Austria Travel Guide

Outdoor activities
Whatever the season, if you're looking for an active outdoor holiday you'll be spoilt for choice in Austria. In summer, well-maintained footpaths and expansive mountain scenery make it something of a paradise for walkers. Fast-flowing alpine rivers and tranquil lakes offer a great range of water-based pursuits, and most holiday resorts of any size cater to tennis, swimming and golf enthusiasts. In winter, wherever you are in alpine parts, you'll be in striking distance of a winter sports centre of one sort or another. Winter sports have deep roots in Austria, and locals will ski or snowboard anywhere there's a serviceable slope. The season generally lasts from early December to early April, though skiing and snowboarding are possible all the year round on a small number of high-mountain glaciers.

Walking
Austria offers some of the finest walking (Wandern) terrain in Europe. Variety is the order of the day, with lowland walks in the east of the country, and gently rolling hills in southern Styria, Upper Austria and Lower Austria, contrasting sharply with the more challenging alpine regions in the centre and west of the country. Tracks are for the most part well marked and well maintained, and numerous well-positioned signposts often include an estimation of how long a particular route will take.

In alpine Austria, much of the tourist infrastructure developed for the winter sports crowd is available for ramblers and hikers in the summer, and the basic forms of mountain lift (cable cars, gondolas and chairlifts; see "Skiing and snowboarding") are often pressed into service from late spring until early autumn in order to convey sightseers and walkers to higher altitudes. Walks that require spending a night or more on the mountain utilize the network of mountain huts (Hütte), which provide rudimentary dorm accommodation in mountain areas. Some huts are privately owned, but most are run by the Österreichischer Alpenverein (ÖAV) or their affiliates. Details of some all-day mountain walks and more ambitious hut-to-hut walks are included in this guide.

Planning your walk
Whatever level of walking you intend to do, a good map is essential. There's usually a wide choice of maps on sale in tourist offices, bookshops and souvenir shops once you arrive; details of map-buying options outside Austria are given in "Information, websites and maps". If you buy a 1:50,000 map, or one even more detailed, walking routes are usually marked in red and numbered (as they are on the ground). Some maps differentiate between well-marked paths and insufficiently marked paths; others differentiate according to the level of difficulty, dividing the paths into Wanderweg (hiking trail), Wanderpfad (steep hiking trail) and Steig (climbing trail).

In the Tyrol, and other alpine areas, paths are marked according to a colour scheme: blue, red or black. Tracks marked in blue are usually on the flat, or involve an ascent gentle enough to be accessible to most people with average mobility. Those in red usually involve steeper gradients, but they shouldn't pose too many problems to people of reasonable fitness. Those in black may have been designated as such for a number of reasons: they might be high-altitude tracks prone to year-round snow and ice; involve a sheer drop on one or both sides of the track, therefore requiring a good head for heights; or include stretches where a certain amount of scrambling or climbing is necessary (such stretches are usually protected with cables). On no account should you set off to tackle a black route unless you're an experienced walker, or you're in the company of someone who is. One good way of getting an introduction to walking in the Alps is to join one of the many guided walks organized by tourist offices throughout Austria in the summer. Sometimes these are free, but you can usually expect to pay €6–9 per person for a half-day walk.

Always check the weather forecast before setting out, as mountain weather can change rapidly. Even if you're merely going on a cable-car ride to the summit of some local peak in order to enjoy the view and embark on a brief amble, it's worth taking a pullover and a waterproof jacket at the very least. For anything more ambitious than this, windproof and waterproof clothing is essential. Choosing the right footwear is of prime importance, too: trainers are only really adequate for a short walk on the flat, and you'd be foolish to attempt walks of any duration in alpine regions without a good pair of walking boots.

Paths known as Klettersteig have sections with steps and/or ropes or cables to hang on to. Signs announcing nur für Geübte warn that the route is for experienced walkers only. Be extra vigilant when crossing mountain streams, patches of snow or exposed rocks. Avoid straying onto glaciers and snowfields unless accompanied by a mountaineer who is experienced in glacier travel and has the necessary equipment to deal with crevasse rescue.

You should never embark on a walk that can't reasonably be completed well before dusk. Gauging distance that can be covered depends on many variables, including terrain, fitness levels, weight being carried and so on. Reasonably fit people carrying a light rucksack should be able to manage 4.5km per hour on the flat, plus an additional hour for every 350m of ascent. Don't be too proud to turn back should the weather deteriorate or the route become difficult or dangerous. If you do make it to the summit, you'll probably find a little wooden box containing a stamp (to prove you've been there) and/or visitors' book, so you can record your feat for posterity.

For those on all-day or hut-to-hut walks, the list of what to take with you increases. Although signposts and waymarks are frequent in most areas, it's prudent to carry a good map and compass – and know how to use them. A first-aid kit, whistle and torch should also be taken in case of emergencies. Carry food for the day, including emergency rations and at least one litre of liquid per person. Leave a note of your itinerary and expected time of return with a responsible person, and when using mountain huts enter the route details in the book provided. If unable to reach the destination at which you're expected, try to send a message to prevent the mountain rescue team being called out. If you do get into trouble, the International Distress Signal is six quick blasts on a whistle (or flashes with a torch) followed by a minute's pause. Then repeat. The response is three signals followed by a minute's silence. Mountain rescue can be very expensive, and it won't be covered by most regular travel insurance policies. If you're devoting all or most of your holiday to serious walking in the Alps, it's a good idea to ask a travel agent or insurance company about getting specific cover for what you're doing. Membership of the Austrian Alpine Club includes worldwide mountain accident rescue cover.

Austrian Alpine Club
Österreichischer Alpenverein tel:0512/59547, www.alpenverein.at.

UK branch: Austrian Alpine Club tel:01707/386740, www.aacuk.uk.com.

Members are entitled to a fifty percent reduction on accommodation in all alpine huts run by the ÖAV. Membership costs £40 per year (£30 for under 26s and over 60s; £12 for under 18s).

Lake and river activities
Austria's many lakes serve as centres of warm-weather sporting action – predominantly the lakes of the Salzkammergut, the Wörthersee, Ossiachersee and Millstättersee in Carinthia, and the Neusiedler See in Burgenland. All of the above are well equipped with windsurfing and sailing schools, the latter usually offering a range of courses in a variety of craft. Courses in all disciplines tend to last a week, although shorter, two-day crash courses are often available. Expect to pay around €200 for seven days. Courses will be in German and, although not all instructors speak English, most schools will make an effort to tailor what they offer to suit your needs. The majority of sailing and windsurfing schools rent out surfboards and boats to those who already have experience. On the larger lakes, waterskiing and paraskiing are usually on offer.

Scuba diving is a popular activity in the lakes of the Salzkammergut, although each lake only allows diving in designated areas, and at certain times of the year (transgressors will be fined). A one-day course should cost around €40, a seven-day marathon €400.

Rafting
Rafting is an increasingly popular activity on the fast-flowing rivers of the Tyrol, and involves sharing a large dinghy with a ten- to fifteen-strong group of people and hurtling downstream. The dinghy is captained by a local guide, and safety equipment (such as lifejackets) is provided. A trip usually costs around €50 per person depending on duration, and you can often choose between travelling a mild stretch of the river, or a more fast-flowing one – children under a certain age may be excluded from the latter.

The main centres for rafting are the towns of Imst and Landeck on the River Inn, Taxenbach near Zell am See, and the village of Sölden in the Ötztal – most tourist resorts in western Austria run regular trips to these centres, so you don't have to stay there to take part. These areas are also popular for canoeing and kayaking, and it's fairly easy to rent equipment and obtain advice on which stretches of the river you can use once you arrive – local tourist offices are the obvious starting point for enquiries, although other contact addresses are given in the Guide where relevant.

Fishing
It's relatively easy to indulge in a spot of fishing on Austria's lakes and rivers, even if you're only spending a day or two in a particular area. Tourist offices should be your first point of contact when enquiring about where to fish and where to hire equipment. You'll have to buy a fishing licence (Amtliche Fischerkarte) – the tourist office will sell you one, or at least point you in the direction of a local sports shop where they're available. The cost of a licence often depends on whether you're intending to fish from dry land or from a boat: for the former, expect to pay €20 per day, €75 per week.

Skiing and snowboarding
Almost all Austrians know how to ski (Schifahren), and for those living in alpine areas skiing represents (for much of the year at least) the major recreational activity. The emphasis is very much on downhill skiing, although nordic (cross-country) skiing is practised almost anywhere there's enough snow to make it practicable.

Snowboarding is becoming the dominant winter activity for increasing numbers of younger Austrians. The popularity of the sport has injected the Austrian skiing scene – and the après-ski scene – with a new vigour and most resort areas have a mixture of terrain suitable for different ability levels. A well-equipped resort favoured by Austrian snowboarders but rarely featured in holiday brochures is Axamer Lizum, just southwest of Innsbruck; if you're staying in the Tyrolean capital, it's relatively easy to pop out there for the day. Schladming is a good place to learn how to snowboard, while St Anton and Zell am See are both well equipped to deal with the demands of the more experienced. The glacier above Zell am See's sister resort Kaprun is a good spot for all-year boarding. It's easy to rent gear and sign up for lessons in all the above resorts, and Schladming, St Anton and Zell am See– Kaprun all feature regularly in the package-holiday brochures.

Runs for both skiing and snowboarding are colour coded: blue runs are for beginners, red runs for intermediates, and black for advanced skiers only.

Global warming
It's not a subject that many in the ski industry like to talk about, but if global warming continues, according to the latest forecasts, the prospects for skiing could be bleak. No industrial country in the world is as dependent on skiing as Austria, where the industry generates 4.5 percent of the country's GNP. Worse still, three quarters of the country's ski lifts are situated below 1000m, where the snow is most vulnerable to rising global temperatures. To find out whether there's any snow on your piste, log on to www.skihotline.com.

Planning your trip
Most places in alpine Austria will have nursery slopes and a ski school of sorts, and if you're a beginner (or you're travelling with children who are new to skiing) you can learn to ski or snowboard almost anywhere. However, it's a good idea to pick a resort where the nursery slopes are in the valley floor near the hotels, rather than some distance away, and where easy runs (which a beginner might progress onto after a few days) are within good striking distance. It may also be worth avoiding resorts (notably in the Arlberg region) that are traditionally popular with advanced skiers and where beginners may feel out of place. The relatively laid-back, small-scale village resorts like Alpbach, Niederau and Obergürgl in the Tyrol, and Neukirchen in the Salzburger Land, are enduringly popular with first-time skiers; that said, glitzy, fashionable and traditionally more expensive Lech in the Vorarlberg is just as good a place to learn. All of the above feature regularly in the package-holiday brochures. If you're travelling independently, Kals in the East Tyrol is a good place for young families and children learning to ski – it's not a destination offered by package companies.

Intermediate skiers have a much wider choice, with most Austrian resorts of any size offering extensive intermediate areas linked together by interconnecting lift networks. You'll find a wide and varied skiing terrain at your disposal at Söll, Ischgl, Mayrhofen and Kitzbühel in the Tyrol; and at St Johann and Saalbach– Hinteglemm in the Salzburger Land. Saalbach– Hinterglemm also boasts several runs for the advanced skier, and the Badgastein region is worth investigating, although the most challenging terrain is to be found in the Arlberg region, Austria's top destination for off-piste skiing. St Anton provides the best access to the Arlberg slopes, with St Christoph, Lech and Zürs sufficiently close to be serviceable bases.

All-year skiing is possible on a number of high-mountain glaciers, except during particularly hot summers when conditions can get too slushy. The main glacier areas are the Dachstein, accessible from Schladming in Styria; the Kitzsteinhorn, accessible from Zell am See– Kaprun in the Salzburger Land; Sölden in the Ötztal; and Stubai, accessible from Fulpmes or Innsbruck in the Tyrol.

Your choice of resort will also depend on whether you're looking for a lively place with lots of nightlife or a more laid-back, traditional village. As a general rule, a resort that is at the same time a sizeable town (Zell am See, Badgastein, Kitzbühel) is going to see more night-time action than a small village. Smaller resorts like Alpbach, Niederau and Wagrain have preserved their unspoilt, rural character, and in places such as these après-ski tends to be confined to your hotel-bar. Villages like Söll, Sölden and Ischgl, on the other hand, have experienced much more indiscriminate tourist development, and bars and discos are correspondingly thick on the ground. Some of these places (notably Söll) have earned a largely undeserved reputation as rowdy resorts in the past, and such alarmist reports shouldn't dissuade you from spending a family holiday there. The swishest nightlife is to be found in high-society resorts like Kitzbühel and Lech– Zürs – bear in mind that food and drink prices will be correspondingly high.

Lifts, passes and basic costs
Access to the slopes is provided by a variety of lifts. Single journeys can be quite expensive, so you should buy a ski pass, which entitles you to unlimited use of all the lifts in your area over a certain period of time. A variety of passes are usually available, ranging in duration from one- to six-day, thirteen-day, one-month and occasionally longer.

Prices of ski passes vary wildly from one area to the next, and are usually dependent on how fashionable the resort is and how wide an area the pass covers. Wherever you are in Austria, one-day ski pass prices rarely fall below the €25 mark, and most are in the €30–35 range (although the cost of a one-day pass is often graded according to how early in the day you buy it). A six-day ski pass for the low-key resorts of western Carinthia and the East Tyrol, covering the slopes above Lienz as well as Heiligenblut, Kals and Matrei, costs around €140, whereas a six-day ski pass for more trendy St Anton covers the whole of the Arlberg region (embracing nearby resorts Zürs and Lech) and weighs in at a hefty €180 – wide-ranging passes such as these are undoubtedly worth it if you're an experienced skier keen to cover a lot of ground.

Assuming you're not already kitted out, ski/snowboard and bootrental for six days will probably set you back €120 or more. If you're a beginner, you'll also have to budget for tuition, with six days' worth of lessons (usually about 4hr of tuition a day) costing something in the region of €110–140. Beginners' snowboarding courses usually last about three days and cost upwards of €100.

Nordic skiing
Most alpine resorts will offer the chance to sample Langlauf, or Nordic skiing (cross-country), utilizing prepared trails known as Loipe down in the valley floor below the main alpine ski slopes. Both Ramsau above Schladming and Ehrwald-Lermoos in the Tyrol offer the most challenging network of trails, although other resorts shouldn't be discounted if all you want to do is take a few lessons and try the sport out. Few companies offer specific nordic packages in Austria but you can always book a standard skiing trip to a mainstream resort like Ischgl, Kitzbühel or Schladming, and then register for a Nordic skiing course once you arrive.

Skiing as a spectator sport
The main venues for international skiing competitions in Austria are Schladming, St Anton and Kitzbühel, each of which hosts World Cup downhill and slalom races in January (contact local tourist offices for precise dates). The most famous of these is the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel, which usually takes place mid-January for women and the end of January for men – the latter is an important date in the society calendar. Austria's most important ski-jumping sites are Bischofshofen in the Salzburger Land and the Bergisel just outside Innsbruck; again the big international World Cup meetings are usually scheduled for January, and you should check with local tourist offices for details.

Eisstockschiessen
One popular sport that you'll see a lot of in alpine areas over the winter is Eisstockschiessen, which (rather like curling) involves sliding heavy objects down a sheet of ice. Most towns and villages will have an area set aside for this – enquire at local tourist offices if you're interested in either watching or taking part.
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