Living in Europe | Access to the culture of the host country/language courses | Austria
What should you know to make it easier to get used to life in Austria? In this section you will find information about various aspects of life in Austria such as public transportation, driving licences, entry and re-entry of pets, culture and leisure in Austria's provinces, maps of Austria's main towns and other useful links.
Public Bikes
In some bigger cities like Vienna, Salzburg or Graz you can hire public bikes for very little money: Vienna| Salzburg
Boats
You can take a boat on Austria’s biggest river, the Danube to various various sight seeing destinations in UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Wachau.
* From an EU or EEA state: for an unlimited period (EEA or EU driving licences are recognized in Austria, and may be converted at any time on a voluntary basis.)
* From a non-EU or non-EEA state:
In case of establishing a residence in Austria: six months starting from establishment of the residence, if the owner has reached the age of 18
Without residence in Austria: up to twelve months starting from the entry in the county, if the owner has reached the age of 18
Please note: If the foreign driving licence is not written in German, it is only valid in combination with an international driving licence or a translation.
Important: Foreign drivers who commit three recordable offences (Vormerkdelikte; in German only) will be banned from driving in Austria.
Lower Austria is the largest federal state with an area of 19,186.27 km². It surrounds the Austrian capital Vienna and borders the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 414 km, the country has the second longest external border of all Austrian provinces.
Upper Austria is an Austrian state with the state capital Linz. It is the fourth largest in terms of area with 11,982 square kilometres and the third largest in Austria with 1.47 million inhabitants. It borders on Germany, Czech Republic.
Styria is one of the nine provinces of the Republic of Austria. Its capital is Graz. It is the second-largest province in terms of area, the fourth largest in Austria in terms of population and it borders on the Republic of Slovenia.
The state of Salzburg covers an area of 7,156.03 km². The state capital is the city of Salzburg. It borders on Germany/Bavaria and to a small extent to Italy/South Tyrol.
Carinthia is the southernmost state of the Republic of Austria. The state capital is Klagenfurt am Wörthersee. Carinthia borders to Italy and Slovenia in the south.
With an area of 12,640.17 square kilometers, Tyrol is the third largest country in Austria. It borders to Germany/Bavaria in the north, Switzerland in the southwest, and Italy in the south. ´
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. The state capital is Eisenstadt.
Burgenland borders in the north on Slovakia, in the east on Hungary, in the south on Slovenia, and in the west on the Austrian federal states of Styria and Lower Austria.
The following pages offer an overview of sights, music and shows, shopping and dining opportunities as well as information on hotels and travel in Vienna:
The public transport system in Vienna is particularly well developed and enables you to get from one point to another quickly. The Wiener Linien is running most of the public transportation system in the city of Vienna.