Luxury hotel holidays to Austria

Single-centre holiday

Choose between the grandeur and elegance of our city hotel, and the rustic charm of the rural chalet-hotels. Single-centre holidays encourage guests to become very well acquainted with the beauty of the area of Austria that interests them most.

Two centre recommendations

Holidays to Austria work well when combined with Switzerland, perhaps as a rail holiday through the Alps and lakes. Many of our rail holidays combine Austria with Switzerland, though it is possible to venture further south into Italy to spend a final few days enjoying the Tuscan sun, or to travel through France on your way back to the UK.

Alpine Peaks

Stay at two different hotels to mingle both the cultural city life with the peaceful countryside. Alternatively, plan to stay at two Alpine retreats on your two-centre holiday to see both the old-worldy picturesque villages and the sublime Alpine lakes. Our multi-centre tours usually incorporate rail travel to ensure that our clients can take in as much of the passing scenery as possible. The Austrian railways offer some of the most spectacular rail routes in Europe and make it possible to enjoy every aspect of Austrian life in one extended stay. Though fly-drive options are available on request, rail continues to be our favourite way to travel to this part of the world.

Austria - Frequently Asked Questions

Austria comes up as part of a touring holiday rather than as a dedicated destination. Is that how it tends to work?

For most of our clients, yes — and that reflects both the geography of Austria and how the country rewards the traveller. The great cities of Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna sit naturally on rail routes that connect them to Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and beyond, and the train journeys between them are a genuine part of the experience. That said, Austria is not merely a transit country. Vienna is one of the great cultural capitals of Europe — the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Belvedere, the Staatsoper, the Ringstrasse, the coffee houses — and rewards several nights on its own. Salzburg, in the lee of its fortress and with Mozart and the Baroque at every turn, is equally absorbing. What we find is that clients who come to Austria as part of a wider tour often decide that a return dedicated to Vienna alone is their next trip. We offer Austria both ways: as part of a rail tour — frequently combined with Switzerland, Germany, Hungary or Slovenia — and as a standalone Vienna hotel stay for those who simply want to spend time in one of the finest cities in Europe.

How do you reach Austria from the UK, and is it possible to travel entirely by train?

Entirely by train, and it is one of the most rewarding journeys in Europe. The standard route takes the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels or Paris, and then continues eastward by day train or overnight sleeper. The Nightjet — the ÖBB Austrian Railways overnight service — runs from Amsterdam and Cologne through to Innsbruck and Vienna, with couchettes and private sleeper compartments available. With an evening departure from Brussels, you wake up in Innsbruck or Vienna the following morning. That is, for many clients, not an inconvenience but a pleasure — no airports, no early morning transfers, and a sense of arrival that flying cannot replicate. For those who prefer to fly, Vienna has excellent connections from UK airports, and it is straightforward to combine a flight one way with the train the other, arriving in Austria by air and returning by rail through Switzerland and France, for example. We put together whichever combination works best for the specific itinerary and the individual.

What does a typical Austria touring holiday by rail look like, and how long does it take?

The most popular starting point is a holiday of eight to twelve nights that combines two or three Austrian cities with one or two cities beyond the border. An eight-night itinerary might travel out by Nightjet to Innsbruck — one night in the Tirolean capital, with the Goldenes Dachl, the Imperial Palace and the surrounding Alpine scenery — then continue to Salzburg for two nights, before completing the journey to Vienna for three nights. Return is by the Nightjet from Vienna to Cologne and then Eurostar. A more ambitious twelve-night version of this might begin in Zurich and travel the Arlberg Pass — one of the great scenic rail journeys in the Alps — before arriving in Innsbruck, and might end in Budapest rather than Vienna, with the Hungarian capital offering a compelling contrast to the Austrian imperial cities. For clients who want Vienna only, a six or seven-night hotel stay flies in and out, and we organise that equally well. The itinerary is always built around what you want from the trip rather than around a standard package.

We're particularly interested in Vienna. What makes it worth a dedicated stay rather than just a night or two en route?

Vienna rewards extended time in a way that very few cities do, and a night or two barely touches what it offers. The museum quarter alone — the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Albertina, the Leopold — could absorb a week for anyone with serious interest in art and culture. The Belvedere, with Klimt's Kiss and one of the finest panoramic views in the city, is a half-day at least. The Staatsoper and the Volksoper between them programme almost nightly in season, and booking in advance through us is straightforward. Beyond the institutions, Vienna is a city for living in at its own pace: the coffee house culture — Café Central, Café Hawelka, Café Landtmann — is not a tourist convenience but a genuine way of life, and sitting for a long afternoon with a Melange and a newspaper is as Viennese an experience as anything in a museum. The Naschmarkt, the Graben, the streets of the 7th and 8th districts — the city reveals itself gradually and generously. We recommend a minimum of three nights and consider four or five the right length for a dedicated Vienna stay.

Austria works well combined with other countries, you say. Which combinations do you find most rewarding?

Several, and they suit different types of traveller. The most popular is Austria combined with Switzerland by train, travelling the Arlberg Pass from Zurich or Lausanne through to Innsbruck — the descent into the Inn valley on a clear day is one of the finest views from a train window anywhere in Europe — and then continuing to Salzburg and Vienna. This combines Swiss mountain scenery and lake landscapes with Austrian imperial culture in a single coherent journey. Austria with Hungary works equally well: Vienna and Budapest are four hours apart by Railjet, and the two cities offer a fascinating contrast — the Habsburg order of Vienna against the Magyar exuberance of Budapest. For those interested in the less-travelled, our itinerary combining Vienna with the Styrian Alps, Slovenia and Venice by train is one of the most distinctive we offer: Graz, Ljubljana, Lake Bled and Venice make for an extraordinary ten to twelve-night tour through some of the most underrated scenery and cities in central Europe. Austria with Germany — Innsbruck, Salzburg and Munich — is a natural combination, and works well for those approaching from the Eurostar route through Belgium and Germany.