The 100 Best Places to Stay and Do in Austria

Across the street from the Vienna State Opera, this grande dame hotel has been fielding royals, rock stars, and heads of state since the belle époque, and the velvet-and-crystal interiors make it clear nothing has been rushed since. The 152 rooms and suites are each individually decorated, with marble bathrooms and parquet floors. John Lennon once staged a peace protest in one of them, which feels about right. Ranked among The World's 50 Best Hotels.

A glass-walled winery perched on an old coral reef slope, gazing out over Styria and into Slovenia, is a reasonable place to reconsider your life choices. The Tement family estate in southern Austria is a wine destination with chalets scattered among the vines, pools, and a sauna, all wrapped in farmhouse-cozy interiors that sit oddly and pleasantly next to the sleek modern cellar below. It holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Vineyards list.

A 15th-century hunting lodge on the glassy shores of Lake Fuschl, about half an hour from Salzburg, now running as a Rosewood luxury hotel with 98 rooms and chalets. The bones are castle; the interior is modern-luxe, with hand-painted minibars and original stonework sharing the same hallway. Six restaurants lean into Austrian alpine cooking, and the Asaya Spa has an infinity pool pointed squarely at the mountains. The Michelin Guide awarded it 3 Keys.

The only way up is by cable car in ski season or snowcat when the snow softens, which tells you most of what you need to know about this nine-suite mountain retreat near the Zugspitze. Log baths carved from a single piece of wood, bespoke spruce furniture, no televisions, and an all-inclusive concept built around fermented provisions and local cheese. The spa runs Finnish and herbal saunas alongside an onsen pool. It holds a Michelin Key and a Vogue top-100 spa nod.

Stucco ceilings from another century sit above marble bathrooms in a historic building on Petersplatz, one of Vienna's more quietly spectacular squares. This is a luxury hotel in the truest sense: rooftop cocktails with a panorama of imperial rooftops, a spa, a brasserie reworking Austrian classics, and rooms that look onto either the city or a hushed inner courtyard. It holds a Forbes Four Star.

A former palace on the Ringstrasse, steps from the Vienna State Opera, this Ritz-Carlton holds a Forbes Four Star rating and earns it through sheer abundance of things to do without leaving the building. There's a Sicilian restaurant, a steakhouse, a craft cocktail bar, and a rooftop bar on the eighth floor with views over the city. The staff runs market tours at the Naschmarkt for guests who'd like to leave.

At 4,200 feet on the Seefeld plateau, this sprawling alpine resort sits at the end of its own mountain road, which tells you something about the commitment level required. Wood-paneled interiors, vaulted ceilings, and stone fireplaces keep the 274 rooms from feeling like a generic ski lodge. The panoramic pool in the enormous spa appears to hover above the peaks, which is either very calming or slightly vertiginous depending on the day.

Marble columns, chandeliers, and an ornate staircase fill the lobby of this grand old hotel on the Ringstrasse, which has been around forever and looks exactly like it should. Five restaurants include a rooftop Japanese spot and a proper Arabic kitchen, and Grand Spa No. 605 handles Valmont facials alongside LED therapy. The rooms are comfortable and the staff is genuinely warm, which at this level of architectural drama is a relief.

The grand, marble-columned former bank headquarters it occupies sets the tone before you've even checked in. This luxury hotel in Vienna's first district keeps the imperial bones, brass fittings, and alabaster intact while threading in genuinely local touches, including oversized wall art drawn from Wiener Werkstatte brooch designs. A spa, indoor pool, and a bank-vault cocktail bar round out the offering for anyone who wants history without austerity.

Fourteen chandeliers greet you before the front desk does, which tells you everything about where you've landed. This grand luxury hotel on the Ringstrasse occupies a former private palace, and the staff, red velvet, and gilt haven't let the building forget it. Freud and Chaplin once slept here; the Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga kept the tradition going. Vienna in a building, more or less.

Luminous purple runs through the whole hotel, the owner's favorite shade and a deliberate statement against Vienna's sea of beige traditionalism. Hotel Sans Souci Wien is a boutique stay in the Seventh District where modern art sits alongside antique Versailles-inflected furniture and Jugendstil details, and somehow it doesn't feel chaotic. The service skews relaxed and personal rather than stiff, which is not always a given in this city.

Seven suites, a helipad transfer, and a two-Michelin-star restaurant on site: Hotel Tannenhof keeps a small footprint for how seriously it operates. The interiors read contemporary despite the hotel's old-school bones in the Austrian Alps, and a compact spa rounds out what is a properly intimate luxury stay in St. Anton am Arlberg. The Michelin Guide awarded it 2 Keys.

Natural wood, plush throws, and a direct sightline to the Kitzbühel Alps set the tone at this upscale alpine resort, which holds two Michelin Keys. Skiing is the obvious anchor, but the après life pulls serious weight: champagne, DJ sets, and a jazz club keep things lively after the lifts close. Off-season the staff fills the calendar with golf, mountain treks, and water sports, so the place never quite lets you run out of reasons to stay another night.

The entrance is so flush with the medieval storefronts of Getreidegasse that guests sometimes walk straight past it, which is either a flaw or a feature depending on your mood. This old-school hotel inside a landmark Altstadt building pairs antique Austrian furnishings with rainfall showers and soundproof windows, and a Les Clefs d'Or concierge who can arrange a private tour of basically anything Mozart-adjacent within walking distance.

A goldenrod castle on the shores of Lake Wörthersee, been standing here since before anyone's grandmother can remember, now running as a luxury resort hotel with Michelin's 2 Keys. The old wing keeps a few period bones but fits modern furnishings; the low addition wraps the courtyard with clean lines and lake views beyond. Rooms are run entirely from a bedside panel, and the vast spa complex throws in an indoor golf simulator for guests who've tired of the water.

The pool here is enclosed on the sides but open at the bottom, so you're essentially floating in a heated frame set directly in the turquoise water of Lake Wörthersee, year-round. This boutique lakeside hotel is the Gatsby-esque kind: tiered lawns, open terraces, a tropical spa with gold mosaic tiles, and guest rooms with balconies over the water. The Schlossbar's Baroque chandelier and marble bar make it a perfectly reasonable place to order a whiskey at midnight.

Every room faces the mountain, and the windows run floor to ceiling so nothing gets in the way. Das Edelweiss is a ski-in, ski-out alpine resort in the Großarl valley, the kind where après-ski feels like a second career, the infinity pool frames a snowcap sunset, and the interiors lean hard on warm natural wood. The Michelin Guide awarded it 2 Keys.

Elevated wooden walkways thread through the Tyrolean fir trees right outside, so the boundary between hotel and forest stays genuinely blurry. Rooms lean hard into natural wood and floor-to-ceiling windows with balconies, while a wellness suite and heated outdoor pool give you reasons to stay put. The Michelin Guide awarded it 2 Keys. It's the kind of nature hotel where the architecture does most of the talking.

Sixteen Icelandic horses live on the grounds, which tells you a lot about what kind of resort this is. Set in Austria's Großarl valley, Moar Gut is an all-inclusive mountain retreat built around the logic that children and adults should both be comprehensively worn out by bedtime. Trampolines, a petting zoo, alpine treks, multiple pools, a full spa, and, somehow, a baby spa. Rooms run to natural wood and stone with balconies for the view. The Michelin Guide awarded it 2 Keys.

Tower rooms here come with mansard ceilings and fairy-tale windows that look straight out of a Bavarian storybook. This ski-in-adjacent hotel in Ischgl sits less than five minutes on foot from the gondola, which in a mountain resort is essentially a superpower. The spa complex handles the aftermath: pools, garden, salon, the works. The on-site Paznauerstube draws serious dinner crowds. The hotel holds a Michelin Key.

Alpine lodge materials, modern design sensibility: antlers on the walls, an abundance of pine, and black-and-white ski photography, yet somehow it reads as a contemporary resort rather than a hunting chalet. The 163-room hotel sits in fashionable Kitzbühel, and many rooms look out over its rooftops and towers. Stone bathrooms, walk-in rain showers, balconies with loungers, an indoor pool, and a spa round things out. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

A boutique hotel tucked into Innsbruck's pedestrianized old town, where aged wood and stonework do the decorating and the rooms come in a considered grayscale palette with organic textures. The same family has run the place for four generations, and the building's bones go back much further, though nothing feels frozen in amber. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key. Compact and efficient, it suits anyone here for the slopes or the Tyrolean architecture, probably in that order.

Blonde wood and clean lines run through every room here, a full-service Alpine resort in Sölden that leans hard into Tyrolean warmth without the kitschy overload. Skiing, guided hikes through the Ötztal, a spa, and a restaurant pairing local whites with continental food all come folded into the stay. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key. Pack layers and leave the agenda loose.

A boutique hotel grown out of a family winery in Austria's Wachau, with split-level suites whose floor-to-ceiling glass frames rocky vine terraces and the hulking Stift Göttweig monastery on the hill above. Locally sourced timber and stone keep it grounded while the rooms stay airy and warm. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key. Arrive thirsty: the white wines made here are the obvious thing to pour on that private patio.

A hotel with an on-site petting zoo and a 24-hour beer fountain, which tells you everything and nothing about this old Tyrolean property at once. It has been a monastery, a brewery, and a war hospital at various points, and the current family runs it with an anything-goes energy that shows up in the rooms, where weathered beams and exposed brick sit alongside genuinely bold textiles. A Michelin Key property, and considerably more eccentric than that implies.

A wellness resort on the Mieminger Plateau, just outside Innsbruck, built around the idea that you should exhaust yourself outdoors and then spend considerable time in a sauna village recovering. Pale wood, private balconies, nature views in every direction, and nine pools spread across the spa. One of three restaurants sits at the top of the resort's 27-hole golf course, which is either very convenient or a character test. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

The mint-chocolate facade is your first hint that this Tyrolean resort takes its personality seriously. Inside, warm wood, antlers, and rustic stone pile up in the most committed way imaginable, and the rooms lean into it further with oversized artwork and electric fireplaces over solid oak floors. It holds a Michelin Key, and Seefeld has been sending people home happy for centuries, Alpin Resort Sacher doing its part for the last hundred-odd years of that run.

A saloon bar with an original Brunswick Treviso pool table sets the tone for this mountain hotel in Grän, where period clocks and natural wood paneling coexist with a panoramic indoor/outdoor pool. The rooms have floor-to-ceiling views of the Tyrolean peaks, which does make the blackout curtains feel somewhat beside the point. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

Floor-to-ceiling Alpine views and natural wood on every surface set the tone at this 33-room resort in the Zillertal Valley, which sits directly alongside a championship golf course and doubles as a ski base in winter. The small room count keeps it feeling like a house rather than a hotel, which is a trick more places should figure out. It holds a Michelin Key.

A dual-level infinity pool perched above Zillergrund Nature Park is a strong opening argument for this alpine resort outside Mayrhofen. Rooms lean into the mountain-lodge aesthetic without tipping into kitsch, with platform beds and furnished balconies that face the kind of scenery people move here for. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key. Five generations of the same family have kept the place running, which tends to show in the details.

The family who built this resort also owns the vineyard next door, which tells you something about how seriously they take the surroundings. Cantilevered and contemporary, the resort sits amid eastern Austria's flat lake-and-windmill landscape, and every room has a balcony pointed straight at it. Low-slung furniture, pendant lighting, and trails through the estate round things out. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Key.

The glass-bottomed sky pool, hanging above the garden with underwater views down to the lawn, tells you everything about Hotel FREIGOLD's ambitions. This sleek boutique hotel in quiet Freistadt goes hard on contemporary design, warm wood rooms, metal-framed furniture, and a wellness area with a noticeably athletic edge. It holds a Michelin Key. Not the obvious choice for the region, which seems to be rather the point.

A century-old hotel on the Mur that somehow sidesteps the dusty grandeur you'd expect from its address in a Baroque city. The building has real bones, and the team leans into the history while dropping in sharp, graphic-modern touches that feel more Berlin than Old Vienna. Salon Marie runs from breakfast through cocktails without breaking a sweat. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels, which tracks.

A full-service florist in the lobby supplies the hotel with fresh flowers, which sets the tone for Das Weitzer: old-school grand hotel bones, younger sensibility throughout. Parquet floors and ornate mirror frames coexist with modern furniture and spare, graphic design. Rooms facing the Schloßberg get some of Graz's better views. The restaurant leans into Styrian regional cooking, and the in-house café is the real Austrian article, not just a coffee counter.

Original art covers nearly every wall of this hotel at the foot of Schloßberg, and the team actively commissions new work on the premises. The 49 rooms mix antique furnishings and period fixtures with parquet floors and vibrant textiles, while a clutch of futuristic apartments go full floor-to-ceiling glass. Breakfast on the rooftop terrace, with ivy and rust-colored rooftops spreading below, is a reasonable argument for staying put all morning.

Rental Vespas parked out front set the tone for this budget design hotel steps from the Graz train station. Berlin's Studio Aisslinger fitted it out in cheerfully utopian style, and the compact rooms come with balconies, half of them painted in Easter-egg colors. A 24-hour espresso and tapas bar keeps things civilized at any hour. The Kunsthaus and the old town are a short walk away, which is fortunate because the Vespas only go so far.

Named for Ullr, the Norse god of snow, this boutique hotel in St. Anton am Arlberg leans into its mythology with an Alpine-Nordic-Japanese aesthetic, all warm textures and deliberate calm. Rooms run from well-equipped doubles to family suites, with a Grand Suite that includes a private sauna. The spa adds more saunas and a 17-meter indoor pool. Come summer, hikers replace skiers outside, and the hotel holds up either way.

A boutique hotel on Innsbruck's main old-town drag, Weißes Kreuz occupies a building that has been around forever, most famously hosting a young Mozart on his travels. The interiors lean into a kind of arch, theatrical whimsy, high-backed suede chairs and globe lamps arranged as though someone stylish had a point to prove. The rooftop bar, all dramatic skylights and candelabras, is a good reason not to leave for the evening.

The name is an ancient word for Ischgl, which sets the tone: this is a chalet-style boutique hotel where the kitchen is the main character. The 32 rooms split the difference between earthy alpine and sleek modernism, with contemporary street art thrown in. The whole Parth family runs the place, and the wine cellar holds north of 10,000 bottles, so you won't be short of ways to extend dinner.

The view of the glacier that names this hotel is right there from the garden terrace, which connects to a spa for when your legs have had enough of the slopes or the trails. A family-run Alpine hotel in the heart of St. Anton, it sits close to the pedestrian zone and works equally well for a ski week or a slow summer. Rooms go light and clean, with natural wood, stone, and grayscale textiles keeping things calm.

Dark-toned interiors and Alpine lodge bones make for an unlikely but comfortable truce at this boutique hotel in the middle of Kitzbühel village. The lobby gets the dramatic redesign; the rooms stay closer to cozy lodge than design statement, which suits most guests just fine. It leans toward nightlife over wellness, and the crowd reflects that. Both Kitzbühler Horn and Hahnenkamm are right there when morning arrives.

A boutique hotel inside a historic building right on Innsbruck's old town square, Stage 12 brings parquet floors and mid-century design to a city that somehow fits opera, Habsburg architecture, and serious alpine terrain into one compact package. Rooms run quieter than the address suggests, and the balcony rooms face the mountains, which makes waking up feel a little unfair to everyone staying elsewhere.

Rooms face the Hahnenkamm, the slope that hosts the most feared downhill race on the World Cup circuit, so even the view comes with a backstory. This alpine hotel runs 115 rooms and 36 suites, most with mountain sightlines, and the suites lean large enough for a small family reunion. When the snow melts, the adjacent golf club is right there to fill the void.

Antique wardrobes and headboards painted with pastel Alpine scenery fill the guest rooms at this family-owned Tyrolean boutique hotel, and the effect lands closer to heirloom than to kitsch. Part upscale ski lodge, part wellness retreat, it sits a short walk from the Kitzbüheler slopes with a wine cellar stocked for après-ski purposes. The candlelit restaurant and terrace do their part to ensure no one here is pretending to roughing it.

Gothic beamed ceilings sit alongside bespoke furniture made from the building's own reclaimed wooden slats at this eight-room hotel, a former trading house at the foot of Hall in Tirol's Old Town. The town was named for salt, and much of that trade passed through this building, which has been quietly updated with contemporary greys while keeping its Baroque moldings and centuries-old stone walls intact. Breakfast is served in the original hall beneath an 18th-century stucco ceiling.

A 2,200-square-meter rooftop spa with an outdoor whirlpool tends to reframe what you thought a ski-town hotel could be. This design hotel in Sölden sits deep in the Ötztal valley with slopes right outside and panoramic mountain views from nearly every angle. Inside, the rooms run minimalist but warm, with wool blankets and deep soaking tubs softening the clean lines. Après-ski here skews toward a Finnish sauna rather than a crowded bar, which suits some people very well.

The saltwater pool stretches longer than most hotel lobbies, and it's been heated since before "eco-resort" was a marketing category. This Alpine chalet hotel runs on hydropower, mills its own ingredients on a working farm, and still manages to feel like old European money on a skiing weekend rather than a wellness lecture. Stone pine lines the walls and ceilings, balconies face the Wilder Kaiser peaks, and the sauna complex is its own destination.

The slate-gray façade stands out against the Ötztal Alps like a modernist dare, and the interior follows through with clean lines and zero cuckoo clocks. This lifestyle hotel leans hard into four-season mountain adventure, so the crowd skews younger and arrives with actual plans. The rooftop Sky Spa stacks multiple saunas against an outdoor infinity pool aimed straight at the peaks, which is a reasonable way to end a day on the mountain.

Ski-in/ski-out at nearly 2,000 meters in the Ötztal Alps, at the very end of the valley road where the tarmac simply gives up. This alpine hotel takes its food seriously enough that the restaurant holds a Michelin star, and the sommelier's wine list keeps pace. Rooms run to pine and white, clean and unfussy. The kind of place where the mountain does the decorating and the kitchen handles the rest.

Obergurgl sits high enough that snow is rarely a question, and this hotel lets you ski straight off the property without negotiating a shuttle or a car park. Rooms run to pale timber and mountain stone, the panorama whirlpool does exactly what it sounds like after a long day on the pistes, and the terrace restaurant circles the view while the menu moves between Austrian classics and broader European cooking.

Halfway up the mountain from Kirchberg, this classic Alpine lodge and chalet property sits in the middle of the Kitzbühel ski area, which means you can be on the slopes before most people have found their ski boots. Traditional Tyrolean style runs through the inn rooms and the larger chalets, which sleep up to eight. The wellness center with its pool, sauna, and Turkish bath earns its keep in both ski season and the surprisingly lovely Tyrolean summer.

Eight rooms on the shore of Lake Mondsee, each with floor-to-ceiling windows aimed directly at the Alps. This small boutique hotel keeps things pleasantly low-key: shiplap walls, mid-century furnishings, and a quietly nautical feel that stops well short of rope coils and anchors. Guests get direct lakeshore access and an infinity pool that makes the Salzkammergut look like it was arranged for their benefit, which, effectively, it was.

A heated infinity pool hanging over the Tyrolean Alps sets the tone at this alpine boutique hotel in the village of See. Suites and chalets come with living areas, kitchenettes, furnished balconies, and private saunas, so it skews closer to a mountain apartment than a hotel room. The wooden architecture keeps it rooted in the landscape while the interiors lean sleek and contemporary, which is a tension that mostly works in everyone's favor.

Steven Holl's crumpled aluminum cube rises over Kamptal Valley vineyards like something that landed there by accident, which is a fine way to arrive at a wine-and-spa resort. Rooms come in unexpected geometries that feel nothing like the spa-hotel template, and the Aveda Wine Spa runs to a thousand square meters with a heated outdoor pool. The nine-centuries-old cellars sit directly beneath it all, which the 21st-century architecture is polite enough not to mention.

Perched at 2,200 meters in the Ötztal Alps, this ski-in, ski-out hotel is the kind of place where the mountain view comes with every room, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows framing the peaks. Rooms blend contemporary lines with blonde alpine wood, the spa adds two heated outdoor pools and saunas, and there's an indoor golf facility of genuinely absurd scale. The bars serve homemade stone pine schnapps, which feels like the correct ending to any day up here.

Lake suites with private footbridge access set the tone at this sleek alpine lodge in Scheffau, the prettiest of the four villages clustered at the foot of the Wilder Kaiser. The place was designed so you'd never have to leave, which turns out not to be a hardship: rooftop pool, natural swimming pond, a spa, a kids' club with its own cinema, and a bar that serves brunch late. Hiking trails run directly from the front door.

A cluster of chalets on a hillside above Scheffau, with the Wilder Kaiser peaks as a permanent backdrop, Leitenhof reads more like a small alpine hamlet than a hotel. Aged timber, stone fireplaces, and fur throws set the tone inside; the larger chalets run to private saunas. The kitchen pulls herbs from its own garden, and the wine list, poured into hand-blown Riedel glass from nearby Kufstein, runs deep.

A natural swimming pond anchors the garden of this five-star family-run hotel in Zell am See, which tells you something about its priorities. Alpine wood, open fireplaces, and classically furnished rooms set a quietly unhurried tone, while a vast spa gives you somewhere to disappear. Austrian cuisine is served in richly appointed salons, and the lake is a short walk away for when you eventually feel like leaving.

Floor-to-ceiling windows look straight out over the Weissensee, and the knotted pine walls keep things grounded while the furniture stays firmly modern. This lakeside Alpine hotel has a private beach, a Finnish sauna, a salt-brine steam room, and enough water sports and mountain access to exhaust even the most ambitious guest. Dinner runs from a hearty inn kitchen to an Italian boathouse to a Michelin-starred fine dining room, which is an unusual spread for one address.

A ski slope ends right at the front door in winter, and in summer the same terrain fills with hikers and mountain bikers. This alpine luxury hotel in Hinterglemm is built on old manor grounds, its wood-heavy, open-plan interiors framed by floor-to-ceiling windows that make the Salzburg mountains feel like wallpaper. The kitchen leans on the hotel's own farm for meat, dairy, and eggs, and the infinity pool overlooks the range.

A family-run hotel on a slender peninsula poking into Lake Traunsee, where some rooms let you step directly into the alpine water, which is either your idea of heaven or a very cold mistake. The Bootshaus restaurant handles Upper Austrian cuisine with floor-to-ceiling lake views doing most of the decorating. A panorama sauna overlooks the same water, and private lake access runs around the clock for those who treat swimming as a lifestyle.

The heated infinity pool hangs over the Grossarl valley like a dare, and it sets the tone for this alpine spa hotel. An indoor pool connects to an outdoor one, a natural swimming pond sits alongside the saunas and steam baths, and there's an open-air garden bar for post-spa drinks. Rooms come with native wood and mountain balconies; suites add fireplaces and hot tubs. Yoga and guided hikes are included, and a ski lift is right across the road.

A golf resort beside the Drava River, with the forested Tyrolean Dolomites as the backdrop and a 36-hole course starting more or less at the front door. The suites come with Italian furnishings and private balconies, and the spa has a heated outdoor pool and a panoramic terrace for when you're done pretending the back nine wasn't a disaster. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

The Zugspitze lifts are essentially at the door, which tells you everything about why people come to this grand Tyrolean chalet in Berwang. A Relais & Châteaux property run by the same family for generations, it has the feel of a place that's been carefully added to over time rather than built all at once. Rooms lean into classic wood and textiles, many with a private balcony, and the wellness area runs to multiple pools and saunas with landscaped gardens around them.

A family farmstead in the Mühlviertel hills that has been passed down five generations, Bergergut is a small, adults-only countryside hotel where couples go to be left alone by the Linz crowd. Rooms have names and personalities, from a suite built around an open fireplace to a theatrical penthouse. The kitchen draws almost entirely from local producers, which in this corner of Upper Austria is less a policy than a point of pride.