Getting There

By Train

Rail travel is superb in Austria, with fast, clean trains taking you through scenic regions. If you don't have a car, this is the preferred way to travel, as trains will take you nearly every place in Austria except to remote hamlets tucked away in almost-inaccessible mountain districts. Many other services tie in with railroad travel, among them car or bicycle rental at many stations, bus transportation links, and package tours, including boat trips and cable-car rides.

Inter-City Express trains connect Vienna with all major cities in the country, including Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Graz, and Linz. A train trip from Salzburg to Vienna takes about 3 hours.

Rail Passes -- If you plan rail travel just within Austria, consider the Austrian Railpass, available at most travel agents. You get 3 days of unlimited train travel in a 15-day period, with a choice of first class for 122€ ($159) or second class for 90€ ($117). Children 6 to 11 pay half the adult fare (free for under 6). Bonuses include 50% discount on most Danube steamers, 40% discount on bike rentals at rail stations, 10% to 15% on some rack railways, and a 20% discount on steamers operating on Wolfgangsee.

Other Railway Data -- For information on short-distance round-trip tickets, cross-country passes, and passes for all lines in the individual provinces, as well as piggyback transportation for your car through the Tauern Tunnel, check with the Austrian Federal Railways (tel. 05/1717; www.oebb.at).

By Taxi

In large Austrian cities, taxis are equipped with officially sealed taximeters that show the cost of your trip in euros. If a rate change has recently been instituted, a surcharge might be added to the amount shown on the meter, pending adjustment of the taximeter. Surcharges are posted in the cab. A supplement is charged for luggage carried in the vehicle's trunk. Zone charges or set charges for standard trips are the rule in most resort areas. Tip the driver 10% of the fare.

By Plane

Austrian Airlines (tel. 800/843-0002 in the U.S., 888/817-4444 in Canada; www.austrianair.com) offers flights that link Vienna to the country's leading cities. Outgoing flights from Vienna are carefully timed to coincide with the arrivals of most of the company's transatlantic flights.

Tyrolean Airways (same telephone number and website as Austrian Airlines), an airline partially owned by Austrian Airlines, offers a very useful airborne network whose home base is the Tyrolean capital of Innsbruck. Its regular flight network consists of up to four flights per day between Vienna and Innsbruck, and four flights each between Innsbruck and both Frankfurt and Zurich. The airline also offers about five flights a week between Innsbruck and the Styrian capital of Graz. Reservations on Tyrolean Airways can be made through Austrian Airlines. Its fleet consists almost entirely of turbo-prop planes containing no more than 49 seats. The airline specializes in domestic flights and commuter runs to destinations close to the border, including Munich and Budapest.

By Bus

It's easiest to get around Austria on the country's excellent rail network, but many Austrian villages are not near rail lines. Reaching some of these areas can be best accomplished by car or bus. To facilitate travel, the Austrian government maintains two different bus networks: those maintained by the Austrian Postal Service (whose vehicles, in most cases, are painted a reddish-orange) and those maintained by the Austrian Federal Railways (which, in some, but not all, cases are painted blue and white). In recent years, efforts have been made to merge both of these systems into one overall administration identified as the Bundesbus System, but many Austrians continue to make a distinction between the two networks. There are also a limited number of privately owned bus companies that specialize in long-haul transits to major cities outside Austria.

Buses (some of which also carry mail) cover a network of almost 30,500km (18,952 miles) of often very remote secondary roads. One of their primary functions involves retrieving passengers at railway stations for the continuation of journeys. Bus departures are usually timed to coincide with the arrival of trains from other parts of Austria. Buses are particularly helpful at the bottom of alpine valleys, where transit is needed to carry passengers from the local railway station up toward ski resorts and hamlets at higher altitudes. Children under 6 travel free on many of these buses, and children under 15 usually receive a 50% discount.

Information about bus schedules and routings is available at most post offices, at the reception desks of most hotels whose business relies on clients arriving by bus, and at travel agencies. Specifics about routes and schedules are in the Kursbuch (Austrian Motor Coach Schedule), a timetable that is usually updated annually and that forms part of the basic library maintained by virtually every tourist office in Austria. Bus information is usually also merged into the thousands of railway timetables that are posted at train stations throughout the country. An especially convenient way to find out about bus schedules, if you're heading to a hotel in a remote area, is to call the hotel and ask. Austrian hoteliers usually keep up-to-date schedules on hand.

By Boat

Why not take a boat trip on the Danube or on one of Austria's beautiful lakes? Passenger boats on the Danube are operated by the DDSG-Blue Danube Shipping Co. (www.ddsg-blue-danube.at). Lake Constance boats visit the most popular tourist destinations daily May through October. A special ticket, the Bodenseepass, is valid for 15 days, during which time you can go on excursions on any scheduled boat. Also, during the time the pass is valid, you can purchase tickets at reduced fares for any railroad, bus, and cable-car trips in the Lake Constance area. Information on Lake Constance offerings is available at Schiffshafen, A-6900 Bregenz (tel. 05574/42868).

By Bicycle

From April to the beginning of November, you can rent a bicycle at leading Austrian railroad stations. Photo ID must be presented at the time of rental. The charge is 18€ ($23) per day, which is reduced to 12€ ($16) if a railroad ticket to the point of rental is held. You can reserve a bicycle in advance, but you can almost always get a bike without making reservations. The vehicle can be returned to where it was rented or to any other Austrian railroad station during business hours.