There aren’t enough words to describe the natural beauty of Austria, and there isn’t enough room on the entire internet to describe all the experiences and attractions waiting there! Although it’s a relatively small country that you can cross from end to end in roughly 7 hours of driving, it’s packed with opportunities for adventure for kids and grown-ups alike. The sheer number of sites, towns and attractions can be confusing and makes planning a trip to Austria tricky. That’s why we’re here, with our comprehensive article dedicated entirely to how to plan a trip to Austria in 2026!
The goal of this article is to help you sift through the wealth of information and plan your trip to Austria in the best way possible, at minimum cost and with maximum enjoyment! We won’t send you to a lake at the end of the world or an abandoned castle, but focus only on the most popular sites and attractions, and they’re popular for a good reason! We’ll also share information and tips on finding flights, how long to spend in each place, how to get around, planning your budget and much more. So let’s hit the road!
In This Article
A Quick Introduction to Austria
Austria sits in the heart of Central Europe. It borders no fewer than 8 countries, so you can definitely combine other countries with a visit here, as you can read here, for example or here. But right now we’re focusing on Austria! Let’s start with the fact that it’s actually made up of 9 separate states, somewhat similar to the states in the USA. The city of Vienna, Austria’s capital, is also a state in its own right, and there are 8 more states, of which the most popular with travelers are without a doubt Salzburg andTyrol, as well as Lower Austria, which surrounds Vienna, and certain other areas in the state of Styria.
Austria is a perfect playground for nature lovers, with countless hiking trails winding between mountains and lakes, drives along Alpine roads, plenty of ski resorts for every level, and of course indulgent thermal spa centers. And for those who prefer a city break, Vienna is one of the most charming and popular cities in Europe, and Salzburg is a wonderful destination too, especially for music lovers.
Finding Flights: How to Get to Austria?
Let’s start, of course, with the part without which there’s no trip, the flight! When it comes to Austria, most visitors fly into Vienna, while some choose other destinations, which may even be outside Austria. Munich, for example, is close to Salzburg and northern Tyrol. There are also international flights to Salzburg and to Innsbruck, the capital of Tyrol and a lovely city in its own right.
Why is Skyscanner the best place to search for flights? Because it has a convenient interface and allows flexible searching. You can search for a flight to “Everywhere”, without defining a specific destination, and on non-specific dates. You also get the flight prices in a monthly table, so you can pick the cheapest flight that month.
And before you start the search itself, click here for our guide to an easy search on Skyscanner. There you’ll get all the information to help you understand how to run a search that’s precise for your needs and how to understand the results.
Important tip: it’s worth comparing flight prices against car rental prices at the different destinations, and choosing the destination that’s most worthwhile when you combine both costs. For example, all things considered it may be better to fly to Munich and rent a car there than to fly to Vienna, even though the flight to Vienna is cheaper. If this matters to you, always compare!
When to Visit Austria?
The right answer is: always! In winter, for skiing, if that’s your thing, or to sit in a heated, steaming thermal pool while gazing through glass walls at the snow and mountains outside! Or to spend time in Vienna decked out for the December holidays, wander the markets and enjoy the sales. In spring and autumn, to hike in the mountains as they begin to thaw and enjoy a beautiful, peaceful Austria before all the summer tourists descend on it. And in summer, to get the chance to swim in the lakes (whose waters are cool even in August!), make the most of the water parks and spa resorts, and hike the mountains and valleys without needing 3 layers of clothing.
Renting a Carin Austria
The first question, of course, is whether it’s worth renting a car at all? Well, if you’re not coming just for a city break in Vienna or Salzburg, the answer is a definite yes! Within the cities there’s convenient public transport and you really don’t need a car, especially given the traffic jams and parking problems. But outside the cities, it’s neither advisable nor possible to travel between picturesque villages and mountain peaks by public transport. Besides, a big part of the fun of the trip is driving the roads and discovering the surprises along them, not to mention the scenery…
The most important rule of car rental, the earlier you book, the cheaper the price. And you’ll have a wider range of cars to choose from. Especially in the busy summer months, if you don’t book a car in advance there simply won’t be one left for you… Booking the car in advance also saves you all the headache and hassle during the trip of comparing prices and looking for a reliable rental agency.
Personally, I prefer to search for cars onthe Paapm Paapm website. It’s a car rental price comparison site, and I wrote about all its advantages here.
An equally important rule: don’t underestimate proper insurance that covers everything you need! How do you do that? We wrote a whole article with tips for renting a car abroad that we recommend reading.
Tips for Planning Your Trip to Austria
Austria really is stunning and packed with attractions, and there’s no way you’ll be able to see and do them all! Prepare a general plan for each day of the trip, but remember that sometimes you come across surprises along the way that you’d like to give more time to, so stay flexible and remember that even if a sudden rainy day changed your plans, it’s a chance to discover other activities you hadn’t thought of. In life in general, it’s best to focus on the experiences you did have rather than on what you skipped.
That said, it’s definitely worth taking the weather into account and keeping your finger on the pulse, so you don’t find the spectacular view of the Alps covered in clouds just when you planned to get there.
In the same vein, don’t forget that in Austria the weather can surprise you, especially on nature outings. In a single day you can experience sun, rain, and even climb a snowy mountain! So bring shorts, long trousers, rain gear and swimwear too! And always take a representative sample of short and long clothing on every outing, and maybe an umbrella too.
Every region in Austria has its own free discount card, which you should get hold of. It’s a good idea to check with the hotel you booked which card is offered to visitors in the area, and don’t forget to pick them up!
Since Austria’s popular tourist hotspots are usually crowded with visitors, to make sure you have entry tickets to all the places you plan to visit, it’s highly recommended to book in advance! On the Tiqets website you can search by the name of the city you’re traveling to and find tickets to all the important sites, such as palaces, museums and more. For Vienna, for example, you can find tickets to Schönbrunn Palaceand to the Belvedere Palace, both magnificent. And to the Chocolate Museum which kids and adults alike love. Visitors to Salzburg can reserve a place at a concert with dinner.
When planning your trip to Austria, don’t skip the important step of setting a suitable budget. It’s important to set a realistic budget that reflects the expected costs. As a European country that uses the euro, Austria isn’t cheap, though it isn’t among Europe’s most expensive countries either. But as a tourist in the country, your costs will in any case be higher than for locals. And if you don’t plan ahead you’ll find the euros simply slipping through your fingers!
Before flying to Austria, it’s worth getting some local currency, which as mentioned is the euro. Most places accept credit cards, but not always. Especially in more remote areas, you’ll occasionally come across restaurants, for example, that aren’t set up to take credit cards. So it’s always a good idea to bring some cash too, also in case your credit card fails.
The currency in Austria is the euro (€). Credit cards are widely accepted, and ATMs are easy to find.
So How Much Does It Cost?
It’s not easy to name a specific figure for the cost of a day’s travel in Austria, because everyone travels differently, in different places (Vienna is more expensive than the rural areas, a ski holiday costs differently from a summer family holiday), and in a different style. As a rule, if you really, really try to save, you can spend about €70 per person per day. That includes accommodation, food, transport and entry to sites. But most people, who sleep in mid-range hotels and don’t count every euro, will spend closer to €150 per person per day. And from there, the only way is up…
For example, the average price for a night in a hotel in Austria is about €115, and the average price of luxury hotels is about €200 per night. An average restaurant meal costs about €15 per person, and you can budget around €30 to 40 per person per day for food.
You can save on entry prices to the various attractions with the regional discount cards that hotels give their guests during the summer season. Don’t forget to check in advance whether your hotel takes part in the scheme!
How Many Days to Spend in Austria?
Of course it’s always advisable to plan your itinerary in advance according to the number of days you have. If you plan to spend the whole trip without leaving the city, 5 days to a week is usually enough forVienna and 3 to 5 days for Salzburg. If you plan to also take trips to the surroundings near the cities, add another two days or more, it all depends on how far you want to go…
If you plan to combine a city trip with time in nature, and plan to rent a car (it’s almost impossible to travel in the rural areas without one), the length of the trip depends on the number of regions and the amount of driving you plan. On a thorough, in-depth trip you could spend, for example, 3 days in Vienna and at least another 10 days in the regions of Lower Austria, Salzburg and Tyrol. Distances within Austria aren’t considered long, so you don’t need to drive much each day and can still see a lot. It all depends on how many mountains, lakes and spa centers you want to visit! And even if your time is short, you can certainly plan an excellent week-long holiday in Austria and get a taste of everything. But then it’s best to focus on one region of the country and choose between a city break and a holiday in nature.
Choosing the Type of Trip in Austria
It’s worth distinguishing between several styles of trip:
Let’s start with a ski holiday, which usually centers on a single ski resort without much moving around. That’s for fans of the sport. But you might also want to combine a little skiing in your holiday alongside other activities. In that case, a holiday in the Austrian countryside always passes by at least one ski resort, simply because they’re almost everywhere! And some, like the Stubai Glacier, are open almost all year round, not just in winter.
If you’re planning a countryside holiday in Austria, you can choose between two styles of trip, a touring trip or a star-shaped trip from a single base. The choice depends mainly on your personal preferences, are you people who like to pack up every day or two and move on? Or people who like to settle into one place for a week? Austria allows both kinds of trip, because distances are fairly short. So you can choose to move from place to place with a drive of an hour or two each day, or settle into one village and drive out from it for an hour or two each day to explore the surroundings. Of course, if you’re on a trip of more than a week, you can combine two base trips one after the other, like here, for example.
And if you’re city types, you can base yourselves in Vienna, Salzburg or Innsbruck, enjoy a few days of city life, and perhaps combine it with short excursions to the nearby surroundings, by car or on the guided tours you can find onthe Get Your Guide website (just type “from” in the search followed by the name of the city you’re in).
Recommended Trips in Austria by the Time You Have
If you’re now scratching your head in confusion and asking yourselves “what can we fit into a week, two weeks, a month?”, we’re here to help!
If you have only a week or less…
Excellent! Choose one region you want to explore, such as the state of Salzburg, the state of Tyrol, or Vienna for a city break, and focus on it. If you have only 4 to 5 days, it’s better to focus on a city trip and perhaps make one excursion into the surrounding nature, because a touring trip deserves a minimum of a week. Another option is a “shortened” base trip in an area relatively close to the city you land in, so the driving doesn’t eat up much of your trip. And of course, it’s a perfect length for a ski holiday!
If you have two weeks…
Two weeks gives you more flexibility in planning a trip. You can combine Vienna, Salzburg or Innsbruck with a trip outside the city, or with a ski holiday. Or travel only in nature, for example doing two separate base trips, in Salzburg Landand in Tyrol. Most families who travel to Austria’s natural regions in summer go for 10 to 14 days. Here’s an example of such a trip.
If you have three to four weeks, or even more…
First of all: lucky you! This allows you to take a more comprehensive trip, and it’s best not to spend all of it in one place, but to combine visits to several Austrian states, or even take a road trip through several neighboring countries. Thanks to Austria’s location in the heart of Europe, the possibilities here are almost unlimited. I’d be happy if you write to me in the comments how much time you have and what your interests are, and I’ll try to help you focus.
Places to Stay
Before you book accommodation, think carefully about your needs and wishes and choose accordingly. As mentioned, Austria isn’t cheap. So if you’re trying to cut costs and staying more than a day or two in the same destination, you can save by staying in an apartment hotel, which gives you flexibility. You can cook for yourselves and save on restaurant prices. Apartments are also very suitable for families, who need more living space, and for groups of friends who want to spend as much time together as possible. There are excellent apartment hotels today at good prices, and in some you’ll even find indulgent spa centers!
If you’re a couple looking for a classic city break, go for a hotel, of course. To cut costs, you can choose to stay a little outside the city or on its outskirts, provided of course there’s good public transport nearby. And in Austria’s big cities that shouldn’t be a problem.
Having trouble deciding which hotel to choose? We’ve already done much of the research for you:
click here for our recommended places to stay in Vienna, or here if you’re in Vienna with kids. If you’re looking for a luxury hotel in Vienna, click here.
If you chose to travel in Tyrol, our recommended places to stay are here. And if you chose Salzburg Land, click here.
And for those heading off on an indulgent spa holiday and looking for the most recommended hotel, click here.
Other Travelers’ Itineraries in Austria
Before planning your own trip, it’s worth reading about other travelers’ trips in Austria. Travelers’ personal stories will help you understand the different considerations they included in their planning, which may be relevant to you too. They can give you ideas for visiting places you hadn’t thought of, and of course help you estimate how much time to devote to each place, as well as the expected costs. Just as importantly, experienced travelers can help you avoid mistakes they’ve already made…
For couples, you can draw on this trip story, or this honeymoon story that combined Austria and Germany.
And finally, if you’re considering visiting Vienna at Christmas, here you’ll find lots of relevant personal impressions.
If you have time to dig in, it’s worth taking ideas and noting important tips from each of the travelers who chose to share their trip story with us.
Summary
So go ahead and plan your dream holiday in Austria! Whether you chose Vienna, Tyrol, or a multi-country journey of which Austria is just one part. Don’t forget to come back and tell us about your experiences in the comments.
Of course, we’re here at your service if you need help with planning. Leave a question in the comments and we’ll try to answer quickly!
More articles about traveling in Austria click here.
