an independent travel guide about Austria
Globetrotting multilingual communications specialist born in Vienna, Austria – with passion for scuba diving, golf and culinary delights! 15 years of experience as a scuba- and travel reporter for among others: X-Ray Dive Magazine and Dykking.
I arrived in Bad Waltersdorf a sunny and warm day in late June. Even though it was really too hot for a hike with 32 °C (90 °F), the local tourist office suggested a route which partly took me through small forests. And I did not regret taking up the tip, as the so-called Roman […]
The highest mountain of Lower Austria, Schneeberg (Snow Mountain), with its 2,076-metre (6.811 ft) high summit Klosterwappen, offers family friendly hiking and stunning views. Only about 80 kms (50 mi) from Vienna it’s a popular hiking destination for the Viennese, as well as for travellers. Hence, I boarded the yellow and green salamander train and headed up to Schneeberg. Arriving […]
Surrounded by the Hochschwab Mountains and forests its setting is simply stunning. Consequently, the Green Lake (Grüner See) in Styria has become a very popular excursion destination. During the main central Europe holiday time it can become crowded. Nonetheless, if you manage to visit outside peak vacation times you will have the thrill of enjoying […]
Innere Stadt, the Vienna historic city centre within Ringstrasse is a delightful place to discover on foot. Here you find everything from narrow alleys, picturesque houses and small idyllic squares to majestic palaces, sumptuous cathedrals and beautiful parks. The first of our Vienna city walks take us from Schwedenplatz to Stadtpark. We start at the […]
Vienna is perfect for streetcar sightseeing. I discovered that I could experience many of the city’s different facets within 2-3 hours, with the D-line. You can experience the imperial Vienna, busy shopping streets, workers housing estates, and the Nussberg wine district just to name a few. Taking you from the city’s main railway station (Hauptbahnhof) […]
With the mountains and lakes, castles and villages, historic towns and idyllic villages, Austria is bar none when it comes to variety of holiday features. While the mountains are the main attraction in Austria, summer or winter, we would like to put the spotlight on the country’s wonderful lakes. Swimming, bathing, boat trips, water sports or […]
Already in the 19th century the tourists wanted to get up on mountain peaks, in a more comfortable manner than to hiking or climbing. Therefore, cog railway tracks were built several places in the Alps, where narrow track steam trains to this day ferry people up and down the mountains. The 5.8-kilometre-long trip up Schafberg […]
We are not in the tropics but in southern Austria where the river Mur forms part of the border with Slovenia. This landscape, a combination of floodplains and forest is very unlike what we expect from mostly alpine Austria. Nonetheless, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Austria’s second largest river landscape The river Mur […]
The castle in Mauterndorf is not to be overlooked as it is located on a mountain cliff at the edge of the village. There has been a fortification on the site since 326 A.D. guarding the Roman trade route crossing the Tauern mountain pass. However, the castle itself is first mentioned in written records from […]
Both scuba diving and snorkelling are popular in Austria, despite not having a single centimetre coastline by the ocean. In return, you will find many large and small lakes scattered throughout the country. Not to mention that many of Austria’s lakes hold drinking water quality and have a great underwater fauna. In most places it […]