A famous European getaway having the largest natural tourist destination and truly magnificent to behold awaits you in Austria. Witness the sparkling mountain which delivers breathtaking scenery like the snow-capped mountains, crystal-clear lakes, and sweeping valleys. It is a home to numerous charming villages that are overflowing with culture. Energetic people can enjoy hiking, skiing, cycling and also kayaking. Don’t forget to visit Vienna for its well known “Viennese Waltz” which is the oldest and romantic of all ballroom dances in the world. The ballroom enthusiasts should not ignore the chance to dance this Waltz in the Austrian homeland. Many activities await you in Austria if you want to unwind.
Important and Interesting Facts about Austria
- 62% of Austria’s total land area is covered by the Austrian Alps.
- Europe’s second highest peak in order of prominence, Großglockner (3,798m, with a prominence of 2,423m) is located in Austria.
- Austria has 13 peaks above 3,000 metres, and 34 above 2,000 metres.
- The Krimml Falls (Krimmler Wasserfalle), in the state of Salzburg, Austria, are Europe’s tallest waterfalls, reaching a height of 380 meters.
- The Danube River in Austria is the second longest river in Europe.
- Nearly half of Austria is forested, mainly with oak and beech at low altitudes; at higher elevations conifers predominate. Trees yield to Alpine meadows at just over 2000m and orchids, edelweiss and poppies become quite common.
- The Austrian Eisriesenwelt Caves, called “the world of the ice giants,” is the largest accessible ice cave system in the world.
- The largest natural lake in Austria is Lake Neusiedler.
- Over 60 percent of Austria’s electricity is supplied by renewable sources.
- Austria is known for its mountain railways such as the Giselabahn.
Cool Funny and Fun Facts about Austria
- Imagine that someone built a shelf inside the toilet, above the water but below the rim. This is what Austrian toilets look like. The shelf performs the function of a display cabinet, allowing you to cast your eyes on your completed product. Alas, it also allows for maximum circulation of air around said product, which results in a challenge.
- The world’s largest emerald (2860 carat) is displayed in the Imperial Treasury of the Hofburg (Imperial Palace) in Vienna, Austria.
- If giving flowers, always give an odd number as except for 12, even numbers mean bad luck. Do not give red carnations, lilies, or chrysanthemums.
- Death in Austria is big business, and the Austrian funeral industry is said to be largest per capita in Europe.
- Before starting to eat, Austrians say “Guten Appetit!” and before starting to drink, they toast by clinking glasses while looking the other person in the eye, because to not make eye contact is rude and is said to bring upon oneself seven years of bad sex.
- Due to the fact that the waters at the Austrian spa Bad Gastein contain radon, a powerful gas, patients must produce a doctor’s order before enjoying the spa’s healing waters.
- Takako Ishimitsu is the proprietor of Café Neko, which is Vienna’s only catcafé. Inside, customers can stroke and play with feline friends or watch them walk or repose on a high walkway. Dogs are not allowed in Café Neko.
- In April 1552, a Hapsburg prince brought from Spainthe first elephant to live in Austria. It was the first of many foreign animals for the king’s menagerie. Unfortunately, it did not survive long in Austria’s cold climate and died in December 1553. The only reminder of its existence is a chair made out of its bones which is kept at Kremsmünster Monastery.
- There’s a snowy park in Austriathat melts into a lake in the summer where people scuba dive on the underwater hiking trails. On the bed of the lake underwater explorers will discover fish swimming though the branches of trees, a floor covered in grass, benches, bridges and a landscape that looks like it belongs overground.
- There is a sex schoolin Vienna, Austria. It includes lab practicals and coed dorms where students are supposed to practice their lessons.
- McDonald’s serves beer.
Historical and Cultural Facts about Austria
- The design of the first sewing machine dates back to 18th-century English tailor Thomas Saint. However, in 1814, Austrian tailor Josef Madersperger of Vienna was granted the first patent on a design for a sewing machine he had been working on for nearly a decade.
- The oldest zoological garden in the world is the Tiergarten Schönbrunnin Vienna, founded in 1752.
- Founded in 803 as Stiftskeller St. Peter, Haslaueris the world’s oldest inn/restaurant still in operation, and the oldest company in Europe.
- As of late 2012, 19 Austrians had been awarded a Nobel Prize, including seven in Physiology or Medicine, four in Chemistry and three in Physics.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91), a native of Salzburg, Austria is considered one of the world’s greatest composers.
- Austro-Hungarian Baroness Bertha von Suttner was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905.
- When the Turks fled the city of Vienna in 1683, they left behind a large quantity of coffee beans, thereby launching the great Viennese tradition of the Kaffeehaus(coffee house). Since the 19th century, the coffee house has been an indispensable social part of Viennese middle class and intellectual life,
- Austrian film directors Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, and Fred Zinnemann played an important role in the creation of Hollywood shortly before and after World War II.
- Vienna’s Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) is famous for rejecting a young painter by the name of Adolf Hitler. Of the 128 applicants that applied in 1907, Hitler was one of the 100 who failed. His entrance exam themes included “Expulsion from Paradise,” “Building Workers,” and “Death.”
- Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud is best known as the founding father of psychoanalysis, which has heavily influenced modern psychology as well as other domains of science and culture. He died in exile in London in 1939.
- The most famous Austrian cake is the Viennese Sachertorte, a rich chocolate cake invented by Chef Franz Sacher for Chancellor Metternich in 1832.
- Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the Porsche automobile company, was born in Mattersdorf, Austria, in 1875. Porsche is also known for designing the first Volkswagen automobile, at the direction of Adolf Hitler.
- Born in Salzburg, physicist Christian Doppler is most famous for his discovery of the “Doppler effect,” how the observed frequency of sound and light waves is affected by the relative motion of the source and detector. The Doppler radar that most meteorologists use today worldwide relies on the Doppler Effect.
