Read part one here

Travelling through Austria at the moment seems like a life-sized art experiment. Spring rains followed by unseasonable sunshine and heat have brought a deep vibrancy to the trees: greens, browns and yellows sit sharply against each other, especially contrasted with the occasional tree covered in pastel-pink blooms. Lush green fields are interspersed with light-brown patches of dirt where finances or crop management have stopped farmers planting. Every now and again, however, one comes across a field of rapeseed, looking like God decided to draw highlighter-yellow lines across creation.

Easy transport connections and cheap hostels mean most budget travellers are drawn from city to city but, like most of Europe, the “Europe we came to see” is in the towns. Last week we looked at Austria’s cities, so in this post I’ll discuss the Mostviertel, Styria and Neusiedl am See before giving some first-hand tips for getting into, around, and out of Austria. Summer’s coming and the ski season is drawing to an end, however there’s still plenty to do outside of Austria’s main draws.

The Mostviertel is a delightful district in Lower Austria. (Confusingly, Lower Austria is the area surrounding and to the west of Vienna.) The Sonntagberg dominates the region with its church being the site of a yearly pilgrimage and market. Named for “most”, a bitter local cider, the farming communities and industry of the region make for nice walks and towns. This year (2007), Waidhofen an der Ybbs and St Peter in der Au are hosting the Lower Austria art exhibition: Fire and Earth. The “fire” part is in Waidhofen/Ybbs and “earth” is in St Peter/Au.

Waidhofen is the place to base yourself for the exhibition; a cute little town with nice cafes and restaurants, it’s been given a comprehensive makeover giving it a modern, arty feel. Linda and I were lucky enough to be there for Waidhofen’s annual night market, see a short slideshow/video here.

Styria, the area south of Graz, suffers from the lack of fast, regular transport between towns but the effort of travelling is often well rewarded since this is a premier wine and spa region. There are several tour companies operating out of Graz, so that makes a good base to explore from…but do try and stay out of the city for a bit! One of the few places I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in is the area around Bad Tatzmannsdorf. It’s a “wellness” town with accommodation options from campsites to five-star resorts, all based around the natural springs. It also has an interesting outdoor museum and wonderful ice creams!

One thing I miss in Europe is the beach; spoilt Kiwi, I know! Neusiedl am See is a popular summer town on the bank of a large lake. Wine is a big part of Neusiedl am See — one of the local high schools offers a winemaking class — and there are several vinoteks and heurigers with great local fare. Boats and cycles are available for hire and the cycle tracks are amazing — taking you through farmland, wetlands and waterfront…or, from winery to winery.

There are plenty of other cool, relaxed places which I haven’t mentioned. Get over to Austria, get out of the cities and drop a comment below to let us know your favourite out-of-the-way spot.

Getting into Austria…
Trains are frequent from all local countries, best to check oebb.at for current schedules. If you’re coming from Cesky Krumlov, we’ve found the shuttle bus to Linz affordable (450kr) and a great time-saver. Budget airlines fly from many centres into Salzburg, Graz, Linz and Bratislava. Bratislava? Yeah, they fly into Bratislava and you can catch a train or shuttle bus from there to Vienna. Make sure you check your tickets; some people have been surprised!

Getting around Austria…
Taxis and buses are cheap enough, but trains are the most convenient way from town to town. They are run by ÖBB (oebb.at) and their red logo is easily recognisable. Many large stations have staff (although your chances of finding an English speaker is 50/50) as well as red touch-screen ticket machines. We’ve found these to be the easiest way to buy tickets - just hit the “English” button first, choose your destination and amount of people then feed in some money. If there are no ways to pay at the station, just board the train and pay for your ticket onboard. It’s about 10% more expensive, but from some rural stations there isn’t another option.

Under 26? €20 will get you a Vorteilscard which gives you 45% discount on every train journey for a year. If you’re spending a fair bit of time there, or travelling across the country, buy one as soon as you enter the country and you’ll save a ton. If you’re over 26 a Vorteilscard will give you the same discount, but set you back €100. Vorteilscards are available from any manned station; have some photo ID and a passport-sized photo available. When we caught the train from Venice to Vienna we bought our Italian ticket to the first major Austrian town, disembarked, bought a Vorteilscard and caught the next train…we almost made the cost back on that trip alone!

If you’re not in the country long enough to warrant a Vorteilscard, simply travelling with a friend will save you some cash. You get more of a discount the more people are travelling together, and the ubiquitous ticket machines automatically give it to you.

Getting out of Austria…
Graz airport is small and seldom crowded — they also have free internet terminals to help pass the time and expensive wifi if you’re that way inclined. The wine selection after security is small but reasonable. The only other “Austrian” airport I’ve flown into is Bratislava, which is small but efficient.

Why don’t you jump in a shuttle from Linz to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic or head west into Liechtenstein then Switzerland? Germany’s always an option or skip through Slovenia to the Croatian beaches or head into Slovakia or Hungary…There are so many options only a few euros’ train ride away. Enjoy!

Read part one of “A tour of Austria”.

Craig Martin is a regular contributor to the amateur traveler, podcasts at indietravelpodcast.com and blogs at Our Crazy Travels where you can see more of his photos and blog posts about Austria. He currently lives out of a pack somewhere in Europe.