Some of my personal favourite things to do in Austria, apart from eating spaetzle, knoedel and Schweinshaxe, are:
Sound of Music Tour
A typical Sound of Music tour includes the following original film locations:
Mirabell Gardens and Pegasus Fountain (dancing scene with Maria and the children)
Leopoldskron Palace (where the family lived in the film)
Hellbrunn Palace (song scenes)
Nonnberg Convent (where Maria lived as a young novice)
St. Gilgen / Wolfgangsee (opening scene in the movie)
Mondsee Church (wedding scene)
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in modern Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna
The Prater
This huge area is given over to entertainment. There is a cinema, theatre, big wheel, roller coasters, miniature railway, the Schweizerhaus (famous for its pork knuckle), a planetarium, Madame Tussauds and heaps of other things to do.
The Vienna Boys’ Choir
The Vienna Boys’ Choir is a choir of trebles and altos based in Vienna. It is one of the best known boys’ choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. There are actually 4 choirs so you have more chance of catching one of them whilst you are in Vienna.
Bregenz
This region offers a variety of outdoor sports including cycling, mountain biking, walking, trekking, tennis, paragliding and all kinds of water sports. A panorama gondola takes you up the Pfänder from where you enjoy fantastic views of the Swiss Alps, Lake Constance, the Allgau Alpen range, the peaks of the Bregenzerwald and all the way to Widderstein at the border to Tirol.
Melk Abbey
Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Austria, and among the world’s most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley
The Hofburg
For many centuries, the Vienna Hofburg was the centre of the Habsburg empire. Three museum attractions provide historically accurate insights into the tradition and daily life at court: the authentically-furnished Imperial Apartments, the tasteful Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection as a comprehensive collection of Imperial utilitarian objects.
background photo credit: archer10 (Dennis) via photopin cc