Where To Stay

Many smaller hotels in Vienna and other cities offer comfortable surroundings and attentive service. Hotel rates can be as low as $50 per person in Vienna and $40 in Inns-sbruck, Salzburg, Linz and Graz.

Even bigger savings are possible by staying in a private house. Note that in Austria all charges and taxes (and breakfast, in most cases) are included in the rate.

The new Austria for Americans program allows visitors to experience Austria's delightful character and still feel at home with English-speaking staff, menus and newspapers in English, and many other small but important services. Taking part are 115 hotels.

Transportation

Arriving & Departing: Bus fare from Schwechat Airport to Vienna is about $7. Speedy trains link Austria to all parts of Europe.

Scheduled boats operate on many Austrian lakes from May through September. Vienna and Linz are, of course, major stops for Danube steamers cruising upriver to Passau in Germany, downriver to Budapest, and as far east as Bulgaria and Romania.

Getting Around: For information on Austrian Railpasses and the European East Pass, see the by rail section.

Senior citizens can buy a card for $37 that entitles them to travel for half-fare on railways and many buses.

Vienna, Salzburg, Linz, Graz and Innsbruck offer discount cards which allow free public transport and free or discounted admission to museums.

The Salzburg Plus Card also includes most meals for three days (around $117) and comes as a card or as an Access-equipped Swatch watch.

In 1997, Austria began charging highway tolls via a windshield sticker. Visitors can obtain a 10-day version (around $7 from post offices, tobacconists, gas stations at the border and auto clubs).

Another way to explore Austria is to bicycle along the Danube or on the 109-mile Tauern Bicycle Path along the Salzach and Saalach rivers.

Holidays

New Year’s Day, Epiphany (Jan. 6), Easter Sunday and Monday (Mar. 30 and 31), Labor Day (May 1), Ascension Day (May 8), Whitsunday and Whitmonday (May 18 and 19), Corpus Christi (May 29), Assumption (Aug. 15), National Holiday (Oct. 26), All Saints Day (Nov. 1), Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day (Dec. 26).

Money Matters

Banks are open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m. (5:30 on Thursday). The Austrian schilling is divided into 100 groschen. $1 = 10.85 ATS as of Dec. 2, 1996.

Free Literature

• AUSTRIA VACATION KIT: City capsules, day trips, touring routes, bibliography, map.
• AUSTRIA IMPERIALIS: Sites made famous by the Habsburg emperors.
• HONEYMOONS & ANNIVERSARIES: For romantic travelers.
• AUSTRIA/SUMMER; AUSTRIA/WINTER.

Brochures are also available on hotels and other accommodations, ski resorts, cities, music festivals and points of interest.

Austrian National Tourist Offices:

New York
P.O. Box 1142
New York, NY 10108
Tel: (212) 944-6880

Come visit our web page at: http://www.anto.com