Burgenland

The most unfamous province is Burgenland. It boarders to Hungary and is about 1,529 square miles big and has 284,900 citizens. The capital is Eisenstadt. It is also the place of the "Schloss Esterházy" from the 13th century.

view over Eisenstadt

Schloss Esterhazy  

One of the most famous aspects about the Burgenland is probably the wine industry. At the area around the Neusiedlersee you can find especially the nobl red attacks grape is growing. It is mainly red wine which is coming from this region. At the hills at the Neusiedlersee the most famous is the "Ruster Ausbruch dessert wine" from the western shore of the lake. The South is famous for their "Blaufränkisch" kind of wine.



Burgenland wine hills

 

Lake "Neusiedl" or "Neusiedlersee" is located in Burgenland. It is the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe. It is located at the Hungarian Boarder but is a little bit more than 2/3 in Austria and a little bit less than 1/3 in Hungary. It is at no place deeper than 1.8 meter. Podersdorf lighthouse at the Neusiedlersee
Neusiedlersee

 Since 55 years every year at the Neusiedlersee at a small town called Mörbisch there is a Opera in an open air arena. This years opera is "Der Bettelstudent" written by Carl Millöcker.
Get your tickets today!
http://www.seefestspiele-moerbisch.at/

Mörbisch Opera Stage at the Neusiedlersee

Every year Burgenland is the location for a lot of different music festivals at the location called "Wiesn". Those are all about different music genres and most of them bring international artists to Austria. 
The most famous ones are the "Nova Rock" and the "Two days a Week" festival. Therefor artists like "Metallica", "Linkin Park", "The Offspring", "Limp Bizkit", "Nightwish" or "Blink182" visited Austria.  
Get your Tickets today!
http://www.wiesen-festivals.at/

last year's trailer for the "Nova Rock Festival"

 
  

Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg is the smallest of the nine provinces in Austria. It is only 1,004.30 square miles big and has about 371,000 citizens. The dialect of the citizens there are quite similar to the Switzerland German and probably pretty hard to understand when you are studying German. Not just the language, also the culture is closer to Switzerland or South Germany than Central Austria. 

The capital of Vorarlberg is Bregenz. It is located at the Bodensee, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe.

Bregenz

Me in Bregenz at the Bodensee

Every year there is a big Festival "Bregenzer Festspiele" where they have incredible stages located at the Bodensee and play different operas every year like "Aida" or this year "The Magic Flute" of Mozart. 

Stage Design Festspiele

Another stage design

The stage of "Tosca"even was place for shooting the James Bond Movie "Quantum of Solace".

Doesn't matter if summer or winter, Vorarlberg is located in the alps so it is amazing to go either hiking or skiing over there!

 

Summertime in the Mountains

Wintertime in Vorarlberg 

It might just look like a small province but it is definatly worth ur visit!

Basic German Phrases for your holidays!

A lot of Austrians are speaking and understand English not too bad. But it is always very appreciated if you know some words. 

Here are some basic sentences and phrases which could be useful:

Hello	Hallo
Goodbye	Auf Wiedersehen/ Tschüss (informal)
Please	Bitte
Thank you	Danke
Yes	Ja
No	Nein
Excuse me/sorry	Entschuldigung
My name is...	Ich heisse..
What is your name?	Wie heissen Sie?
Nice to meet you	Schön Sie kennenzulernen
Where do you come from?	Woher kommen Sie?
I come from America	Ich komme aus Amerika
How are you?	Wie geht es Ihnen?
Where is...?	Wo ist…?
I would like (2 bottles of water)	Ich möchte (zwei Flaschen Wasser)
How much is that?	Wieviel kostet das?
How do I get to...?	Wie komme ich zum (m/n)/zur(f)…?
I don’t understand	Ich vestehe nicht
I’m sorry, I don’t speak German	Es tut mir leid, ich spreche kein Deutsch
Do you speak English?	Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Of course it is not that easy to pronounce it, so I looked up some videos which shows you a few basic words and their proper pronounciation. 

 

So let's get it started and learn some German today :)

Tyrol - Tirol

Tyrol itself is divided in North, East and South Tyrol. South Tyrol is in Italy and North Tyrol is considered as a state in Austria. East Tyrol is a small separate part in Austria.
With 4,883.31 square miles it is the third largest state in Austria and it has ----- citizens.

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the capital of North Tyrol with 121,329 citizens. It is located in a valley between the Brenner Pass, Patscherkofel, Hafelekar and Serles, all over 7,300 ft.

 Innsbruck from above

It is internationally known for the Olympic Winter Games in 1964 and 1976 as well as the Winter Paralympics in 1984 and 1988.
Therefore it's nearly necessary to visit the Bergislschanze. Since 1952 they are hosting the four hill tournament in ski jumping.

Bergisl

Don't miss the "Goldene Dachl" one of the most known attractions in Innsbruck when you are visiting the Old City of Innsbruck.

 Innsbruck Old Town

Goldenes Dachl

Swarovski

Ever wondered where Swarovski is from? Yes, Austria or better Wattens in Tyrol. Go and figure out how this amazing jewellery is made.

Kristallwelten at Wattens

Kitzbühl

Kitzbühl is one of the most famous ski resorts in Austria. It is especially known for its medival build town and its Apres Ski. Every year a lot of tourists are coming for one of the concerts or the "Hahnenkammrennen" which is a part of the Ski World Cup, generally taking place in January. Definatley a visit worth.

http://www.hahnenkamm.com/welcome.html

Kitzbühl

Lienz

Lienz is the capital of East Tyrol it is actually physically separated from Tyrol itself and sometimes called as the 10th province of Austria.
Amazing town inbetween mountains and definatley worth a visit during winter holidays.

Lienz

Salzburg

Salzburg

Salzburg is the capital city of the province Salzburg. Its approximately 150,000 residents make it the fourth biggest Austrian city. All in all has the province about 522.500 citizens on app. 2762.18 square miles.

Well I guess when somebody says Austria most of the people think first of Salzburg. This is where Mozart is from, this is where the Sound of Music is from. When you go for a walk through the Old City you cannot miss the son of Salzburg!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

 (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791)

 Source 

Mozart was one of the most significant and influential of all composers of Western classical music. His works are loved by many and are still frequently performed.

Mozart wrote his first symphony when he was eight years old and his first opera at 12. Here is one of his most famous works. 

Mozart's "Kleine Nachtmusik"

One of the most famous chocolate souvenirs: "The Mozart Balls". a ball of green pistachio marzipan covered in a layer of nougat and finally dunked in a dark chocolate coating.

Definitley worth to try it!

Source

Sightseeing 

View from the Old City to the castle "Hohensalzburg". Go up for a walk or drive up. A view over Salzburg that you don't want to miss!

 Source

Dom zu Salzburg. Take the time and have a look inside!

  

 Source

Lakeside of Salzburg

Wolfgangsee

Source

Attersee

Source

Mondsee

 Source

Sound of Music (1965)

In Salzburg, Austria, Maria, a woman studying to become a nun, is sent from her convent to be the governess to seven children of a widowed naval commander, Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp. The children, initially hostile and mischievous, come to like her, and the woman finds herself falling in love with the captain. He was soon to be married to a baroness but marries Maria instead. Maria teaches the children singing. Meanwhile, the Nazis take power in Austria as part of the Anschluss, and want Captain von Trapp back in service. However, during a singing performance in a guarded theater, the whole family flees and walks over the mountains to Switzerland.

Source

Fun Facts about Salzburg!

Styria - Steiermark

The next province is Styria (Steiermark). It is 6,332.48 sq mi big and has about 1,210,700 inhabitants and is located on the southeast of Austria. It boarders to Slovenia.
The Capital is Graz with about 291,890 people. It is a student city with about 44,000 students. The thing you don't want to miss is for sure the "Uhrturm" on the "Schlossberg" where you have an amazing view all over Graz.

http://pinterest.com/pin/203365739393548210/

Graz is also the city where one of the U.S. governors (California) and a famous actor is from - Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1974).

Styria is also famous for its Thermal baths and its wine region.
Especially in spring time the hills are amazing to go for a bikeride or a walk. 

  http://pinterest.com/pin/253609022736424745/

Every year they have a big wine festival and for falltime there you can get "Sturm" and "Maroni" which is basically a wine drink and roasted chestnuts.

 

http://www.formbacherland.at/images_dynam/image_termin/01_Maroni1.jpg

In wintertime there are a lot of different thermal baths you shouldn't miss! 

http://www.austria.info/at/erholen-entspannen/steirisches-thermenland-1656544.html

For special deals check it out: 

http://www.thermenland.at/en 

Let me know what you think and leave me a comment :)

Useful Links

here I will just update some useful Links for travelling through Austria :)

Need to get a trainticket?
http://www.bootsnall.com/eurail/passes/austria.shtml

Facts:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/au.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107301.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Austria

Figure out which skiresort is perfect for u? 
http://www.skiresorts-test.com/ski-resorts/austria