The 10 best things to do in stunning Austria

13.05.2024 - 09:41 / lonelyplanet.com

If you ask someone to rattle off Austria’s unmissable attractions, they’ll probably rave about Vienna and its lavish feast of palaces, coffee houses, concert halls and galleries, and the heart-racing trails and slopes traversing the Alps that ripple across half the country.

Worthy though these are, this pocket-sized alpine fantasy of a country has lesser-known surprises up its sleeve: from waterfalls and ice caves to sky-high mountain drives and the quiet beauty of the Danube, where abbeys, vineyards and ruined castles guide the eye around each romantic bend.

We’ve combed the country to pick the experiences you really shouldn’t overlook – these are our 10 favorite experiences in Austria.

Tossing you in at the deep end of the Austrian Alps and slated for UNESCO World Heritage status, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Hohe Tauern National Park is one drive where the wow never leaves your lips (and your foot rarely leaves the break). Twisting from Bruck in Salzburgerland to Heiligenblut in Carinthia and with an average gradient of 9%, this rollercoaster road is 48km (30mi) of stomach-flipping hairpin bends and whoa-look-at-that-mountain moments.

Tear your gaze fleetingly away from the road and you’ll be gobsmacked by waterfalls, jewel-colored lakes and, from the highest viewpoint, Edelweiss Spitze (2571m/8435ft), a sea of snow-capped summits punching high above the 3000m (9842ft) mark. All of this is the drumroll to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, where you can eyeball mighty Grossglockner (3798m/12460ft), Austria’s highest peak, and the Pasterze Glacier.

Planning tip: Get an early start to beat the crowds, as the road is often bumper-to-bumper by noon, especially in July and August. Check forecasts, too, as the drive isn’t fun when there's snow or stormy weather.

During their 640-year reign, the Habsburg royals collected bombastic palaces the way others collect stamps, enlisting the finest architects of the age to give full flight to their opulent fantasies and stuffing their splendid chambers with beautiful things (treasures, antique porcelain, prancing horses, flattering portraits of themselves – you name it). If you like nothing better than a good romp around a palace, you’ll find a whirl of them in Vienna.

Top of any itinerary is the vast, exuberant Hofburg, Vienna’s Imperial Palace, where you can spend an entire day gawping at imperial jewels in the treasury, listening to choir boys sing angelically at the chapel (every Sunday and religious holiday from September to June), swanning around chandelier-lit apartments designed for Empress Elisabeth, and marveling at the grace of the snow-white Lipizzaner stallions that dance at the Spanish Riding School.

The Hofburg is rivaled in grandeur by the 1441-room