and glacial ice fields—and at 1,786 square km (690 square miles) it's the largest national park of the Alps. It touches on three provinces (Salzburg, Carinthia, and Tyrol) and includes the Grossglockner mountain group. The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse passes through the park. The hardier traveler may want to spend a few days hiking and lodging at any one of several refuges, where you may occasionally be treated to very rustic, homemade victuals (cheeses and hams).

Crowds gather at noon each day to see the huge mechanical Anker Clock strike the hour. That's when the full panoply of mechanical figures of Austrian historical personages parades by; see if you can spot Marcus Aurelius, Joseph Haydn, and Maria Theresa. The Anker Clock (named for the Anker Insurance Company, which financed it) took six years (1911–1917) to build. It managed to survive the World War II artillery fire that badly damaged much of the square. The graceless buildings erected around the square since 1945 do little to show off the square's lovely Baroque centerpiece, the St. Joseph Fountain (portraying the marriage of Joseph and Mary), designed in 1729 by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, son of the great Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach.

To see one of Vienna's most architecturally intriguing buildings, travel eastward from Schwedenplatz or Julius-Raab-Platz along Radetzkystrasse. Here you'll find the Hundertwasserhaus, a 52-apartment public-housing complex designed by the late Austrian avant-garde artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, arguably Austria's most significant postmodernist artist. The complex looks like a colorful patchwork of gingerbread houses strung precariously together, and was highly criticized when it opened in 1985. Time heals all wounds, even imaginary assaults to the senses, and now the structure is a beloved thread of the Viennese architectural tapestry. It is across the street from the city's beloved Kunsthaus Wien, which also sprang from Hundertwasser's imagination.

This prominent courtyard of the Hofburg complex focuses on a statue of Francis II and the noted Schweizertor gateway. Note the clock on the far upper wall at the north end of the courtyard: it tells time by a sundial, also gives the time mechanically, and even, above the clockface, indicates the phase of the moon.

Waltz king Johann Strauss the Younger composed the "Blue Danube Waltz"—Austria's unofficial national anthem—at this house in 1867. Standing in the huge salon of this belle-epoque building, you can well imagine what a sumptuous affair a Strauss soirée would have been. Artifacts include Strauss's Amati violin.

Many consider this Vienna's loveliest courtyard and, indeed, the beautifully restored imperial style adorning the roof of the buildings forming Josefsplatz is one of the few visual demonstrations of Austria's onetime widespread power and influence. The square's namesake is represented in the equestrian statue of Emperor Josef II (1807) in the center.

The former Eskeles Palace, once an elegant private residence, now houses the Jewish Museum Vienna. Permanent exhibits show the momentous role Viennese Jews have played in everything from music and medicine to art and philosophy, both in Austria and in the world at large. Permanent exhibitions called "Our City" and "Our Medieval City" show Jewish life in Vienna up to the present day. The museum complex includes a café and bookstore.

From the spectacular portal gate of the Michaelertor—you can't miss the four gigantic statues of Hercules and his labors—you climb the marble Kaiserstiege (Emperor's Staircase) to begin a tour of a long, repetitive suite of 18 conventionally luxurious state rooms. The red-and-gold decoration (19th-century imitation of 18th-century Rococo) tries to look regal, but much like the empire itself in its latter days, it's only going through the motions, and ends up looking merely official. Still, these are the rooms where the ruling family of the Hapsburg empire ate, slept, and dealt with family tragedy—in the emperor's study on January 30, 1889, Emperor Franz Josef was told about the tragic death of his only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, who had shot himself and his soulmate, 17-year-old Baroness Vetsera, at the hunting lodge at Mayerling. Among the few signs of life are Emperor Franz Josef's spartan, iron field bed, on which he slept every night, and Empress Elisabeth's wooden gymnastics equipment (obsessed with her looks, Sisi suffered from anorexia and was fanatically devoted to exercise). In the Sisi Museum, part of the regular tour, five rooms display many of her treasured possessions, including her jewels, the gown she wore the night before her marriage, her dressing gown, and the opulent court salon railroad car she used. There is also a death mask made after her assassination by an anarchist in Geneva in 1898, as well as the murder weapon that killed her: a wooden-handled file.

On the southwest corner of the Neuer Markt, the Kapuzinerkirche, or Capuchin Church, is home to one of the more intriguing sights in Vienna: the Kaisergruft, or Imperial Burial Vault. The crypts contain the partial remains of some 140 Hapsburgs (most of the hearts are in the Augustinerkirche and the entrails in St. Stephen's) plus one non-Hapsburg governess ("She was always with us in life," said Maria Theresa, "why not in death?"). Perhaps starting with their tombs is the wrong way to approach the Hapsburgs in Vienna, but on the upside, at least it gives you a chance to get their names in sequence, as they lie in rows, their pewter coffins ranging from the simplest explosions of funerary conceit—with decorations of skulls, snakes, and other morbid symbols—to the huge and distinguished tomb of Maria Theresa and her husband. Designed while the couple still lived, their monument shows the empress in bed with her husband—awaking to the Last Judgment as if it were just another morning, while the remains of her son (the ascetic Josef II) lie in a simple copper casket at the foot of the bed. In 2011, 98-year-old Otto Hapsburg, the eldest son of the last emperor, was laid to rest here with as much pomp as was permissible in a republic.

In Bad Ischl the quickest way to travel back in time to the gilded 1880s is to head for the mammoth Kaiservilla, the imperial-yellow (signifying wealth and power) residence, which looks rather like a miniature Schönbrunn: its ground plan forms an "E" to honor the empress Elisabeth. Archduke Markus Salvator von Habsburg-Lothringen, great-grandson of Franz Josef, still lives here, but you can tour parts of the building to see the ornate reception rooms and the surprisingly modest residential quarters (through which sometimes even the archduke guides visitors with what can only be described as a very courtly sense of humor). It was at this villa that the emperor signed the declaration of war against Serbia, which officially marked the start of World War I. The villa is filled with Hapsburg and family mementos, none more moving than the cushion, on display in the chapel, on which the head of Empress Elisabeth rested after she was stabbed by an Italian assassin in 1898.

To the south of the New City, facing the Mönchsberg on the other side of the river, Kapuzinerberg hill is crowned by several interesting sights. By ascending a stone staircase near Steingasse 9, you can start your climb up the peak. At the top of the first flight of steps is a tiny chapel, St. Johann am Imberg, built in 1681. Farther on are a signpost and gate to the Hettwer Bastion, part of the old city walls and one of Salzburg's most spectacular viewpoints. At the summit is the gold-beige Kapuzinerkloster (Capuchin Monastery), originally a fortification built to protect the one bridge crossing the river. It is still an active monastery, so it cannot be visited, except for the church. The road down—note the Stations of the Cross along the path—is called Stefan Zweig Weg, after the great Austrian writer and critic who rented the Paschingerschlössl house by the monastery until 1934, when he fled Austria. Continue along to the northeast end of the Kapuzinerberg road for a well-earned meal with a stunning 180-degree view from the garden of the Franziskischlössl.