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Graz

A glorious Old Town heart and a lively student vibe make Graz one of Austria’s best-loved and most fun-loving cities. Anchored on one seriously attractive Innere Stadt that fuses everything from Renaissance to Gothic to Slavic architectural styles between its cobbled streets and sea of red-tiled roofs, the centre here is awash with fascinating historical sites, like the Schlossberg hill, complete with one curious clock tower, and the Styrian Armoury, where a whopping 32,000 guns, swords, suits of armour and more stand testimony to the city’s onetime place on the frontier between the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe.


Hallstatt

The stuff of postcards and travel brochures, Hallstatt has been risen from its valley amidst the gorgeous Salzkammergut to become something of the poster boy for Alpine Austria and its charming medieval towns. It comes complete with terraces of ivy-clad, half-timbered chalets that glow in hues of pink and wood-brown against the reflections of the shimmering Hallstätter See, and is oft hailed as the single most beautiful town in the country. But it’s not all about the looks here: during the first millennium BC the town figured as the centre of a salt mining boom in the Upper Austrian region, and today visitors can spy out the tunnels of the 2,500-year-old Hallein Salt Mine, and a fantastic Heritage Museum that chronicles the ancient history of the town to boot!

Feldkirch

Visitors who delve into the alleys and archways, cobbled squares and tight-knit side streets of Feldkirch on the edge of the Austrian Vorarlberg region discover a unique blend of Swiss, Francophone and Germanic heritage. The action centres on fairy-tale Marktgasse, which bustles with authentic beer houses and Rhineland eateries, while it’s the soaring Schattenburg Castle crowning the hillsides just on the edge of town that really draws the eye; a formidable collection of four keeps and fortified bulwarks that was once the home of the Montfort Earls.

Bad Gastein

Something of a more regal and straight-laced alternative to the usual Tyrolean timber towns and chalets that pepper the Austrian Alps, Bad Gastein bursts forth from the deep valleys of the Hohe Tauern National Park in an elegant and irresistible medley of Belle Époque and Art Deco. In the middle of the town, the gushing cataracts of the Gastein Waterfall crash around the pretty facades of 19th-century hotels and restaurants, while fir forests rise on all sides and enfold the whole centre in a symphony of green. Of course, many head here for the fantastic skiing during the winter, while others will come in the footsteps of the Empress Sisi, in search of the bubbling spas and natural springs that first made the Gastein valley a major international destination.

Salzburg

No list of Austria’s must-see destinations could possibly be complete without a mention of Salzburg; a melange of magical Baroque and medieval architecture that hits its stride with one chocolate box of a UNESCO-attested Old Town. It was here that Mozart found his romantic muse, here that Julie Andrews yodelled in the valleys; here that the Salzburger bishops raised the mighty Hohensalzburg Castle to command the salt-rich hillsides that roll out towards Bavaria in the distance. But it’s not all history either, because students now party away in Irish pubs along the banks of the Salzach, backpackers sip Stiegl in brewhouses and culture vultures come in their droves for opera, classical concerts and daily renditions of The Sound of Music!

The Wienerwald

One of the more off-the-beaten-track destinations to make this list of Austria’s must-sees, the Wienerwald lurks just on the peripheries of Vienna and represents one of the favoured outdoors spots for locals looking to escape the capital for a spell of hiking or biking. In all, the woods of the Wienerwald run for 45 kilometers from the Danube basin, rising in steps