The Rough Guide to Austria

ROUGH GUIDE TO AUSTRIAJonathan Bousfield and Rob HumphreysISBN 1-85828-709-XEarlier this month, my wife and I completed the most recent of several trips to Austria in the last few years. On the whole, the coverage of Austrian towns and cities in this book is so comprehensive that it would be difficult to judge much of it fairly without having been to these places. However, I reviewed the parts of this book about some of the places with which I had familiarity. Generally, I found the descriptions insightful and accurate from my own observations. We stayed once in a tiny town with the two-letter name of "Au" in Vorarlberg, the western-most province of Austria, next to Switzerland. This book says that it is "an undeniably attractive spot" and "If you are looking for a rural break, this as good a place to stay and rest up as any." After spending a couple of days in Au, I had concluded pretty much the same thing. Regarding the village of Heiligenblut, which sits at the base of the Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria, in the southern province of Kaernten, the authors describe it as "one of the most attractively situated villages in the Austrian Alps". Indeed, it is. The writers characterize the valley where Heiligenblut is located as remarkably steep-sided. Having stayed in a farmhouse far up one of those slopes, I can attest to the fear of a slight misstep in parking near the edge of the incline. But the view of the village far below was spectacular.As regards accommodations, this book seems to favor hotels over smaller more reasonable accommodations such as those of the "Urlaub am Bauernhof" or "Vacation on the Farm" type, which are widely available across Austria. For example, there are several in Au and Heiligenblut. These accommodations are quite popular with Germans and the Austrians themselves. The atmosphere and hospitality at such places is most often quite warm and friendly. The Internet would provide more information about these accommodations than this book.I would not bother much with the authors' recommendations about restaurants and places to eat. The fact of the matter is that there are far more good places to eat than mediocre ones in the whole of Austria. The authors have researched the historical background of Austria well. It is often difficult to understand the significance of many of the things one sees in a country like Austria where history is rich and deep. For example, Aggstein castle in the Wachau is just another ruined castle without knowing that it was twice in its long history the stronghold of robber barons who preyed on ships on the Danube and lies in ruins from the actions of the Turkish army in the 16th century. If you are debating whether or not to buy this book, consider two things. It is relatively inexpensive, and it is much more often accurate than not.