Austria
Habsburg Vienna, baroque Salzburg, the lakes of the Salzkammergut and the Tyrolean Alps — a small country that runs on trains and does grandeur, mountains and cake equally well.
An empire's capital
and an alpine country
Austria is two things at once, and the trips built around each are almost unrecognisable from one another. In the east it is the seat of an empire that ran central Europe for six centuries, and the palaces, opera houses and coffee houses of Vienna are what that empire left behind. In the west it is mountains — two-thirds of the country is alpine, and Tyrol and Salzburg run on cable cars, valleys and snow.
Between the two sit the Salzkammergut lakes, where the water is green, the villages are wooden and Hallstatt is on the postcard. Salzburg itself is a baroque town small enough to walk in an afternoon, with a fortress above it and Mozart in every second doorway. Further west, Innsbruck is a real alpine city where a funicular from the centre reaches a ridge at over two thousand metres in about twenty minutes.
For Indian travellers Austria is one of Europe's easiest countries to travel well. It is compact, the railway is excellent and punctual enough to plan around, and you do not need to drive unless you want a mountain road. It also works properly in both halves of the year, which is unusual — the winter is a season here, not an inconvenience.
Explore Austria
by City
Vienna has a full guide here — the imperial capital, and a region of the country in its own right.
When is your Austria?
Austria is one of the few European countries with two genuinely strong seasons rather than one, and they suit completely different trips. What changes is not only weather but what is open: high mountain roads and some lifts close for winter, and the ski season has its own calendar.
Journeys Designed
for Austria
Sample itineraries shaped by our travel designers — a starting point for Austria, every one reworked entirely around you.
Don't see the right duration or style? Every journey we design is built from scratch around you.
Design a Custom Journey →How to Explore Austria
5 ways into Austria — drawn from this guide, not from a list that could describe anywhere.
Imperial Vienna · Salzburg & the Baroque · Tyrol & Innsbruck · The High Alps — the parts of Austria this guide covers, each with its own reason to go and its own time of year.
Winter & Skiing · The Lakes · Honeymoons · Family Travel — the shapes of trip Austria suits, and the one you pick changes where you go and when.
June – August is the strongest window — mountains and lakes open. The rest of the year splits into December – April · September – October · Mid-Nov – late Dec, and they are not interchangeable.
Trains · In the cities · Driving · Cable cars — how people actually move around here, which decides how much of the map a trip can hold.
Austria is in the Schengen area, so an Indian passport holder travels on a Schengen visa.
Austria visa — what you need to know
Austria is in the Schengen area, so an Indian passport holder travels on a Schengen visa. The details below come from the Austrian Embassy in New Delhi and Austria's own consular rules — they are not the same in every Schengen country, and the timing rules in particular are worth reading before you book.
Austria states that the Schengen visa C covers touristic, business or visiting purposes without gainful employment, for a maximum stay of 90 days in any 180-day period. You apply to the country that is your sole or main destination; where visits are spread across several Schengen states with no clear main destination, competence falls to the state whose external border you enter first. For a trip that is mostly Austria, that is Austria.
This is the rule most likely to catch you out. The Austrian Embassy states that applications must generally be submitted no earlier than six months and no later than 15 days before departure, and that applications made when departure is less than 15 days away will be rejected under the EU Visa Code. The Embassy also notes that processing may take longer than usual and advises applying as early as you can.
The Austrian Embassy in New Delhi has outsourced the lodging of applications and the return of passports to VFS, but says plainly that all applications continue to be assessed by the Austrian Embassy only, and that an external service provider plays no role in the decision. The New Delhi mission covers India, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Biometrics — ten fingerprints and a photograph — are taken in person unless they were captured for a Schengen application within the last 59 months; children under 12 are exempt from fingerprints.
Austria requires a passport with at least two free pages, issued within the last ten years, and valid for at least three months beyond the duration of the visa applied for. You also need travel, health and accident insurance valid for the Schengen area with minimum cover of €30,000 including repatriation for medical reasons. One detail that saves money: Austria accepts a reservation or booking as proof of transport and states that a paid ticket is not required.
For all Austria journeys we design, we prepare your complete visa documentation package — the forms, the supporting documents, the sequence of submission. Our visa specialists help travellers prepare complete applications with careful document guidance. Final visa decisions always remain with the relevant authorities.
Travel Austria intelligently
Austria runs on timetables and seasons. Most of what makes a trip smooth is knowing what is open and when.
Austria travel FAQ
The questions Indian travellers ask most often before booking Austria.
Austria for every kind
of traveller
Austria divides cleanly into an eastern half of cities and a western half of mountains, with the lakes in between. Most good trips take two of the three.
Schönbrunn and the Hofburg, the Ringstrasse palaces, Klimt at the Belvedere, and the coffee houses where you are expected to stay for hours.
A UNESCO-listed old town under the Hohensalzburg fortress, with Mozart's birthplace, the Mirabell gardens and the Salzburg Festival in high summer.
A city with mountains at the end of the street: the Golden Roof and medieval old town below, and the Nordkette ridge reached by funicular and cable car from the centre.
Hohe Tauern National Park, the Krimml Waterfalls, and the Grossglockner High Alpine Road — a toll mountain road that closes for the winter.
One of the world's great ski countries: St Anton, Ischgl, Sölden, Kitzbühel and Zell am See, with ski schools that are used to complete beginners.
The Salzkammergut: Hallstatt on its shelf above the water, Wolfgangsee, Gosausee under the Dachstein, and Bad Ischl where the emperors took the waters.
Austria suits couples who want a city and a mountain without a long transfer between them: Vienna, then the lakes, then an alpine spa hotel.
One of the easier European countries with children: short train journeys, cable cars, lakes to swim in and cities that are walkable.
The Wachau valley along the Danube — Melk Abbey, terraced vineyards, apricot orchards and Grüner Veltliner — plus Graz and the Styrian wine roads further south.
Tell us how long you have and whether you want cities, lakes or mountains — and which season — and our travel designers will shape the route around it.
How far in advance
should you book Austria?
Two hard constraints shape an Austrian timeline: the visa window, which has a firm cut-off at both ends, and the winter peak, which is the most heavily booked fortnight in the country.
Ski winter, alpine summer, autumn wine or Christmas markets. Austria changes completely between them.
The window opens six months out, and Austria rejects anything lodged inside 15 days of departure — so aim months earlier, not at the floor. Book the VFS appointment early.
Ski hotels for Christmas and New Year, the Salzburg Festival, and lake hotels in high summer.
Once the fixed points are set, the train times fall into place and no car is needed unless you want the mountain roads.
What to pack
for Austria
Pack for altitude change rather than for the calendar. A city morning and a mountain afternoon can be fifteen degrees apart in the same day.
Whatever the season, take one warm layer and one waterproof. Cable cars climb fast, and the top station is always colder and windier than the valley you left.