Hotels in Austria

Country information:

Austria has an international reputation as the „land of music and arts“. Combined with natural resources reaching from alpine glaciers to the Pannonian plain, and a high-quality tourism infrastructure, Austria is an ideal holiday country.

As a nation with an abundant cultural heritage and a rich artistic life, Austria ranks throughout the world as a major cultural power. Its wealth of artistic achievements extends from the architectural monuments of millennia of history to a packed programme of modern-day cultural events: from concerts, drama and festivals to folklore. Austria owes its reputation as a land of music to such institutions as the Vienna State Opera but also to its countless festivals throughout the country, from Lake Constance in the far west (Bregenz Festival) to Lake Neusiedl in the far East (Mörbisch operetta festival). Every summer Salzburg hosts the country's most prestigious arts festival, founded in 1920.

This European heartland combines a wide variety of landscapes, climatic conditions and flora. Austria\'s landscapes range from the peaks of the Alps to hill country and plains. The foothills of the Alps and the Carpathians, the Vienna Basin and the Austrian segment of the Pannonian Plain in the East are the principal areas of settlement and economic activity. Austria\'s highest mountain is the Grossglockner (3,797 metres). Its longest river is the Danube, which flows through Austria for a length of some 350 kilometres. Given its location, it has always been a cross-roads of travel routes between the major European economic and cultural regions.

Many parts of the cultural heritage of Austria have their roots in the multinational state of the Habsburgs. Influences from the Slaw, French and Italian area can be discovered above all in the culinary specialities, in architecture and the fine arts.

Sporty people will know Austria as a wintersports paradise, offering ideal conditions for skiing and snowboarding. In summer, numerous lakes from Lake Bodensee via the Carinthian lakes and the Salzkammergut region in Upper Austria to the Neusiedler See are the place to go for all kinds of watersports. Besides, hiking and climbing in the Alps, biking along various rivers, horseback riding and golf rate highly.

Austria has been a member of the EU since 1995 and adopted the Euro currency at the beginning of 2002. The republic consists of 9 federal states with their own federal capitals – Vienna is the smallest federal state and also the capital of Austria.

With 27 hotels, Best Western is one of the largest hotel group in the country. The hotels can be found in and around the main city destinations, like Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregenz and Graz; in smaller cities like Kufstein, Rankweil, Lienz, Imst and Stockerau and in holiday resorts like St. Anton/Arlberg and Emmersdorf in the Wachau valley.

Facts Austria:

Capital: Vienna
Area: 83.858 km2
Inh.: aprox. 8,1 mio
Int. Dialing Code: +433

Daylight savings time (CET + 1hr): 28. 3. – 31. 10. 2010

Currency:
Euro (€) divided into 100 Eurocents

Rate of Exchange:
1 US$ ~ 0,83 €
1 € ~ US$ 1,20

All rates are quoted in Euro (€).

Roads subject to toll: on highways and expressways a toll sticker (vignette) is obligatory (available for 10 days, 2 months or 1 year)

Helpful links:

• International Airports in Austria: Wien-Schwechat (20 km from city center, www.viennaairport.com), Salzburg (5 km from city center, www.salzburg-airport.com), Innsbruck (5 km from city center, www.innsbruck-airport.com), Graz (10 km from city center, www.flughafen-graz.at), Klagenfurt (3 km from city center, www.klagenfurt-airport.at) and Linz (10 km from city center, www.linz-airport.at)
• Automobile Club: www.oeamtc.at
• Train timetables: www.oebb.at
• Cruises on the Danube: www.donauschiff.at
• Rental cars: www.hertz.at