Karlskirche lit at dusk above its reflecting pool, Vienna

Concert halls, palaces, and the lake country behind them

The concert starts at eight. The rest of Austria works backwards from that.

Which Karlskirche ticket puts you under the dome and which puts you behind a pillar. What a Hallstatt day out of Vienna actually costs. Whether Schönbrunn is worth the guided upgrade or just the plain entry. Reviews of every tour you can book in Austria.

Tonight’s concerts Every tour in Austria →

1,208tours you can book

from $5cheapest way in

297of them under $50

Book these first

Evenings

A church, a palace hall, or dinner first: three ways to spend a Viennese evening.

Classical music is the thing Austria sells more of than anything else, and the ticket price swings by a factor of eight depending on which room you sit in. Three kinds of night, what each costs to walk into, and where they play.

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Concert in Karlskirche

In the churchesVivaldi and Mozart under a baroque dome. Ninety minutes, hard pews, extraordinary acoustics. from $11

In SalzburgMozart in the town he was born in, up at the fortress or in the Mirabell marble hall. from $10

Dinner, then stringsThree courses first and the quartet after. The long version of the evening. from $33 All 75 concert nights →

Where to base yourself

Vienna for the music, Salzburg for the fortress, Innsbruck for the mountain behind the roofline.

Austria is a small country with five towns worth a base and a lake district between two of them. Where each one puts you, and the best day out from each.

Best ofViennaConcert halls, imperial apartments, the RingSee every one →Best ofSalzburgA fortress on the rock, Mozart underneath itSee every one →Best ofInnsbruckCrystal Worlds, and the Alps behind themSee every one →Best ofHallstattThe lake village, and the salt above itSee every one →Best ofThe WachauDanube terraces, apricots and RieslingSee every one →Best ofGrazRed roofs and the blue KunsthausSee every one →

The Habsburg circuit

Six hundred years of one family, and they kept the receipts.

Schönbrunn for the summer palace, the Hofburg for the winter one, the Belvedere for what Klimt did with gold leaf. All three run on timed entry, and all three have a queue you can buy your way past.

Palace tickets and tours →

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 7,739 reviewsSchönbrunn Palace & Gardens Skip-the-Line Tour

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 5,918 reviewsSkip-the-Line Sisi Museum, Hofburg and Gardens Tour

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 5,411 reviewsSkip-the-Line Schönbrunn Palace & Gardens Tour

Best ofSchönbrunnBest ofThe HofburgBest ofThe BelvedereBest ofThe LipizzanersBest ofThe museumsBest ofThe Opera House

Prices

What a day in Austria costs, from a ten-dollar organ recital up.

Every tour on the site grouped by price. Vienna has a reputation for being expensive, and the concert listings are the argument against it.

Under $50

Church concerts, palace entry, museum tickets and the walking tours round the Ring.

1Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Concert in Karlskirchefrom $40
2Spanish Riding School Trainingfrom $20
3Skip-the-cashier-desk-line Giant Ferris Wheel Ridefrom $17

$50 to $150

The full days out: Hallstatt, the Wachau by boat, Salzburg from Vienna, dinner concerts.

1Schönbrunn Palace & Gardens Skip-the-Line Tourfrom $63
2The Original Sound of Music Tour in Salzburgfrom $90
3Skip-the-Line Sisi Museum, Hofburg and Gardens Tourfrom $61

$150 and up

Private guides, the long Alpine days and the once-a-trip evenings with a table included.

Out of the city

How far out of Vienna you can get and still be back for dinner.

The Hauptbahnhof and the coach parks send day trips in every direction, including across three borders. Sorted by how far they actually go and what the seat costs.

1Hallstatt & Alpine Peaks Day Trip with Skywalk Liftfrom $131
2Wachau Valley, Melk Abbey Tour with Danube Boat Tripfrom $151
3Danube Valley Day Trip from Viennafrom $141

Hallstatt The Wachau The Salzkammergut Down the Danube Bratislava Budapest Prague Munich

Every day trip out of Vienna →

West of the Enns

Salzburg, the lakes, and the mountain road behind them.

Three hours from Vienna the country changes: the plain gives out, the lakes start, and everything is arranged around a rock with a fortress on it.

The film tour

The Sound of Music, done properly

The gazebo is at Hellbrunn, not Leopoldskron, and the abbey in the film is a set. A good tour tells you that in the first ten minutes and then takes you to the real Mirabell steps, the lake house frontage and out to Mondsee for the church. Half a day, usually with the songs playing in the coach, which is either the point or the price.

1The Original Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 6,129 reviews
2Original Sound of Music Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 5,059 reviews
3Hallstatt and Sound of Music Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 522 reviews

See every one →

The lake village

Hallstatt and the Salzkammergut

Sixteen hundred people live in Hallstatt and several thousand arrive daily, so the hour you go decides what you see. The salt mine above the village is the oldest still working anywhere and the reason there is a village at all. The lake boat from Obertraun is the quiet approach, and the coach parties do not take it.

1Hallstatt & Alpine Peaks Day Trip with Skywalk Lift★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 5,458 reviews
2Half-Day Tour to Hallstatt★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,596 reviews
3Hallstatt Guided Day Trip from Vienna With Boat Ride Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,301 reviews

See every one →

The mountain road

The Kehlsteinhaus, above Berchtesgaden

A road cut into the cliff in 1938, a brass lift bored through the rock, and a stone building at the top of it with a view over the Berchtesgaden Alps. The site is documented rather than celebrated, and the guides handle it that way. The road opens in May and closes with the first heavy snow.

1Eagle’s Nest and Berchtesgaden Tour from Salzburg★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,455 reviews
2Skip-the-Line: Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden Tour from Salzburg★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,212 reviews
3Private Tour: Eagle’s Nest and Bavarian Alps Tour from Salzburg★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 73 reviews

See every one →

Timing

Four things in Austria that only run part of the year.

Most of this country can be booked the night before from a coffee house table. These four keep their own calendar, and turning up outside it means looking at a locked gate.

01Christmas Markets TourThe Advent markets open in the middle of November and are gone by Christmas Eve. There is no late booking, because there is no late.
02Eagle’s Nest and Berchtesgaden Tour from SalzburgThe road up is cut into the cliff and is only cleared from May to late October. Outside that window nothing goes up it.
03Hallstatt & Alpine Peaks Day Trip with Skywalk LiftDay boats and the funicular run to a summer timetable and a much thinner winter one. The village is the same, the way in is not.
04Spanish Riding School TrainingThe horses summer away from Vienna and the school closes for it. Performances and morning training both stop, usually through July and August.

The Viennese table

Coffee houses, cake, and the market that feeds the rest of Vienna.

A Viennese coffee house sells you a chair for as long as you want it. Book the market walk before the lunch trade, the cake tasting after the palaces, and the wine when you have stopped walking.