Austria General Information

Austria is situated in southern Central Europe, covering a part of the eastern Alps and the Danube region and, although land-locked, it borders on the Mediterranean area. The country has a wide variety of landscape, vegetation and climate, and situated as it is at the heart of a continent, it has always been a junction for communication links between the trade and cultural centers of Europe.

Austria is a federal state with a total area of 32,368 sq. miles (83,858 sq. km) and consists of nine provinces - Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Upper Austria, Vienna and Vorarlberg.

Austria has common borders with no fewer than eight other countries. Their inhabitants belong to the major European ethnic groups: the Germanic, Neo-Latin and Slav peoples, with the exception of the Magyars of Hungary, who derive from the Ural Altaic group.

Austria’s borders have an overall length of 1,682 miles, of which 509 miles are shared with Germany, 291 miles with the Czech Republic, 64 miles with Slovakia, 220 miles with Hungary, 205 miles with Slovenia, 267 miles with Italy, 104 miles with Switzerland and 22 miles with Liechtenstein.

Austria has few peers as a year-round holiday destination, with plenty of winter sports in the Alps, some of the most impressive and overblown architecture in Europe and an unrivalled musical tradition that even The Sound of Music couldn’t sully.

The cities have plenty to engage visitors. Vienna is the capital, hub of the country’s musical life and littered with beautiful buildings. Music, art and architecture reach baroque perfection in Salzburg, Mozart’s birthplace. Innsbruck’s snow-capped peaks frame its fascinating historic buildings.

Throughout Austria, you’ll find the rhythm of daily life has a musical beat; music festivals fill its calender. There’s also a wonderful range of outdoor activities, from lounging on lakeside beaches to paragliding from mountains. The skiing is some of the best in the world.