Travel Austria: "the most European country"

Some years back the above was an advertising slogan of the Austrian National Tourist Board, and it is only a slight exaggeration.  I have collected some useful information for you if you plan to visit Austria.  To begin my article, I will imagine you are my guest from far away and I want your tour of Austria to be very special. First I will find out which way you are coming to Austria.  If you flew to Austria, I would probably fetch you from Vienna Airport in Schwechat.  If you came by train I?d stand at the gate in Vienna?s Westbahnhof Trainstation.  Even by car, we would manage to meet.  Many tourists reach Austria by flying into Munich, Germany, and using a rental car or the train to get to Austria .

• Vienna International Airport (VIE) Flight Info, Finding your way, Services and other info. A useful site.
• Munich International Airport (MUC) arrival/departure data for the next 24 hours
  
• Austrian Railways (OEBB) provides a tool to plan and book your train trips online
  
• Park & Ride in Vienna all about car parking and garages in Vienna
  
• Viennas Public Transport (Wiener Linien - Vienna Lines) is comprehensive and well-planned.  You can purchase commuter?s tickets ( 24h, 72h, daypass, week, month, year.  Only the year-pass is a personalized ticket with photo; the others can be used by different persons. )  All these tickets are valid on every kind of transport--busses, streetcars(trams) and subway(underground) from about 5am till midnight.  Nightly transport is solved with nightbusses, where waiting period is max. 30 min; valid tickets are also good on the night bus.  Park and Ride is available at major traffic points.
  
• City Guide Experience Vienna Actilingua offers a very informative website about Vienna, nice site, solid info, up-to-date cultural events and much more.
  

Hotel Austria

Then, if you are not staying with me, we?d check you into a hotel on Vienna?s Ringstrasse, where the finest Vienna hotels are located.  Or into one of Vienna?s budget hotels.  Or even a Vienna Youth Hostel.  You will probably want to have a rest, before we meet at some place to have a snack and a drink.  Vienna hotels are worth a visit

Getting around

To travel Austria--the countryside, the cities, the alpine part of Austria--you are strongly advised to use Austria?s railways.  The railway system is long established and used by many Austrians and tourists to Austria, for it covers all of the country.  The railways are complemented by an even better coach/bus system by Austrian Post/Mail.  Besides you can see a lot more by just looking out of the window, than concentrating on the busy streets or hairpin mountain turns in Austria, where the speed limit is 80 mph / 130 kmh.  This can be stressful for US visitors, used to a limit of 65 mph.  In Germany some parts of the motorways don?t have any speed limit at all, which I find just stupid and primitive.  It can easily happen to you, that some Porsche or BMW passes you at a speed of 140 mph or more.  If that guy looks aside for one single second, he passes 68 yards where anything can happen, and he wouldn?t see it.  So take the train, relax and enjoy the view.

Travel Europe: "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium."

The hilarious film of this title should be required viewing by any prospective visitor to Europe:  a tour group is rushed through Europe at breakneck speed.  I recommend you either stay a month or two, or spend more time in a few specific places.  What can you see in one day Paris, one half-day Salzburg, another half in Vienna, next day in Venice or Rome, or both.  Impossible to experience impressions you won?t forget.  After a few months you can?t remember one thing right.  But linger a little longer, and store memories for life.  Visiting Austria, especially Vienna, gives you a good impression of Europe.  An ethnic mixture similar to that of New York City gives Vienna the charm of a global city.  A melting pot of cultures, former Yugoslavian, Czech, Polish, Slovakian, Slovenian, Turkish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Jewish and more people are living a more or less communal social life in Vienna.