Imperial palaces, Alpine peaks and coffee so good it's basically an art form. Austria is one of those destinations that works brilliantly whether you're after a cultured city break, a snow-covered ski trip or a summer spent hiking through mountain scenery that looks almost offensively beautiful.
Holidays to Austria 2026 and 2027 Highlights
🏰 Imperial cities with serious wow factor from Vienna's grand palaces and world-class museums to Salzburg's baroque old town and Mozart connections
🏔️ The Alps on your doorstep with Innsbruck putting you within minutes of dramatic mountain scenery, cable cars and year-round outdoor adventures
☕ Legendary cafe culture where sitting down for a Sachertorte and a Wiener Melange is practically a national sport
🎶 The birthplace of classical music with Mozart, Strauss and Beethoven all calling Austria home, and concert halls and opera houses still going strong
Good to Know for your holidays to Austria
☀️ Summers are warm and sunny at 25-27°C, perfect for city exploring and Alpine hiking. Winters hover around freezing with snow in the mountains, ideal for skiing and Christmas markets.
💶 A beer costs around €5-€7 in a bar, a main course at a mid-range restaurant around €12-€18 and a coffee with cake in a traditional café about €10-€15. Not cheap, but not outrageous either.
🎭 Vienna has topped the world's most liveable city ranking several times, most recently in 2024. It's also home to the world's oldest continuously operating zoo (Schönbrunn, founded 1752) and more than 100 museums.
A holiday in Austria is perfect for you if...
You want holidays in Austria that mix palaces and coffee houses with mountains you can ride a cable car up.
You'd happily plan a whole trip around a slice of cake.
You want Austria city breaks where the Christmas markets come with snow on the rooftops.
You like classical music, or at least like the idea of hearing it somewhere very grand.
You want a city that's easy to walk, easy to get around and easy to love.
🏨 Top Hotels for Austria Holidays 2026 and 2027
💑 What are the best hotels for a couples' city break in Austria?
Do & Co Hotel Vienna - A boutique five-star opposite St. Stephen's Cathedral, with a restaurant on the top floor and views across the rooftops of Vienna. About as central as it gets.
Hotel Sacher Salzburg - The Salzburg sister of the famous Vienna original, on the banks of the river Salzach facing Salzburg's old town. Sachertorte at breakfast is very much allowed.
AC Hotel Innsbruck - A sleek Marriott hotel in central Innsbruck with a spa and sauna, mountain views from the rooms and the casino in the same building. The main station is six minutes away.
👨👩👧👦 Which hotels are best for an Austria family holiday?
Hotel Gerl - Indoor and outdoor pools, a full spa for the grown-ups and a lobby with a fireplace for cold evenings. Among the best-reviewed hotels we sell in Salzburg.
Austria Trend Hotel Savoyen - A big, bright four-star with a glass-roofed atrium and a spa with sauna and steam bath, a short walk from the Belvedere and its gardens.
✨ What are the best luxury hotels for Austria holidays?
Hotel Sacher Wien - The iconic five-star opposite the State Opera and home of the original Sachertorte, with a spa, sauna and hammam for the full Viennese treatment.
Grand Hotel Wien - Old-school grandeur on the Ringstrasse a few steps from the Opera, with a full-service spa and three restaurants under one roof.
🎉 Which Austria hotels are best for a group city break?
Austria Trend Hotel Congress - Modern rooms with mountain views, a gym, sauna and steam bath, and a garden terrace. Five minutes' walk to the Golden Roof and the bars of the old town.
Stage 12 Hotel By Penz - Right in the middle of Innsbruck with a sauna, a fitness centre, bike hire and a bar on site for post-adventure drinks. Maria-Theresien-Strasse is a five-minute walk.
💰 Which hotels are best for cheap holidays to Austria?
Hotel Capricorno - Rooms with balconies, a bright breakfast room and a spot by the Danube Canal at Schwedenplatz. One of the best-reviewed hotels we sell in Vienna.
Austria Trend Hotel Beim Theresianum - A clean, modern four-star a short walk from the Belvedere, with the main station 300 metres away. Solid value for the location.
🏘️ Where to Stay on your Austria Holidays
👨👩👧👦 Where should families stay in Austria?
Vienna The best all-round base for families. Flat, walkable, with a brilliant public transport system and loads of kid-friendly attractions from Schönbrunn Palace (maze, zoo, children's museum) to the Prater fairground with its famous Ferris wheel.
Salzburg Compact and manageable with children, with a charming old town, the Haus der Natur natural history museum (kids love the interactive exhibits) and easy day trips to the Salzkammergut lakes and Alpine villages.
💑 Where should couples stay in Austria?
Vienna World-class opera, candlelit dinners in imperial restaurants, Danube river cruises and some of the most beautiful architecture in Europe. Vienna does romance with serious style.
Innsbruck For active couples who want mountains and culture in one trip. Cable car rides to Alpine peaks, cosy Tyrolean restaurants, and a gorgeous medieval old town lit up beautifully after dark.
🎉 Where should groups stay in Austria?
Innsbruck The best pick for groups, especially in winter. Skiing, snowboarding, après-ski and a compact city centre with great bars and restaurants. Summer brings paragliding, mountain biking and beer gardens.
Vienna Big enough to keep everyone happy, with museums, nightlife, food tours and rooftop bars. The Naschmarkt is brilliant for group food tours and the Heuriger wine taverns on the outskirts are a properly fun night out.
🏔️ Must-Dos on your Austria Holidays
Whether you're a history buff, a foodie or someone who just wants to stand on top of a mountain and feel something, Austria delivers.
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna - the Habsburgs' summer residence is jaw-dropping, with more rooms than you could see in a week. The palace tour, the maze, the gardens and the world's oldest working zoo are all on the grounds, and you could easily spend a full day here.
Mozart's Salzburg - visit Mozart's birthplace on Getreidegasse, wander the baroque old town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and finish with a Salzburger Nockerl dessert in a riverside café.
Nordkette cable car, Innsbruck - ride from the city centre to almost 2,300 metres in around 25 minutes. The views from the top across the Tyrolean Alps are genuinely breathtaking, summer or winter.
Vienna State Opera - even if opera isn't your thing, the building alone is worth seeing. Standing places start from around €13 and the experience is properly special.
Viennese coffee house culture - pull up a chair at Café Central, Café Sacher or Café Demel and order a Sachertorte with a Wiener Melange. It's on Austria's official list of intangible cultural heritage, and you'll understand why after one afternoon.
Christmas markets - Christmas markets open across Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck from mid-November. Mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, handmade gifts and fairy-lit squares make Austria one of the best Christmas market destinations in Europe.
🗣️ Local Lingo
Hallo or Grüß Gott (HAH-lo / groos got) - hello, the second one being the traditional Austrian greeting
Bitte (BIT-uh) - please
Danke (DAN-kuh) - thank you
Prost! (prohst) - cheers!
Die Rechnung, bitte (dee REKH-noong, BIT-uh) - the bill, please
Lecker! (LEK-er) - delicious!
Guten Morgen (GOO-ten MOR-gen) - good morning
Wo ist...? (voh ist) - where is...?
Entschuldigung (ent-SHOOL-dee-goong) - excuse me
Cheap holidays and city breaks in Austria
Austria has a reputation for being pricey, but if you know when to go it can actually be suprisingly reasonable. December and the summer holidays fill up first, so for a city break to Vienna with more choices of hotels at better prices, look at November or the first few months of the year.
Short breaks to Austria work brilliantly. Three or four nights in Vienna or Salzburg covers the big sights, and most of what you'll want to do (the palace gardens, the old towns, the views) cost nothing at all. In Innsbruck, summer is when the cable cars take you straight up to free hiking trails with views to match.
Booking an Austria holiday package through us, with your flights and hotel bundled together like cheese and pineapple on one skewer means the cost is fixed (and as low as we can make it). Choosing bed and breakfast means you're out of the door with a proper Austrian breakfast inside you.
Which hotels in Austria offer the best value?
Prices fluctuate depending on availability, so these hotels might not be THE cheapest for your particular dates (just to go the search bar with your dates and filter by price to find that). But here are some of our favourite Austrian hotels that always offer great value.
Vienna
Hotel Lucia - A friendly, modern hotel 1.5km from Schönbrunn Palace, with a bus and metro stop on the doorstep. It has a café and bar downstairs and a breakfast buffet that caters for gluten-free diets.
Rioca Vienna Posto 2 - Modern rooms with microwaves in the Landstraße district, around five minutes' drive from the State Opera and the Prater.
Rioca Vienna Posto 1 - Every room has a kitchenette with a full-sized fridge, plus there's a terrace, a garden and a communal lounge. The Prater is about five minutes' drive away.
Salzburg
Das Grüne Bio-Hotel zur Post - A green-minded hotel with a sauna, a garden and a sun terrace. Mozart's Birthplace and the Getreidegasse are about a 12-minute walk.
Innsbruck
Basic Innsbruck - Small and central, five minutes' walk from the Golden Roof and Maria-Theresien-Strasse, with a café on site.
Hotel Mondschein - A traditional hotel a few steps from the old town, with Swarovski crystals in the bathrooms and a breakfast buffet. It's also sold with breakfast included.
👀 Austria Travel Guide 2026 and 2027
👨👩👧👦 What are the best things to do on an Austria family holiday?
Vienna Prater - the kids will go wild for the historic giant Ferris wheel, bumper cars and theme park rides. It's free to enter the park and you pay per ride, so you can tailor it to your budget.
Schönbrunn Palace children's activities - the maze, labyrinth, children's museum (where kids can dress up as little Habsburgs) and the zoo make this an easy full-day outing for families.
Haus der Natur, Salzburg - a massive natural history museum with aquariums, reptiles and a three-floor science centre. Kids can spend hours here without getting bored.
Alpenzoo, Innsbruck - Europe's highest-altitude themed zoo, home to around 150 Alpine species from lynxes to golden eagles. The funicular ride up is half the fun.
Ice skating at Rathausplatz, Vienna - from mid-November to early January the square in front of City Hall turns into a winter wonderland, with an ice rink, a kids' area and the Christmas market all in one place.
💑 What are the best things to do on a couples' city break in Austria?
Vienna State Opera - even if you're not into opera, the standing places are a bargain and the building is extraordinary. Dress up, grab a drink at the interval and soak it in.
Danube river cruise - float past vineyards, castles and the rolling hills of the Wachau Valley. The wine-tasting cruises are especially good for couples.
Nordkette sunset, Innsbruck - take the cable car up and watch the sun set over the Tyrolean Alps. Bring a jacket and a camera.
Salzburg Festival - if you're visiting between mid-July and the end of August, the Salzburg Festival is one of the most prestigious performing arts events in the world.
Coffee house hopping in Vienna - make a day of visiting Café Central, Café Sacher and Café Demel. Each has its own character and its own signature cake.
🎉 What are the best things to do in Austria with a group?
Swarovski Crystal Worlds, Innsbruck - a weird and wonderful art installation built into a hillside, 20 to 30 minutes from the city. Brilliant for a group day out and genuinely unlike anything you've seen before.
Heuriger wine taverns, Vienna - head to the outskirts of the city (Grinzing or Neustift am Walde) for traditional wine taverns serving local wine by the carafe and cold platters. Brilliant for a big group.
Paragliding in Innsbruck - tandem flights over the city and the Alps. No experience needed, just the nerve to jump off a mountain with your mates.
Beer garden crawl - Innsbruck and Salzburg both have brilliant beer gardens, and a warm summer evening spent working through the local brews with a group is hard to beat.
Bobsleigh at Igls, Innsbruck - ride the Olympic track with a professional pilot from December to March, or try the summer bob from May. Over in a minute, talked about for the rest of the trip.
🌍 More Destinations
Austrian Cities
Vienna Imperial palaces, world-class museums, legendary coffee houses and one of the best food scenes in Central Europe
Innsbruck Alpine adventure meets medieval city charm, with cable cars to the peaks and a buzzing bar scene at the bottom
Salzburg Mozart, The Sound of Music, baroque architecture and a compact old town that's a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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FAQs
What's the best time to visit Austria?
What's the best time to visit Austria?
It depends what you're after. For city breaks, spring (April to June) and autumn (September to October) are the sweet spots: pleasant temperatures around 15-22°C, fewer crowds and beautiful light. Summer (July and August) is warmest at 23-25°C and ideal for Alpine hiking, though cities can get busy. Winter (December to March) brings snow to the mountains and Vienna's Christmas markets are magical, but wrap up warm as it drops to around 0-5°C.
Do I need to speak German?
Do I need to speak German?
Not really. English is widely spoken in all the main tourist areas, hotels, restaurants and transport hubs. That said, Austrians really appreciate it if you try a few basics. A "Gruss Gott" (hello) and "Danke" (thank you) go a long way, and you might get a warmer welcome for the effort.
Is Austria expensive?
Is Austria expensive?
It's mid-range for Western Europe. A beer in a bar costs around €5-€7, a main course at a decent restaurant €12-€18 and a coffee with cake in a traditional café €10-€15. Eating at local Beisls (traditional bistros) and buying travel passes for public transport help keep costs down.
One thing to budget for: cities charge a local accommodation tax, paid at the hotel. In Vienna it's 5% of the room price in 2026, rising to 8% in 2027, and in Salzburg it's about €3.55 per person per night.
Should I choose Vienna, Salzburg or Innsbruck?
Should I choose Vienna, Salzburg or Innsbruck?
Pick the trip you want and the city picks itself.
Vienna is the big one, with palaces, museums, the opera and coffee houses on every corner, and it's the best all-rounder for a first visit.
Salzburg is smaller and prettier, with Mozart, The Sound of Music and the lakes and mountains on the doorstep.
Innsbruck is the mountain city: cable cars from the centre, skiing in winter and hiking in summer.
Each one works brilliantly for a week, and even better for a long weekend.
When are Vienna's Christmas markets on?
When are Vienna's Christmas markets on?
Vienna's Christmas markets open from mid-November. In 2026 the biggest, the Rathausplatz market in front of City Hall, runs from 13 November to 26 December, with an ice rink that stays open until 6 January and a kids' area in the park next door. The Schönbrunn Palace market runs from 6 November to 6 January, Belvedere from 20 November to 31 December, and Spittelberg, in the narrow cobbled streets of the 7th district, from 13 November to 23 December and is brilliant for handmade gifts. They get busy at weekends, so weekday evenings are the best time to soak up the atmosphere.
Can you get all-inclusive holidays in Austria?
Can you get all-inclusive holidays in Austria?
Austria is a city-break destination, so its hotels are sold room only, with breakfast or half board rather than all-inclusive, and that suits a trip built around coffee houses, schnitzel and Heuriger wine taverns. Bed and breakfast is the best of both: a proper Austrian breakfast to start the day and the whole city to choose from for dinner. In Vienna, Grand Hotel Wien has three restaurants under one roof if you'd rather not go far.