Things to Do in Austria

Located in the gloriously ornate Neue Residenz in Mozartplatz, the Salzburg Museum opened in 2007 to great acclaim and won European Museum of the Year two years later. It serves as an informative and educational museum of art and history, scanning aspects of the development of Salzburg as a city. 

A museum of several parts housed in fine marble apartments, it features temporary art exhibitions, highlights the lives of prominent Salzburg movers and shakers, and examines the history of the city through a series of artwork in the permanent exhibition "˜The Myth of Salzburg'. A one-man exhibition on the third floor spotlights the mesmeric paintings of famous contemporary Austrian artist Gottfried Salzmann.

The Salzburg Museum is partnered to the adjacent Panorama Museum and they are connected by the subterranean Panorama Passage, which reveals a section of Roman wall covered with murals and four models of Salzburg at pertinent points in its development. The undoubted star of the Panorama Museum is the 85-foot (26-m) cyclorama of the city painted in 1829 by Johann Michael Sattler; it is supremely impressive in its fine architectural and topographical detail.

Located at the Salzburg Airport, Hangar-7 is a one of-a-kind aircraft hangar and transport museum that comes in at 44,130 square feet and offers ever-changing exhibitions in addition to upwards of five restaurant and lounge options. In addition to the aircraft and cars on display, there are also contemporary art exhibitions and air shows on occasion.

Though its main attractions are Flying Bulls historical aircraft and fleet of Formula 1 cars, many visitors come to the hangar simply to admire its architecture, the work of Salzburg architect Volkmar Burgstaller. The landmark's exterior can look like a glass aircraft wing when admired from the outside, and Hangar-7 also has a sweeping 131-foot (40-meter) entrance with two cylindrical towers. There are 1,754 panes of glass of different sizes, providing a view of the nearby mountain panorama.

Opened in 1913 in a beautiful Art Nouveau building, the Wiener Konzerthaus is one of the largest and most artistically progressive musical institutions in the world. After World War II, it played a crucial role in reviving the Austrian musical scene and soon became the leading organizer of contemporary music in the country, as well as a popular stage for international jazz performances.

The original Konzerthaus was home to three concert halls in which concerts could be played simultaneously and featured a historic organ installed in 1913. A complete renovation of the building between 1998 and 2001 added a fourth hall and made updates to make the Konzerthaus one of the most modern concert houses in the world. The four halls have capacities ranging from 336 to more than 1,800 and together they host more than 700 different events during the season, which runs from September to June. The Kozerthaus also hosts several festivals throughout the year, including the Early Music Festival Resonanzen in January, the Vienna Spring Festival in April and May, the Internationale Musikfest in May and June and the Wien Modern in the fall.

Schladming is cradled between the lush alpine tarns and valleys of the Dachstein massif and the Schladminger Tauern range in the Styrian Alps. Life started in this remote alpine spot back in the 14th century, when Schladming was a mining village, but today it is known as one of Austria's premier ski resorts. The Schladming-Dachstein region is best for intermediate skiers, offering long and scenic tree-lined runs. There are nine mountains to ski, all connected by a state-of-the-art network of lifts and cable cars, and with plenty of trails for cross-country skiers and snow shoers plus plenty of options for mountain restaurants and après ski.  

Summertime pursuits in this family-friendly resort include hiking and mountain biking, tobogganing and go-carting; one of the area's most popular (and nerve wracking) attractions is the Sky Walk up at Dachstein Glacier, where the panoramas include a sea of snowy alpine peaks and lurching drops of 250 meters (820 feet) straight down to the valley floor.

Salzburg's acclaimed Marionette Theatre was founded back in 1913 and its debut performance Bastien and Bastienne "“ the comic opera by Mozart "“ proved an instant hit with audiences. As its fan base expanded, so the theatre's repertoire increased, taking in operas by Rossini and Strauss, Shakespearian plays and also developing shows especially adapted for children, including Alice in Wonderland and Peter the Wolf; The Sound of Music was also added to theater's body of work in 2007.

The theater was awarded its own base in 1971, an ornate Baroque theater with a seating capacity of 350 that is tucked between the Mozarteum and the Landestheater. An extraordinary level of detail goes into the crafting of the puppets "“ each head is hand-carved in wood "“ and costumes and stage sets are individually designed for each show, while the characters are sung by some of the world's greatest opera stars.  

A bluff, flat-topped peak in the Berchtesgaden Alps, Untersberg is close to the Austrian border with Germany and rises up to 6,473 feet (1,973 meters); it is the highest mountain in the Salzburg area. In summer it is the destination of hikers for its well-marked trails; paragliders for spectacular alpine views; expert climbers for tough ascents; and tours around the Schellenbergerice cave. In winter local skiers flock to the mountain for the demanding 4.75-mile (7.5-km) run back down to the village of Grödig.

Today the summit of Untersberg can be reached all year around (weather permitting) by a panoramic cable-car ride from the village of St Leonhard; the alpine views are spectacular as the Rositten Valley and snow-flecked alpine peaks spread out far below. The year 2015 sees the 50th anniversary of the releases of The Sound of Music and excursions will run out to the foothills of Untersberg to the spot where the Von Trapp family sang Climb Every Mountain as they escaped across the Alps to safety from Nazi Austria.

The museum featuring the work of Michael Haydn, younger brother of the much-more-famous Baroque composer Joseph Haydn, is found in the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter, parts of which date back to 696 AD, making it the oldest abbey in Austria. 

Johann Michael Haydn lived between 1737 and 1806; arriving in Salzburg in 1763 he was a close contemporary of Mozart but rather than leaving Salzburg for the bright lights of Vienna, he forged a successful career as a court musician by remaining in the city. He was incredibly prolific, composing more than 350 pieces of work, including 40 symphonies and 37 masses as well as 19 operettas and during his lifetime he was considered as bright a talent as both his brother and Mozart. Samples of Hadyn's melodies can be heard in the museum, which is a must-see museum for devotees of Baroque music and showcases manuscripts, sheet music and paintings reflecting his life and times. Chamber music performances of Hadyn's works take place in the evening at the abbey between July and September (daily except Wednesday) and he is buried in the Stiftskirche (abbey church).

The architecture of the Garden Palace is a highlight itself, with opulently frescoed apartments frothily decorated by the Austrian Baroque master Johann Michael Rottmayr and complemented with sweeping marble staircases and ceiling paintings by Andrea Pozzo.

The Schlumberger cellars in Vienna's nineteenth district are the oldest sparkling wine cellars in Austria. Schlumberger Cellars date back to the 18th century, and specialize in making sparkling wine. The 300­-year­-old cellars wind through several miles of underground tunnels, which store several million bottles of sparkling wine ("˜Sekt' in German). The brick­-lined tunnels (which were designed by the famous engineer Carl Ritter von Ghega, known best for designing the Semmering Railway) provide the steady, moderate temperature that's needed for the wine to properly ferment. The founder of the original vineyard trained as a winemaker in Reims, France, which meant that Schlumberger Cellars' sparkling wine was allowed to be called Champagne until France changed its winemaking laws in 1900. Schlumberger Cellars is a wonderful place to visit if you're a connoisseur of wine, or if you just like to drink it! The cellars combine a blend of contemporary and traditional features in their winemaking practices, and visitors can learn about making wine in the traditional methode Champenoise and even riddle some bottles while touring the extensive cellars. The wine is both excellent and reasonably priced, and visitors can sample a glass of it after one of the twice-­weekly tours.