Backpacking in Austria

• Backpacking in Austria
• Budget
• Routen

Austria is certainly not one of the top 10 spots for German backpackers. The reason for this might be the immediate proximity and the alleged lack of exotic ambience. But as far as discovery, geography, culture and adventure are concerned, Austria can compete with even the most exotic competitors. On a relatively small terrain you can expect a varied backpacking adventure in a sophisticated style. Let yourself be inspired by a unique mountain panorama that is interspersed with lush green alpine pastures in summer and offers breathtaking ski slopes in winter. You like climbing, rafting or trekking? There are countless climbing and hiking trails waiting for you in the alpine country.

You won’t believe it, but Austria is also a hot spot for water sports enthusiasts and bathers. What about a refreshing swim in a cool, crystal-clear mountain lake framed by mighty snow-capped peaks far away from mass tourism? Mountaineers, gourmets, ski fans and hang-gliders also get their money’s worth in the Alpine republic. If you want to include the cultural aspect in your backpacking fun, you can look forward to the magnificent castles and palaces that the old Habsburg monarchy created over the centuries.

Austria means felt decadence in terms of music, architecture and joie de vivre. The best way to recognize them is in Vienna and Salzburg. You will discover more cultural highlights and geographical top spots during the backpacker adventure in the nine Austrian provinces and the various regions, including Vienna, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Burgenland, Styria, with the Salzkammergut-Ausseerland, around Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland, in the Salzburger Land or in Carinthia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg.

As a German backpacker you don’t have to struggle with any problems at the border crossing or with the procurement of monetary means. The prices are also not much different than in the Federal Republic. You won’t notice any difference to the German thoroughness, except that the trains in the alpine republics may depart and arrive on time after all. You can also look forward to a culinary voyage of discovery on which you can enjoy the original Gugelhupf and the genuine Wiener Schnitzel, which, by the way, doesn’t even come from Vienna. Oh, and then there’s the Sacher cake and the Mozartkugeln and, and, and, and…..

Culture in Austria

Austria is old and rich in culture and tradition. One example is the famous Wiener Schnitzel, which was, however, created in Venice. You should be aware of the importance of etiquette in the upper circles, because there are still a lot of blue blooded animals running through the area. Old crafts are also held high in the Alpine republic. Those of you with a sense for beauty and aesthetics should take a look at the production of Gmund ceramics, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and still produces today.

Outside the country, the traditional way of hand printing is used, which is also an attractive souvenir. Exquisite embroidery and, as already mentioned, cooking are part of the Austrian tradition. You don’t have to learn another language during your backpacking adventure in Austria. Almost everywhere understandable German is spoken. Giving gas for party lovers is possible everywhere, even in the high altitudes of the Alps. In this respect you don’t have to do without anything.

More Backpacker information about Austria

Austria is not a cheap tourist destination, but it is not more expensive than home. During the high season, prices can rise in tourist resorts, but that is the same all over the world. Between 35 and 60 Euros per day should be enough to get everything, including the museums, and to live well. Moreover, take advantage of the regional savings offers. An old trick is: stay away from the tourist centres if you want to consume something and go three corners further.

Austria also has a lot of highlights to offer backpackers. Discover them by bike, by train or whatever you like. Depending on the season, think of the right backpacker travel equipment and gear. Choose from cultural, geographical or sporting activities. Or combine them.

Austria is not a low budget backpacker country. Those who travel in summer may have to dig deep into their pockets. As always and everywhere, the main season and the absolute tourist magnets apply when it is possible to avoid.

From a culinary point of view, Austria is a real gourmet country that awaits you with unique specialities from all over the world. Nowhere else will you find such a delicious cake as the Sachertorte or seductive Mozartkugeln.

On your backpacker tour through Austria you can expect some special features of the inhabitants of the Alps and geographical highlights that are spread from sea level to the highest peaks of the Alps. Don’t forget your mountaineering and adventure equipment on an Austria trip.

As a German citizen you have no stress when entering Austria. Pay attention to the valid documents. You don’t have to worry about tropical travel diseases. In Austria you will find first-class medical care.

Backpacker Budget in Austria

What can you say about the budget in Austria for a backpacker trip? Basically, you can count on the same life-style and transport prices as in Germany. You should already have 50 Euros at your disposal per day. It’s cheaper, but some places of interest or even a train ride through the Alps cost now times. During the high season it gets expensive in the local tourist resorts. Those who look around for transport deals will get away cheaper. Recently, there is a whole range of attractive Austria Tourist Cards, with which you can discover the country quite cheaply. Almost every region has its own card with transport discounts and more.

Check out the Neusiedler See Card for Burgenland or use the Kärnten Card. Further worthwhile cards are the Wörthersee Card, the Lower Austria Card, the Pyhrn-Priel Cards, Linz Card, Salzkammergut-Erlebnis-Card, S’Innviertel Guest Card and the Salzburg Card. The Austrian daily newspaper Standard derstandard.at has listed 23 tourist cards that are worthwhile.

Costs for the bus

Bus driving is in Austria with the Backpacker pleasure quite an economical alternative. As in Germany, there are now numerous bus companies that offer inexpensive short and long journeys as well as international routes. Have a look at postbus.at and checkmybus.at for worthwhile offers. For a few Euros you can cross the whole country.

Costs for domestic flights

To book a domestic flight is simply not worthwhile when backpacking through Austria. There are domestic flights, but it is doubtful whether they are worth the time spent checking in, checking out, arriving and departing. Not to mention the fact that you will miss a wonderful panorama when crossing the country by bus, train or whatever. The longest distances within the alpine country can be bridged by bus in a short time.

Rail costs

Travelling by train is also an alternative in Austria. You will discover numerous offers from various providers, with which you can travel cheaply through the country by train. Recommended are the websites oebb.at with the complete offer or here the link to the reduced maps oebb.at on a subpage. You can also have a look at the timetables and other offers at fahrplan.oebb.at or try your luck at vvt.at.

Backpacker Route for Austria

Austria does not belong to the classic backpacker countries. One wonders why not? There is hardly any other country in the Alps that offers such an extensive range of geographical, cultural, sporting, gourmet-technical and dependent products. Apart from the sea, the country has almost everything a backpacker’s heart desires to offer. And if you are looking for water for bathing in nature, you will also find what you are looking for in this respect. Let’s have a look at a para highlight in Austria, which is worth to be visited.

Route 1: The Classic

• 1-3 days at least to visit Vienna, the glorious capital of the country. There are probably few cities on the planet that offer such a diverse range of cultural highlights. A centuries-old hereditary monarchy of the Habsburgs has left visible traces in the form of the most feudal buildings, parks and grounds.
• 1-2 days to get to know at least the almost equally beautiful city of Salzburg. Salzburg has much more to offer than the spots around the musician Mozart.
• 2 days Seefeld in Tyrol – in winter as in summer a paradise in the middle of an unbelievably breathtaking alpine landscape.
• 2 days 4-mountain ski swing in winter and hike in summer
• 2 days visiting Innsbruck with the Golden Roof.
• 2 days to get to know the charm of the farming village of Lech.
• 2 days visiting the active paradise Saalbach-Hinterglemm in summer and winter.

Route 2: Backpacker Intensive Trip (up to 40 days and more)

• 1-3 days at least to visit Vienna, the glorious capital of the country. There are probably few cities on the planet that offer such a wide range of cultural highlights. A centuries-old hereditary monarchy of the Habsburgs has left visible traces in the form of the most feudal buildings, parks and grounds.
• 1-2 days to get to know at least the almost equally beautiful city of Salzburg. Salzburg has much more to offer than the spots around the musician Mozart.
• 2 days Seefeld in Tyrol – in winter as in summer a paradise in the middle of an unbelievably breathtaking alpine landscape.
• 2 days 4-mountain ski swing in winter and hike in summer
• 2 days visiting Innsbruck with the Golden Roof.
• 2 days to get to know the charm of the farming village of Lech.
• 2 days visiting the active paradise Saalbach-Hinterglemm in summer and winter.
• 2 days in one of the still untouched valleys in the East Tyrolean mountains experience the Villgratental.
• 2 days UNESCO World Heritage Wachau an der Donau explore
• 2 days active backpackers can let off steam in the Bregenzerwald. In addition there is a load of culture, trekking and sports.
• 2-5 days A typically rustic mountain landscape awaits backpacking adventurers in the Hohe Tauern National Park, which is also the largest national park in Central Europe.
• 2 days Alpbachtal and the Achensee experience
• 1 day Formarinsee with the red wall photograph

Travel times in Austria

For a German backpacker there is not too much to say about the travel times in Austria. Because the climate differs little from that of southern Germany. Backpackers who are into winter sports should set off in the late autumn months. Otherwise the country can be travelled the whole year without much problems. As always, it is important to bring the right clothing. It is also fresh in summer in the higher altitudes.

Backpacker accommodations in Austria

In Austria there is just about every type of accommodation for backpackers. The bigger the budget, the more comfort. Simple campsites can be found in attractive natural landscapes. If you prefer more comfort, look around for other categories. The same applies to the hotel offer. In the fashionable winter sports resorts Kitzbühl etc. you will find hotels of the highest price range. With a small backpacker budget, simple hostels, youth hostels and private accommodation are at your disposal. Look around for remote sleeping places in Almhüttendörfern. In some of them, however, the accommodation is expensive.

It can certainly pay off for you if you take a look around the private market. Pensions, appartments, private rooms and even a couch or air mattress are offered on the relevant well-known websites especially outside the season at quite pleasant prices. zimmer-pension.at is such a site or also alpen-guide.de has offers.

It applies as so often to pay attention to the season. As you surely know from your backpacker experience, the prices increase strongly during the season. This can be especially bad in the main tourist resorts. It is therefore advisable to look for accommodation in Austria in spring or autumn. Advance bookings in the event that you know long before your arrival where you want to stay are sometimes associated with strong discounts.

The prices for an overnight stay in a bed in a dorm of an Austrian hostel are not completely without in comparison to Asian accommodations. According to an information on the Hostelworld hostel page, the average prices are as follows:

• €23.55 Vienna
• €22.35 Salzburg
• €29.28 Innsbruck
• €29.01 Graz
• €25.00 Grünau in the Almtal valley
• €27.00 Linz
• €11.38 Villach
• €27.00 Bad Ischl

Camping in Austria

Camping is in Austria From simple campsites up to 5 star glamping sites you will find the right place. You can find out what the prices and the categories plus the service are at the Austrian Camping Club (ÖCC) or at the Camping and Caravaning Club Austria (CCA). A look at the camping guide is also worthwhile. With the International Camping Card, you can also benefit from some substantial discounts.

Backpacker Trips, Tips & Highlights in Austria

Austria is a country where as a backpacker you will encounter a multi-faceted potpurri of adventure, geography, gourmet and culture. An 800 year long Habsburg monarchy has left its cultural traces not only in Austria itself, but also in all neighbouring countries. You can marvel at sophisticated palaces and even marvel at the lush decadence in architectural and cultural terms of the past golden epochs of the former Dual Monarchy.

But only such a country could produce a musical genius like Mozart, who left his mark in Salzburg. As far as adventure is concerned, you will find a wide range of activities in the areas of skiing, hiking, mountaineering, walking, cycling and racing, mountain biking, biking, horse riding, climbing, cross-country skiing, walking, rafting and much more.

Backpacker Highlights

In order to plan your adventure tours in Austria, you need map material. Other adventurers before you have already entered long, short and medium tours on various map and adventure websites. It’s worth it to imitate them or to register your own. Have a look at the websites maps.wandern.at, oetk.at or radtouren.at.

An Austrian backpacker trip definitely includes a trip to a real Viennese coffee house, where you can enjoy the local delicacies and the sophisticated flair. Head for the Zillertal Alps or be impressed by the Glossglockner Panorama. A visit to Schönbrunn Zoo is just as worthwhile as a detour to Hochosterwitz Fortress, which even impressed Walt Disney so much that he used it as a model for his comics. You should also have seen the house where Mozart was born.

Backpacker insider tips

Thanks to its high visitor numbers, Austria is certainly not a country in which there are still undiscovered insider tips. But take a look away from the tourist routes in the East Tyrolean side valleys and enjoy the barely touched natural landscape. Further real nature secret tips await you in Styria. The Hörfeld-Moor is a nature conservation, Ramsar and European protected area at the same time. Climb to the mountaineering village Krakautal and refresh yourself at the Günstner Waterfall.

In the Gesäuse National Park you will encounter an incredible white and gigantic limestone wall with the limestone corridors of the Buchstein. Or visit the fairytale canyon forest of the Deutschlandsberger Klause near the Schilcher town. The Zwieflerseen lakes spread out in the Niedere Tauern in a similarly fairytale ambience. And if you can’t get enough of rare, beautiful flowers, you’ll have to go to the Edelweissboden at the Trenchtling.

Food & Drinks in Austria

The Austrian is certainly one of the greatest epicureans on this planet. How else could he have created incomparable temptations of the palate such as Tafelspitz and Wiener Schnitzel? Although many people assume that Austrian cuisine is the same as Viennese cuisine, this statement is not true. On your backpacker trip through the country you will surely notice this when you visit the different provinces.

Each federal state has its own traditional cuisine, some of which is quite old. Of course you will also find the restaurants of the international fast food chains at almost every corner in this modern country. Even in the most remote mountain regions, if this is a winter sports destination, it is quite possible that the well-known logos will laugh in your face. It’s a pity, however, if you don’t try the local cuisine specialties. You miss something.

All about food

Whether sweet, sour, spicy or salty, the cuisine of the Alpine country can satisfy every taste preference. Again and again you will hear from the locals that the Heurigen is on the way. Another expression for pub (but also for young wine) is snack. There you will be provided with strong snacks. Probably to dam the effect of the wine a little. The famous Wiener Schnitzel is neither from Vienna nor from Austria, but from Venice.

The famous field marshal Radetzky is said to have brought it with him. Anyway, only in Austria it tastes really good. Tafelspitz is another classic that is prepared on a meat basis. For the sweet-toothed, the Alpine country has some of the world’s most famous temptations on its menu. The Sacher cake is incomparable. The Mozartkugeln are also likely to make sweet tooth cats and tomcats rave. You won’t leave a Linzer Torte standing during the backpacking adventure either.

What can you drink there?

We have already mentioned the Heurigen. In the wine taverns you can enjoy some of the best wine drops of the world. Above all what concerns the white wine, different Austrian wine-growing regions offers top drops. The locals are also known as coffee connoisseurs.

A feudal coffee house culture has already established itself in the cities. Austria is also considered a beer country. The per capita consumption is at worldwide top values. If you order a whistle, you get a beer in a small beer glass of 0.2 litres. Also with the production of liquor or noble brandy the country can come up with top beverages. Many of them are only available on the local market.

Backpacker Visa and Vaccinations in Austria

As Austria is part of the EU and has therefore also agreed to the Schengen Agreement, you as a German citizen normally have no problems crossing the border. However, when backpacking in Austria, make sure that your papers are fully up to date in order to avoid problems.

According to the Foreign Office, you need the following entry documents in order to enter Austria without any problems. German citizens can enter Austria if they are in possession of the following documents:

• Passport: Yes
• Temporary passport: Yes
• Identity card: Yes
• Temporary identity card: Yes, must be valid.
• Children’s passport: Yes
• Still valid child ID according to old model: Yes
• Important also: Every child needs his or her own ID document.

Visa

As Germans, they do not need to worry about a visa for Austria, as it is an EU country.

Medical advice & vaccinations

Due to its geographical location, Austria does not have to struggle with tropical diseases and viruses. In case of an illness you can hope for first-class medical help. When you visit the alpine republic you should have refreshed the usual vaccinations.