Austria — where to go and when
3 destinations covered
Austria reaches this site as three places that share a country and very little else. Vienna is an imperial capital turned civil-service city, generous with parks, coffee houses and public collections, and less expensive than its reputation implies. Salzburg is a small baroque stage set wedged between a fortress and a river, crossable in a morning and crowded by lunchtime. Hallstatt is a lakeside village of a few hundred residents that receives visitors by the coachload, which is either the point or the problem depending on temperament. National prices sit level with French ones on our index, so the budget question is less about Austria than about which of the three you weight most heavily. Vienna absorbs a long stay without strain; the other two are expensive per hour, simply because demand concentrates on very little ground. This is a destination for people who like mountains framed by a tram window, classical music offered without ceremony, and lake water cold enough to be taken seriously.
When to go
Our data declines to name one national window, and the Alps explain why. Vienna, out on the plain, has a clear sweet spot from May to September, tops out at 28.4 °C in its warmest month and counts 94 rainy days a year. Head west and the figures change character: Salzburg records 142 rainy days, Hallstatt 175, with 1622.6 mm of rainfall over the year. Summer remains the season, but in the mountains it is a wet one, so build indoor alternatives into the plan rather than assuming blue sky.
No single month clears our comfort threshold everywhere in the country at once. The table below gives each place its own favourable months instead.
The places we cover, side by side
| Place | Favourable months | Warmest month, avg. high (°C) | Coldest month, avg. high (°C) | Rainy days a year (≥ 1 mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hallstatt | none | 25.3 | 4.6 | 175 |
| Salzburg | none | 25.7 | 4.5 | 142 |
| Vienna | May, June, July, August, September | 28.4 | 4.6 | 94 |
Figures measured at the weather station nearest each place, then averaged over the warmest and the coldest months of the year — not over a fixed calendar season. Each destination page carries its own month-by-month table, its station and its sample size.
Getting around
Trains do nearly all the work. Frequent long-distance services connect Vienna and Salzburg in under three hours, and Salzburg is the natural base for Hallstatt: a regional train down the valley, then a short boat across the lake, because the station sits on the opposite shore from the village. Regional buses cover what rail misses. Vienna's airport is 17 km from the centre and Salzburg's only 4 km, both with direct public transport into town.
Budget
Country price level compared with France : on a par
Price index for restaurants and hotels, France = 1000, from European purchasing power parities. It is a country average: it says nothing about one hotel in particular.
Destinations in Austria
HallstattA single lane of houses wedged between a lake and a cliff in the Austrian Salzkammergut, Hallstatt gave its name to an Iron Age culture and sits below…
SalzburgSalzburg fits a baroque city centre, a hilltop fortress and Mozart's birthplace into a few hundred metres either side of the Salzach, with its airport only 4 km…
ViennaAn imperial capital that kept its scale: a ringed centre you can cross on foot, a palace at either end of the day, and coffee houses used as…Frequently asked questions
Is Hallstatt worth a night rather than a day trip?
It depends what you want from it. Day visitors arrive from mid-morning and leave by late afternoon, so the village belongs to whoever stays on. Against that, the place is tiny, beds are limited and rain is frequent, falling on 175 days a year in our records. One night suits photographers and early risers; a half-day is plenty for everyone else.
Can Austria be combined with its neighbours?
Easily, and the map encourages it. Salzburg sits close to the Bavarian border, while Vienna is a few hours by train from Prague and barely an hour from Bratislava. The real constraint is not distance but rhythm: adding a fourth city to a single week usually means losing a day to platforms instead of gaining a destination.
Updated on 21 September 2026