Austria
About Graz
Graz spreads its terracotta roofs beneath a green hill crowned by a lone clock tower, the city's stubborn old survivor.
Its old town is one of the best preserved in central Europe, but a big student population keeps it from ever feeling like a museum. A silver 'friendly alien' of an art museum floats by the river, and a man-made island sits midstream-old bones, modern flourishes.
This is Styria, green and agricultural, and the cooking leans hard on the region's dark, nutty pumpkin-seed oil.
Drizzle that oil over everything and drink the crisp local Schilcher wine.
Get to Graz
Round trip from Prague, any dates in November 2026.
Buses from Graz
Day trips from Graz
- Half day
Südsteirische Weinstraße
~45 min
Austria's 'Tuscany': a wine road winding along steep vine-covered ridges on the Slovenian border, dotted with klapotetz wind rattles and buschenschank taverns pouring sauvignon blanc on panoramic terraces.
- Half day
Riegersburg
~50 min, ~1 h 30 min 
A mighty baroque fortress on a sheer volcanic plug above the Styrian hills — never taken by force in its history. Reached by a winding path past vineyards, or by a glass lift up the cliff face.
- Day trip
Grüner See
~1 h 15 min, ~1 h 45 min An emerald mountain lake at the foot of the Hochschwab massif, famous for the spring snowmelt that floods the surrounding park — for a few weeks each year, benches and footpaths shimmer underwater.
About Austria
Lake villages under the Alps
Glacier skiing and warm lake swimming in the same country, with Vienna's coffee houses and gilded concert halls at the eastern edge of it.
Explore AustriaRegions, highlights and when to go