Austria is an environmentally responsible land of mountains and impressive architecture with an unrivalled musical tradition that even The Sound of Music couldn’t sully. Vienna is the capital, hub of the country’s musical life and littered with beautiful buildings. Music, art and architecture reach baroque perfection in Salzburg, Mozart’s birthplace. lnnsbruck’s snow – capped peaks frame its fascinating historic buildings. The rhythm of daily life throughout Austria has a musical beat and music festivals fill its calendar.

Year – round

Enjoying the in a Heurigen an of high culture in Staatsoper Wandering your way through Vienna’s Christkindlmarkt ( Christmas markets )

Strolling through Salzburg – one perfect view after another Sipping coffee in a Kaffeehaus

Gawking at the oddities of the Josephinum, Vienna’s medical history museum Marvelling at the unfolding scenic magnificence of the Grossglockner Road Hobnobbing with jetsetter skiers in upmarket Lech Goring the Chocolate Festival of Bludenz

Read The Left – Handed Woman by Peter Handke; the Nibelungenlied; an epic poem of passion, faithfulness and revenge in the Burgundian court at Worms; or Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, a seminal book in the field of linguistic philosophy

Listen to Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, the Vienna Boys’ Choir and Falco

Watch The Third Man, set in postwar Vienna

Eat Wiener Schnitzel with Knode ( dumplings ) followed by Mohr im Hemd for dessert

( chocolate pudding with whipped cream and chocolate sauce )

Drink Sturm ( new wine ) in autumn, and Gluhwein ( hop, spiced mulled wine ) at Christmas

lt is customary to greet people, even shop assistants, wits the salute Gruss Gott and to say Auf Wiedersehen when departing

Strauss waltzes; strudel; lnspector Rex ( or Commisar Rex as it’s known in Austria );

edelweiss; Sigmund Freud; dirndls ( traditional peasant dresses )

The Fohn, a hot, dry wind that sweeps down the mountains in early spring and autumn, which causes – according to folk wisdom – restless animals, increased car crashes and suicides

Kimt became the most celebrated artist in Vienna at the century. His works were renowned then, as now, for their sexuality and decadence. However, his femmes fatales exuded an eroticism and power too explicit for their time. Klimt was accused of uliness, pornography and perverted excess. His response was typical: a work entitled Goldfish or To My Critics, portraying a voluptuous flame – haired maiden baring her bottom to the world.