Edelweiss, The Sound of Music, Grossglockner And Snow, Lots And Lots Of Snow

Austria is a wonderland of mountains, green pastures, lakes and . . . mountains

- Charmaine de Villiers

Tucked in between the soaring Alps, Austria is an enchanting country with magical landscapes, picture-perfect meadows and grasslands, stunning baroque architecture, tiny villages, and magnificent cities. It is a country of music, culture, baroque architecture, grand palaces and Viennese coffee shops serving cinnamon-soaked Apfelstrudel, Austria’s iconic dessert.

Innsbruck: where the past and present meet Flying from Vienna to Innsbruck was the start of a week-long journey across Austria by coach, riding a ski lift up a mountainside, and sliding deep into the bowels of the earth in a salt mine.

Nestled amidst majestic peaks, the city streets are full of Baroque and Gothic architecture in the Old Town, to modern districts such as Mariahilf or St. Nikolaus, popular with university students. In a city famous for its winter sports, the Nordkette funicular, with its futuristic its stations, climbs up to 2 256m that in just 20 minutes, reaches the Seegrube with its spectacular views of the Inn valley and the surrounding mountains.

The Imperial Palace, Ottoburg, and the Wilten Basilica tell of Innsbruck’s eventful past and its great figures, especially Emperor Maximilian I, who built many of the monuments as well as the Golden Roof and his tomb at the Imperial Church. No visit is complete without seeing the city’s most famous landmark. Completed in 1500, the roof was decorated with 2 657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his wedding to Bianca Maria Sforza.