14 days in Austria: itinerary

The 14-day route runs clockwise: east to south to west, then back east to Salzburg. That order keeps every long rail leg under about four hours and puts the mountains at the end, when you are happy to sit on a train.

Vienna to Graz is about 2h 40m by Railjet. Graz to Klagenfurt or Velden on the Wörthersee is roughly 3h. Carinthia to Zell am See crosses the Tauern by rail in about 3h 30m with a change. Zell am See to Innsbruck is around 2h 30m, and Innsbruck to Salzburg about 1h 50m. Verify times on the ÖBB timetable before booking connections.

This is the shape of the trip, not a minute-by-minute plan. Keep one full day free in Vienna and one in Salzburg for weather or a slow morning.

Austria is a rail country. ÖBB runs the main lines and sells Sparschiene advance tickets that cut Vienna–Salzburg or Vienna–Graz fares sharply; buy a few weeks out for summer and December. A seat reservation is worth it on Friday and Sunday afternoons and around public holidays.

For two weeks of moving, price an ÖBB Vorteilscard against point-to-point tickets — it usually pays for itself after three or four long legs. A Eurail or Interrail pass is the alternative if you also cross into Germany, Italy, Slovenia or Switzerland; it is rarely cheaper for an Austria-only trip.

Buses and post buses cover the last stretch to lakes and valleys, and ferries run on the Wörthersee and Wolfgangsee. Sunday services are thinner outside the main lines, so check timetables before you commit to a lake day.

The Grossglockner High Alpine Road is the one leg rail cannot do. It needs a car or the seasonal bus from Zell am See or Fusch; the road is tolled and closes outside roughly May–October.

One bed per base, near the station or the old town. In Vienna, districts 1–7 put you inside the Ring or a short tram ride out; in Graz the old town and the area around the Hauptbahnhof both work. On the Wörthersee, Velden is the classic resort and Klagenfurt is cheaper and better connected. Zell am See town is walkable and the lakefront costs more. Innsbruck's old town is compact; Salzburg splits between the right bank near the station and the left bank inside the old town.

Six bases in 14 nights is at the top of what most people enjoy. If you would rather unpack less, drop Graz and Carinthia and give those four nights to Vienna, Salzburg and a single lake.

Two weeks in Austria is not a budget destination. The band below is per person, sharing a double room, mid-range hotels and guesthouses, rail between bases, one paid sight a day and ordinary restaurant meals. Add flights separately.

Cheaper: guesthouses and hostels, supermarket lunches, advance rail tickets, standing tickets at the Vienna Opera. Pricier: Salzburg during the festival, ski-season Innsbruck, lakefront hotels in July and August, and any car hire for the Grossglockner.

If you have already done the Vienna–Salzburg–Innsbruck spine, swap the middle: Vienna → Wachau (Krems or Dürnstein) → Salzburg → Hallstatt → Zell am See → Innsbruck. That trades Graz and Carinthia for wine villages and the Salzkammergut.

In winter, replace the Carinthian lakes with a ski base — Zillertal, Arlberg or Schladming — and keep Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck as city days. In summer, add a night in the Wachau for cycling and wine rather than doing it as a day trip.

Shorter trips: 7 days covers Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck; 10 days adds the Wachau and Hallstatt. Fourteen days is where the south — Graz, Carinthia, the Grossglockner — becomes realistic.