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Itinerary: World Heritage Sites
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Austria’s outstanding cultural and natural heritage has been recognised with eight sights worthy of promotion to the prestigious Unesco World Heritage list.
Vienna’s Innere Stadt an open-air museum of epic proportions, is not the only Unesco site within the city; the opulent baroque palace and gardens of Schloss Schönbrunn also make the list. Not far from the city’s border is Neusiedler See, a vast expanse of water – Central Europe’s largest steppe lake in fact – encircled by vineyards and historical towns. Only an hour further south is the Alps’ seminal Semmering Railway, a remarkable feat of civil engineering from the mid-1800s. The Wachau, not far west of Vienna, is a region of unmatched beauty along the Danube, characterised by steep, forested slopes, vineyards, quaint wine villages and imposing fortresses at every river bend. Further west in the southern reaches of Salzkammergut is another of Austria’s natural World Heritage sites, Hallstatt-Dachstein. This breathtaking region of towering peaks and calm lakes has been home to social and economic activity since prehistoric times.
Rivalling Vienna’s Innere Stadt for the best-preserved old town is Salzburg’s Historical Centre, a grand mix of flamboyant Gothic and baroque architecture. And not to be outdone is the old centre of Graz, with is harmonious mix of architectural styles from the Middle Ages onwards.
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