Austria Travel Guide: Best Places and Itinerary

Austria is in the Schengen area, so whether you need a visa depends on your passport; the rules passport by passport are in our Austria visa  guide. Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia are in Schengen too, so Bratislava, Budapest and Prague are covered by the same entry; there are no border controls on the train, but ID checks can happen, so carry your passport.

The best time to visit Austria depends on what you come for: May and June for green valleys and open lake boats, late November and December for the Christmas markets, January to March for quiet cities and skiing.

• Late November and December: the things to do in Austria in December centre on the Christmas markets, which are open while the cities are lit up; this is the busiest time of year, and hotels fill early on December weekends. Go midweek and book early.
• May and June: when we travelled in spring, the Wachau was bright green and the boat tours on Lake Hallstatt were running.
• July and August: summer crowds; in Salzburg, hotels fill early during the summer festival.
• January to March: the cities are quiet and the Alps are in ski season.

How many days in Austria? Three days are enough for Vienna and one day trip, five days let you add the Wachau, Hallstatt and Salzburg, and seven days let you travel from east to west.

The currency of Austria is the euro (official info, 20 October 2026); before the euro, the Austrian currency was the schilling, which euro notes and coins replaced in 2002. In Vienna a schnitzel at a restaurant costs about €20 to €30, and cake with coffee at a coffee house about €10 to €19 (official info, 19 October 2026).

A 24 hour public transport ticket in Vienna is €9.70 in the app and €10.20 as a paper ticket from the machine (official info, 19 October 2026).

• Card or cash: cards are accepted in most places but not everywhere; small shops, cafés and market stalls may want cash, so check the card sign at the door and carry some euros. ATMs work around the clock (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Tipping: not compulsory; in Vienna people leave about 10 percent in restaurants and cafés, and 5 percent is enough on a very large bill. You can add it when you pay by card (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Tax free: visitors who live outside the EU and hold a non EU passport can claim the VAT back on a receipt over €75; the refund depends on the VAT rate of the item and the fee of the refund company. The goods must leave in your personal luggage and be stamped by customs on the way out (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Neighbouring countries: Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia also use the euro; Czechia and Hungary have their own currencies, so plan for that if you continue to Prague or Budapest.

What we ate in Vienna and what we paid is in our what to eat in Vienna  guide.

The Austria time zone is Central European Time (CET, UTC+1), and Vienna switches to summer time (CEST, UTC+2) with the rest of the EU. Vienna, Austria time is the same as in Berlin, Rome and Paris: for most of the year six hours ahead of New York and one hour ahead of London.

• Summer time: Austria moves to summer time on the last Sunday of March and back to winter time on the last Sunday of October (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Plugs: type C and F, 230 volts (official info, 20 October 2026). Travellers from the US, Canada, the UK and Australia need a plug adapter; from North America, also check that your charger accepts 230 volts.

Every vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes on Austrian motorways and expressways needs a vignette (Vignette in German). For a car: 1 day €9.60, 10 days €12.80, 2 months €32, one year €106.80 (official info, 20 October 2026).

• When it is valid: if you buy the Austria vignette online, a 1 day or 10 day digital vignette can start right away; a 2 month or annual vignette bought online is valid from the 18th day at the earliest. From 2027 the sticker vignette ends and only the digital vignette is sold (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Where to buy it: the digital vignette is sold on the official ASFINAG shop and app; it is linked to your number plate, so there is no sticker on the windscreen. During 2026 the sticker vignette is still sold at petrol stations near the borders (official info, 20 October 2026). Digital vignette (official sale) 
• Motorcycles: 1 day €3.80, 10 days €5.10, 2 months €12.80, one year €42.70 (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Extra tolls: the Brenner (A13), the Tauern and Katschberg tunnels (A10), Karawanken (A11), Arlberg (S16) and the Gleinalm and Bosruck tunnels (A9) charge a separate toll; no vignette is checked on these sections (official info, 20 October 2026).
• Do you need a car: the cities are easy by train; a car helps for Hallstatt and the lakes. With a rental car, ask whether the vignette is included.

On a short trip, stay in Vienna only; it also has the widest choice of hotels in Austria. Hallstatt and Salzburg can be done in one day from there, but it is a long day. For the Alps and the lakes, spend two nights in Salzburg.

• Vienna: on a first visit, the old town (Innere Stadt); for lower prices and café streets, Neubau. On our Christmas trip we stayed at the Mercure Grand Hotel Biedermeier Wien in Landstraße. Hotels area by area are in where to stay in Vienna .
• Salzburg: the old town or the Mirabell side (Neustadt); we did not stay in Salzburg.
• Hallstatt: the village is small and has few rooms; we did not stay, we came on a day trip from Vienna.

The best known Austrian dish is Wiener Schnitzel, and the best known desserts are Sachertorte and Kaiserschmarrn; we tried all three where they come from.

• Wiener Schnitzel: the original is veal, served with potato salad and lingonberry sauce. On the menu, "vom Kalb" means veal and "vom Schwein" means pork.
• Tafelspitz: boiled beef; we had it at Plachutta Wollzeile  in Vienna.
• Kaiserschmarrn and cakes: a torn, sweet pancake; we had it at Café Demel . For the coffee house experience, Café Landtmann .
• Sachertorte: we tried Sachertorte and Linzer torte at Café Sacher in Salzburg and were not impressed.

Where we ate in Vienna and what each meal cost is in our what to eat in Vienna  guide.

The biggest Christmas markets in Austria are in Vienna: the city has 13 major markets, each with its own dates, and the largest is the Wiener Christkindlmarkt on Rathausplatz. On our Christmas trip we walked the big market on Rathausplatz with its ice rink and the Ferris wheel inside the market, and stopped at the market at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt.

Dates and opening hours of all 13 are in our Vienna Christmas markets  guide; the route where we compare Vienna with Prague and Dresden is in the best Christmas markets in Europe .

The official language of Austria is German (official info, 19 October 2026); the local form is called Austrian German. There is no separate Austrian language, but some words differ from Germany:

• Paradeiser: tomato (Tomate in Germany).
• Marille: apricot (Aprikose in Germany).
• Jänner: January (Januar); you will see it on calendars and event dates.
• Grüß Gott and Servus: greetings. Grüß Gott in shops and formal places, Servus between friends, for both hello and goodbye.

English is widely spoken in tourist areas; we got by in English in museums and hotels. The Croatian, Slovene and Hungarian minorities also have special language rights by law (official info, 19 October 2026). Phrases with audio are in our German phrases  guide.

Austria is a landlocked country in Central Europe and its capital is Vienna. It has eight neighbours: Germany and Czechia to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

Vienna is at the eastern edge of the country, about one hour by train from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The west and centre of Austria are Alpine, the east is flat along the Danube. The map above marks the places we went.