Salzburg Things to Do

Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) is one of the most famous in Europe (containing as it does a full two million more dead than Paris’s Père Lachaise), and the Jewish cemetery in Währing may be one of the most macabre (following the Holocaust, the grounds have fallen into such a disgraceful state of disrepair that you have to sign a liability waver just to enter the premises). For sheer mystery, history and morbid touristic delight, the Cemetery of St. Marx in the Landstraße district of Vienna is impossible to beat.

If Vienna was not beautiful enough on its own merits, take it to a new level with the classy and wondrous Spanische Hofreitschule, better known as the Spanish Riding School. Perhaps the world’s oldest equestrian academy in the world, this 400+ year old school has become not just a staple of the Viennese high-society, but an important stop for anybody who appreciates the elegance of the horse riding art form.

Austria’s capital city is nearly always bustling with cultural activity. Whether it’s because of the famous Vienna International Film Festival (October 20-November 2), which attracts more than 90,000 cineastes to the city every year, or any of the other theatre, music, food, film, and holiday festivals that take place annually, it’s well worth checking the calendar before visiting Vienna. For travelers with impending travel plans, the following events should prove of particular interest.

Imagine my surprise: I got on a train in Bratislava,Slovakia, bound for Vienna, Austria — the land of mountains and snow, high lakes and skiing skiing skiing! But out the window all I saw was flat land. As far as the eye could see, it was flat. And covered in wind turbines generating electricity. What was going on?

Easily the most important annual film festival in Austria, and arguably one of the most significant of its kind anywhere in the world, the Vienna International Film Festival, otherwise known as the Viennale, is a worthwhile reason to visit the Imperial City all on its own.