Above all else, the Austrians like gemutlichkeit, which can mean a wide variety of things, but is most often translated into English as “coziness.” As examples, they cite everything from a hot drink in front of a fireplace's warmth, relaxing in a coffee house, or a gourmet meal with friends. You can improvise your own meaning during a visit, of course.

Highlights

First of all, you must visit Vienna (see Major Destinations, below), and follow up with trips to Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz. For the outdoors person, hiking or skiing in the Alps is essential, and a Danube river cruise is good for the spirit in any case.

Events

Annual highlights include Salzburg's Mozart Week in January, the Opera Ball in Vienna in February (the most prestigious event of some 300 balls throughout the city), and (all in Vienna), the Spring Festival in April and the Marathon and the Vienna Festival in May. The largest youth gathering in Central Europe, they say, is the Danube Youth Festival in June, while the Bregenz Festival (musical theater) holds sway in July (through August).

Salzburg's famous Festival in August has been going on since 1920 and is one of the world's most important music and theater festivals, featuring drama, concerts and opera. In September, it's the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt and the Bruckner Festival in Linz. October sees the Three-Country Marathon, passing through Germany and Switzerland as its goes around Lake Constance. In November is the Salzburg Jazz Festival and in December, the Christmas Markets everywhere.

Outdoors

The Alps beckon to outdoor people year round, skiing in winter being better known than hiking in summer, however. Top winter resorts include Lech/Zurs and St. Anton in The Arlberg; Innsbruck; Neustift; Kitzbuhel (in the Tirol) and Bad Gastein.

In summer, consider hiking The Alderweg, with 31 stages in the heart of the Alps, covering some 281 km. (about 174 miles) from St. Johann in the Lower Inn Valley via Innsbruck and on to St. Anton an Arlberg. Though there are eight ski areas that are part of the Olympia SkiWorld, you can ski all year round on the Stubai Glacier, they say. See www.stubaier-gletscher.com or www.arlberg.net. From June through October, the Innsbruck Tourist Office sponsors a daily Summer Mountain Hiking Program with certified guides from the Alpine School, using over 40 trails. The guide, hiking bus, shoes and backpack are free of charge. See www.innsbruck.info.

Cuisine

Local specialties here include Tyrolean dumplings, Salzburger Nockerln (a dessert), Viennese pastries and Styrian pumpkinseed oil. Beef from Styria or asparagus from the Marchfield should be sought after. Yes, the Wiener schnitzel with potatoes or a goulash with sausage are typical meals, cheapest in a good beisi (local fare restaurant). If you're on the run, try some sausages from a wurstl stand, and if in doubt, order a frankfurter with mustard and horseradish.

By all means, visit a coffee house for pastries and reading the papers while you also watch the world go by. The nation's “signature grape” is the Gruener Veltliner, grown in Lower Austria and Vienna. Reds from Burgenland and whites from Styria are also popular.

Shopping

You will buy things with Euros, and if you have single purchase costing more than E 75 (about $65), you can get a refund on the VAT (Value Added Tax) you pay if you fill out some forms. See www.globalrefund.com.

Accommodations

Nearly all hotels in Austria accept all major credit cards, and there is usually some English-speaking staff. Menu cards, room information, hotel brochures and phone instructions are available in English, also. Most hotels have non-smoking rooms, and hotel restaurants have a non-smoking area.

 In Vienna, you will find hundreds of places to stay, ranging from the most luxurious hotels to inexpensive pensions and hostels. There are seven five-star hotels (Ambassador, the Bristol, de France, Grand, Imperial, Intercontinental and the Palais Schwarzenberg), and eight four-star places (five Best Westerns, the Alstadt, the Ananas and the Pertschy), just for starters.

Graz has one four-star hotel, the Romantik Parkhotel.

Salzburg's two five-star hotels are the Goldener Hirsch and the Sheraton. The Auersperg, the Dorint and the Doktorwirt are four-stars each.

In the Tirol, the Central Spa Solden is a five-star hotel, while the Klosterbrau, Stock and Wiesenhof are four stars each.

In the Arlberg range, the five-star hotel is the Zurserhof, while there are two four-star establishments, the Gasthof Post and the Kristiania Lech.

Major Destinations

Vienna

Here, you should begin by taking in some samples of Austria's visible history in the form of the magnificent buildings dating back to the days when the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled much of the known world. (At its peak, the empire included everything from the Balkans to the New World, the latter through its sovereignty over Spain.)

The Aldstadt (Old City) and the Schonbrunn Palace have both been listed as world cultural heritage sites by UNESCO. The latter was the summer home of the Habsburgs. You can take tours that visit 40 of the 1,400 rooms in the huge complex, if you like. Here, the six-year-old Mozart performed for Maria Theresa and later had his famous competition with Antonio Salieri in 1786; see the play Amadeus for details. (The emperor is said to have placed his bet on Salieri!)

In the Old City, start at the heart, St. Stephen's Cathedral, which says it has western Europe's second-largest bell in its North Tower. (Mozart got married here, and you might get to hear his Requiem in this major church, too.) The area around the cathedral is chockablock with gorgeous boutiques and stores. Don't miss the Imperial Palace, with its apartments, the Sisi Museum (Sisi was he nickname given to the very popular Empress Elizabeth), the silver collection and the Spanish Riding School (www.hofburg-wien.at).

If you have time, visit a wine tavern on the edge of the city, a heurigen in local parlance. All the ones I've visited fall definitely in the gemutlich category, and the wine (especially younger versions) is enchanting. Also, you can take in the giant Ferris Wheel (the Prater), made famous in The Third Man movie (www.wienerriesenrad.com). If they are singing and you can get a ticket (ask your concierge), listen to the Vienna Boys Choir (founded in 1498), more information at www.wsk.at. Finally, although tickets are hard to come by here, too, music lovers should try to attend the State Opera for one of its fantastic productions (www.wiener-staatsoper.at) or hear the Philharmonic at one of its acclaimed performances at the Konzerthaus. I was lucky enough to hear the boys sing a Haydn mass in the Hofburg Chapel, and to see Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio on another visit.

Museums of Note

For the largest collection of Bruegels in the world, check out the Museum of Fine Arts (www.khm.at). If you like modern art and the world's largest collection of Egon Schiele works, see the Leopold Museum, part of the MuseumsQuartier (MQ), www.mqw.at. At the Belvedere Palace (actually two palaces), you may like the Austrian Gallery, with Gustav Klimt's masterpiece, The Kiss (www.belvedere.at). And if you still worship Sigmund Freud, there's his eponymous museum, his former apartment, with stuff he left behind (www.freud-museum.at).

For lovers of the classical, in addition to some of the above spots, look at the Liechtenstein Museum, a Baroque garden palace, with a huge collection of Rubens, and important works by van Dyck, Raphael and Rembrandt (www.liechtensteinmuseum.at). At the Albertina, you can see what is believed to be the world's largest collection of graphic arts. Opened in January, 2006, is the Vienna Mozart House, said to be his only surviving apartment, now in a house converted into a Mozart adventure world, whatever that is (www.mozarthausvienna.at). At this spot on the Domgasse, he composed The Marriage of Figaro and five of his concertos.

Salzburg

Despite The Sound of Music, this is Mozart's town, and when you are not listening to his works, at the festival or otherwise, you can visit places associated with his life and career. Foremost is the Mozart House, where he was born and where his family lived from 1747 to 1773. They moved to 8 Makartplatz (as it is now known), where Mozart lived until 1780. In 2006, Salzburg celebrates the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang's birth with a big bash.

The Aldstadt (Old City) here is, like that of Vienna, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, and throughout town, there are over 4,000 cultural events year round. In addition to the major bashes listed above, you could go when the following are held: Easter Festival, Pentecost Festival and Culture Days. Also check out performances by the Marionette Theater, Mozart Dinner Concerts, or chamber music at the Mirabell Palace, the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Heilbrunn Palace and the former Residence of the Prince-Archbishops. There are rock and pop concerts, too, and tours based on The Sound of Music.

If you buy a Salzburg Card, you get free admission to all the city's attractions, free public transport, and discounts for cultural events, tours and excursions. It's good for one, two or three days and can be bought at hotel front desks or city tourist offices.

Innsbruck

Known as the Sports Capital of the Alps, Innsbruck is a former imperial capital and the number one winter destination for overseas travelers to Austria. Free ski busses take you to any of six major ski areas around town, as well as to nearby St. Anton and Kitzbuhel. The town hosted two winter Olympic games (1964 and 1976).

As home to the former Hapsburg residence, the town has many famous sites, including as the most important the Golden Roof (from the 1500s), the City Tower (1440), the Ottoburg now housing a restaurant), the Court Palace, the cathedral and the Landestheater.

Modern sites include the Swarovski Crystal Works in Wattens, just east of town. Get an Innsbruck Card, good for one, two or three days, covering not only free transport, but access to the main museums and sights in town, even rides on many neighboring cable cars. Contact them at website www.tirol.at or www.innsbruck.info.

Graz

Austrians consider Graz their Mediterranean city, trendy and lively. Its Kunsthaus, a very modern building with a whale-like exterior, is called “the friendly alien” by locals, and features very contemporary art. The Johanneum shows paintings, coins and archeological finds in such places as the Eggenberg Castle or the new Kunsthaus.

In addition to paintings and other visible forms of art, Graz has several festivals including the Tales, held in early May, with storytellers narrating in English as well as German. In June and July is the Styriate festival of classical music, and then there is Jazz Summer. There is also Dance Summer Graz at the Opera House and the street theater festival, La Strada, popular with young and old.

Not far away, the famous white horses of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna can be seen at the Lipizzan Stud Farm, west of town. A lot of good Austrian wine comes from the region south of town, in this part of Southern Styria.

Danube Cruising

Most ships on the Danube cruises in Austria have a no-smoking policy, though there is smoking allowed on the top outside deck, usually. Casual dress is the order of the day. You'll like docking in the heart of each town you visit, so that you just walk off the ship and find yourself in the middle of all the action, day or night. Along the Danube route are Linz, the city of Anton Bruckner and his marvelous music; Durnstein, where Richard the Lion Hearted was imprisoned en route home from the Crusades: and Vienna, where an entire world of fun and culture await. Among cruise lines operating here is Euro River Cruises, website http://eurorivercruises.com.

Getting There

Among the airlines with direct service to Vienna from the United States are: Austrian Airlines (www.austrianair.com), American, Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Continental, Czech Air, Delta, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, LOT, Northwest, SAS, SN Brussels, United, Swiss and Virgin Atlantic, all making one stop.