Austria Budget Travel Guide provides useful travel information for people planning a trip there. On this page I want to describe this beautiful, landlocked country to you, and introduce you to its principal cities and tourist attractions. Also listed are the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Austria.
About Austria
Austria is a small, landlocked country in Western Europe. It shares a border with Germany in the northwest, the Czech Republic in the north, Slovakia in the northeast, Hungary in the east, Slovania and Italy in the south, and Switzerland and Leichtenstein in the west. The country is very mountainous. As much as 68% of Austria is located over 500 meters (1,640 feet) above sea level. Its tallest mountain is 3,797 meters (12,457 feet) tall. While German is the main language spoken in Austria, it also recognises Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian as regional languages.
Visitors to Austria will find that it has something to occupy them any time of the year. In winter you can go skiing at its many ski resorts, while at other times of the year you can explore its beautiful cities and countryside. Vienna is the music capital while Salzburg is simply gorgeous, with its baroque churches. In Innsbruck, you can get panoramic views of the Austrian Alps.
Austria is a member of the Schengen Agreement, so visitors from EU and EFTA only need to carry an ID card to enter the country. Everybody else needs to bring his passport. Those from Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, United States, Uruguay, and Vatican City do not need a visa to stay for not more than three months in half a year.
By Plane
The main international gateway to Austria is the Vienna International Airport (VIE), located 18 kilometers from downtown Vienna. It receives flights from all over the world. The other international airports are located in Graz, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Linz and Salzburg. You can also fly to Munich and take a train or bus to Austria.
By Train
There are train services connecting Austria with all its neighbors. High-speed ICE (Inter-City Express) and RailJet trains connect Austrian cities with Zurich, Munich, Frankfurt, Passau and Budapest.
Budget Travel within Austria
The most practical form of transport is the train. They are comfortable, moderately priced, and can get you can practically any city or town in Austria. The train tickets are sold by the Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB), the Austrian Federal Railways. Through their website you can purchase your ticket online and print it out yourself. The fare is calculated according to distance travelled.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
Our Flight Checker helps travelers compare flights and get the lowest fare for their trips. If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
