The most beautiful cities in Austria

Welcome to one of Europe’s most beautiful countries. Austria’s landscapes, regions and townscapes provide almost the full range of European variety in the centre of the continent. Austria is often associated, rightly, with winter sports, but there is so much more on offer. Its alpine areas are rugged and picturesque, but that’s far from being the whole story.

Eisenstadt

One of the world's smallest provincial capitals is the site of the Baroque aristocratic palace Schloß Esterházy and has a main street of diverse historical buildings and a centuries-old cathedral.

Here the Classical composer Joseph Haydn served the Esterházys as court composer and his house is another attraction. The extraordinary Kalvarienberg church (or Bergkirche), where Haydn is buried, alone is worth the visit with its grottoed cross stations and dioramas winding about and above the main structure.

Eisenstadt, long part of Hungary, is reached by a regional rail service from Vienna that divides at Neusiedl am See –  Eisenstadt passengers need to board the front part of the train.