Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

DISCOVER AUSTRIA

8 easy and fun ways to learn more about Austria

Getting to know a new country's culture and history can sometimes be challenging. Here are eight fun and easy ways to learn more about Austria.

Published: 26 August 2024 13:31 CEST
8 easy and fun ways to learn more about Austria
People wearing traditional costumes during Villacher Kirchtag. (Photo by DIETER NAGL / AFP)

Whether you have been in Austria for just a few days or many years, there is always more to discover about the country’s history and culture.

Austria has a rich history and cultural heritage, with beautiful Alpine landscapes in the west and cute cities and vineyards in the east.

To get to know Austria better, you do not need to spend all your time studying history books or reading complex literature. You can also learn about Austria by joining a walking tour, watching a good film, or dancing at a Feuerwehrfest.

Here are eight easy and enjoyable ways to deepen your understanding of Austria’s history and culture.

Visit a local festival 

Austria offers a lot of local and traditional festivals throughout the year.

For example, you can visit a “Feuerwehrfest,” organised by local fire brigades in towns and villages across Austria. These festivals are both a fundraiser for the fire brigade and a fun community event.

At a Feuerwehrfest, you can enjoy traditional Austrian foods like sausages, schnitzel, local beer, and live music.

Another festival to check out is the “Kirchtag.” This traditional village or town festival traditionally celebrates the anniversary of a church’s consecration or the feast day of its patron saint.

Today, the Kirchtage also offer a wide range of cultural events and are seen as very important in Austrian culture, especially in rural areas.

READ ALSO: 8 Austrian festivals you need to go to this summer

At a Kirchtag, it is common to see people dressed in traditional Austrian clothing, such as dirndls for women and lederhosen for men. The festival offers lively music, performances and dancing, with local bands playing music until the early morning.

Food and drink are also central to the Kirchtag experience, and you can enjoy many traditional dishes, such as local sausages, soups, pastries, and beers or wines.

Some of the larger Kirchtags, such as Villacher Kirchtag, also offer carnival rides, games, and attractions for families.

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Zollner (@hotelzollner)

Try local food and drinks

Learning about its food and beverage culture is one way to get to know Austria better. Austria has many specialities, from starters and main dishes to desserts and bakeries.
 
Each region also has its own unique specialities worth trying.
 
For example, in Carinthia, you should try the Kärtner Nudeln; in Tyrol, the Speck; and in Vienna, the Sachertorte.

Visiting a nice local restaurant, farmers’ market, or food festival while travelling in Austria can teach you much about the country.

READ MORE: 9 must-try food specialities from every Austrian province

Make an Austrian music playlist

Listening to music from Austria can be a great way to learn more about the culture.

You can download a playlist of classical music by famous Austrian composers such as Mozart and Strauss or explore modern Austrian artists across different genres.

Falco was a famous Austrian artist known for blending pop, rock, and rap, leaving a lasting impact on the Austrian music scene.

READ ALSO: Falco to Schwarzenegger – Six Austrian cultural icons that you need to know

Wanda is another great option. This indie, pop, and rock band is one of Austria’s most famous, and you can check out songs like “Amore” or “Bologna.”

Another popular artist is Yung Hurn. His music blends elements of rap, trap, and contemporary pop. Some of Yung Hurn’s most famous tracks are “Ok Cool” and “Perrier.”

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Falco Fanklub Wien (@falco_fanklub_wien)

Join a Stammtisch

“Stammtisch” is an Austrian tradition where the same group of people meet up on the same day every week at a specific pub to talk, maybe play cards, and enjoy some drinks together.

Stammtisch can be a great way to meet new people, improve your German skills, and get an insight into life in Austria.

Some Stammtisch gatherings are open to newcomers and are advertised in local pubs, on community boards, or online. You can find these on university notice boards, cafes, or websites like Meetup.com or Facebook groups.

READ ALSO: What you should know about Austria and Germany’s ‘Stammtisch’ tradition

Watch Austrian films and series

Going to the cinema or having a movie night at home is a fun and effortless way to get to know Austria better. Most popular films have English subtitles or dubbing, so language should not be a problem.

Austria has a lot to offer in terms of films and series. Classic films such as Amadeus, Mundl—Ein echter Wiener geht nicht unter, Der Bockerer, and The Sound of Music teach you about Austrian history, culture, and landscape.

Amadeus is a critically praised biographical drama about Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It focuses on his genius, chaotic relationships, and the envy and admiration of his rival composer, Salieri.

For more modern films, you can watch The Counterfeiters, Before Sunrise, and series like Tatort, a well-known crime series with many episodes in Vienna and other parts of Austria.

READ ALSO: From classics to thrillers: Seven movies set in Austria

Go on a walking tour

Walking tours are often associated with tourists, but taking a walking tour in your own city or country can open your eyes to new aspects of Austrian culture and history you may not have known.

In Austria, you can find all sorts of walking tours, from those covering the history of specific places to others focusing on street art, vineyards, local restaurants, second-hand shopping, or lakes around the region.

Websites like GetYourGuide and Airbnb are good places to start looking for tours in your area, but if you are interested in something specific, you can always Google it and see what comes up. 

Visit museums and exhibitions

Visiting different museums and exhibitions is a great way to learn more about Austria, the country’s history, culture, and traditions. Some museums bring up the general history of the country, while others focus on local heritage, history and culture.

In Vienna, you can visit Schönbrunn Palace and learn about the Habsburg dynasty and their impact on European history. At the Haus der Geschichte Österreich, you learn about Austria’s transformations in the 20th century.

The Salzburg Museum presents Salzburg’s artistic heritage, while the Tiroler Landesmuseum in Innsbruck teaches about Tyrol’s unique history and culture.

Travel within the country

Exploring the different regions in Austria is a great way to learn about the country, its traditions, culture, and history.

Austria has much to offer in terms of nature, culture and historical spots. You can spend a day at one of the lakes in Salzkammergut, and then travel to the vineyards in Burgenland or the tall mountains in Tyrol. Each region has its own charm, traditions, and beautiful natural spots.

Getting the Klimaticket is a good idea if you want to travel a lot within the country. A standard annual ticket costs €1,095.

Cable car going up the mountain next to Achensee in Tyrol. Photo by Wolfgang Weiser on Unsplash

READ NEXT: EXPLAINED: How does Austria’s Klimaticket work?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

VIENNA

Vienna cemetery celebrates 150 years with graveyard concerts

Hundreds of revellers flocked to Vienna's Central Cemetery on Friday to attend a graveyard concert commemorating the famous site's 150th birthday, doing justice to the local expression "Death must be a Viennese".

Published: 7 September 2024 09:38 CEST
Vienna cemetery celebrates 150 years with graveyard concerts

The vast cemetery on the outskirts of the Austrian capital is Europe’s second largest, comprising around 330,000 graves spread out over 2.5 square kilometres (620 acres).

Tens of thousands of tourists as well as locals visit the Central Cemetery each month to stroll along the tree-lined avenues and tombs of many famous figures.

But as night fell Friday, Nino Mandl, a local singer-songwriter known as “Nino from Vienna”, performed the last of three “cemetery sessions” to celebrate the anniversary.

Marianne Kaufmann, a 69-year-old retiree, was among the 750 concert-goers who attended.

The Viennese have a “special relationship” with death, she told AFP, as mourning was not necessarily considered “sad” but could include “laughing and singing” at funerals, since “life must go on”.

Conny Maehlich, 53, said she was excited about experiencing the unique atmosphere, while admitting that it felt “a little bit spooky” to attend a concert in a cemetery.

“Every month, around 30,000 people enter through our main gate alone — and exit it again,” said Renate Niklas, managing director of the Vienna cemeteries.

“They don’t just come to visit their graves, to attend a funeral, but to go for a walk, a run, ride a bike or simply relax,” Niklas said.

The events to mark the 150th anniversary, which included yoga sessions and concerts, were an effort at “bringing life to the cemetery, to honour our deceased once again”, she said.

“For us in Vienna it is an incredibly comforting approach to say that our deceased were not laid to rest in a place where it is dark, sad and cold, but in a place where life happens.”

One of Vienna’s macabre tourist attractions, the Central Cemetery serves as a final resting place for around three million people, outnumbering the city’s living residents by one million.

Notable composers and musicians such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms and Johann Nestroy are laid to rest there.

Some of them arrived after a “layover” in their initial graves before being reinterred at the Central Cemetery after it opened in 1874, in a bid to boost its image.

Vienna’s residents are said to have a peculiar fascination with death, as many in the city still wish to go out with a bang.

Opulent funeral services featuring performances of Mozart’s Requiem, or customised funeral corteges attended by as many mourners as possible, are still regarded as the proper way to end one’s earthly journey.

Austria is largely Catholic, but the cemetery has sections for Protestants, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists.

Between the main entrance and the honorary graves section, allotments for urban gardening can even be booked for people to grow their own fruits and vegetables.

SHOW COMMENTS