11 Nights in Austria

About the destination: Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria. It is a beautiful romantic city and famous for its coffee culture and cafes, classical music and concert halls, historical buildings, horse-drawn carriages, and its charming streets. There is a rich cultural diversity in Vienna, and its location at the very heart of Europe makes it also an excellent starting point for travelling around Europe. Vienna an impressing city to visit, the city is dominated by the Ringstrasse, a four kilometer long boulevard which encircles the center of the city. The city is filled with modern conveniences and attractions but blanketed as well with reminders of a great historical and cultural heritage. Excellent museums, palaces, gardens, architectural triumphs, remnants of ancient inhabitants, statuary, and grand cafes blend with trendy shops, excellent restaurants, accessible musical venues, modern museums and sculpture, and upscale hotels to make Vienna a very attractive. The extensive pedestrianized streets of the old city are a delight, lined by beautiful old buildings, populated by the young and old, filled with local shops, boutiques and cafes, and with the unexpected around every turn. The center city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vienna is history and music, poetry and culture, modernism and tradition, nostalgia and grandeur.

About the destination: Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, lies at the border of Austria and Germany. The Salzach River separated Salzburg’s old and new towns. The old town is impressive and concentrated. It centres around the broad Residenzplatz, and is largely a pedestrian zone. The relatively new town centres around Mirabellplatz and Markartplatz. Salzburg’s impressive hills rise straight out of the old town. The most conspicuous hilltop fortification is the Hohensalzburg, build over the centuries on an ancient Celtic and Roman site, and now the largest fully preserved medieval castle in Europe. For splendour of another sort visit the Schloss Mirabell and its Gardens, located right next to the Salzach River and the Mozarteum University of Music and Arts. The castle was built by an archbishop for his beloved courtesan. You can wander around extravagant rose and flower gardens and marvel at the stone dwarves in the Zwerglgarten. To learn about Mozart and his life, go to his Geburtshaus, Mozart's birth house. The street itself is worth a look, the guild signs and painted wall decorations are much as they were at the time Mozart’s birth. The house exhibits pictures, letters, and stage sets for the various operas Mozart wrote. Protected by forested mountains, Salzburg is a city of enchantment whose voice is expressed in some of the world’s most sublime music, composed by favourite son, Mozart. The age that produced the unrivalled musical genius of Mozart also built the beautiful castles and churches of Salzburg, and spawned a love of music that lives on today in Salzburg’s countless concert series and annual summer festival.

About the destination: The Salzkammergut is a resort area located in Austria. It stretches from the City of Salzburg eastwards along the Austrian Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. The main river of the region is the Traun, a right tributary of the Danube. The Salzkammergut area (Lake District), with a total of 76 lakes, is one of the most impressive regions in the heart of Austria and one of the most popular regions in all of Austria, especially during the summer, visitors stream into the Salzkammergut to enjoy picturesque towns, lakes and mountains. Beside numerous beautiful villages and towns, Hallstatt is a must see. This historic village joined the list of UNESCO "World Cultural and Natural Heritage" sites in December 1997. Stroll through the beautiful village, soak up the atmosphere while resting at the lake and visit the oldest salt mine in the world. Experience the magical part of Austria while hiking or cycling along one of the numerous trails. Absorb impressive colours and smell the beautiful scents of all the flowers. There are also some museums in the region to visit, as the Local Historic Museum, the Open Air Museum Kugelmühle or the Dolls Museum.

Informazioni sulla destinazione: Innsbruck, capoluogo di provincia del Tirolo e quinta città più grande dell'Austria, è il centro delle attività invernali del paese e, occasionalmente, dell'interesse alpino mondiale, avendo ospitato due volte i Giochi Olimpici Invernali. La funivia Nordkette e una vasta rete di sentieri di montagna si irradiano da Innsbruck, rendendo le splendide Alpi circostanti ugualmente accessibili sia agli sciatori invernali che agli escursionisti estivi. L'Altstad è il centro di Innsbruck, e il Goldenes Dachl, il Tetto d'oro, è sia il centro dell'Altstad che l'emblema della città. L'edificio del XV secolo è un misto di gotico e barocco e ovviamente ha un tetto dorato. Gli affreschi all'interno mostrano scene della vita aristocratica dell'epoca. Tutte le decorazioni dell'attuale struttura sono repliche eseguite con cura. I rilievi originali sono esposti permanentemente nel Museo Regionale Tirolese, noto anche come Tiroler Landesmuseum. Nell'edificio è ospitato il Museo del Tettuccio d'oro, che espone una mostra sull'imperatore Massimiliano I e la sua epoca, nonché sulla storia dello stemma di Innsbruck. Gli amanti dell'arte gotica non dovrebbero perdersi il Tiroler Landesmuseum, la sua collezione comprende vetrate colorate splendidamente colorate e delicatamente incise, alcuni altari e dipinti e una serie di opere moderne. Maria-Theresien Strasse è la strada principale di Innsbruck ed è un posto meraviglioso per passeggiare o sedersi in uno dei caffè laterali e osservare la gente che passa. Ad una estremità c'è l'arco trionfale che conduce al centro storico. Maria-Theresien Strasse è una deliziosa zona pedonale, con caffè all'aperto, architettura barocca, ristoranti e viste sulle splendide montagne. Innsbruck offre una proposta di vacanza invernale davvero unica, mescolando splendidi scenari montani con grandiosità architettonica e il brusio delle grandi città con centinaia di negozi, ristoranti e bar originali.

Informazioni sulla destinazione: Walchsee è un comune nello stato austriaco del Tirolo, nel distretto di Kufstein. Si trova nella bassa valle dell'Inn e appartiene al "Kaiserwinkl" e alla "Untere Schranne".