SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

DISCOVER AUSTRIA

How to save money while travelling around Austria

Austria is on a travel bucket list for many people but it’s an expensive place to visit. Thankfully, there are ways to save money in the Alpine Republic.

obb austria train
An ÖBB train travels through Austria. (© ÖBB/Christian Auerweck)

Like many other countries in Western Europe, Austria has a reputation for being an expensive destination.

Unfortunately, it’s a well-earned reputation and Austria is, in fact, an expensive place to be a tourist with high prices for hotels, trains and tourist attractions.

Don’t let the prices put you off though. With a bit of planning and some insider tips, Austria can be an affordable place to explore.

Here’s how to save money while travelling in Austria.

Accommodation

Hotels are expensive in Austria – especially in cities like Vienna or at mountain resorts in the Alps where it can be hard to find a decent room for less than €100 per night.

The best way to secure a good price for accommodation without breaking the bank is to book in advance. If that’s not possible, then try checking price comparison sites for any last-minute offers.

READ MORE: Nine things you might be surprised are actually Austrian

Other options are to stay in hostels in the larger cities (as long as you don’t mind sharing a dorm room), or book an Airbnb. 

Finally, if travelling outside of the main towns and cities, there are plenty of campsites across Austria – particularly in the countryside. 

Campsites are significantly cheaper than hotels with the added bonus of being able to spend time outdoors in the fresh alpine air.

Travel

For visitors to Austria, trains are a convenient way to travel around the country. But they are not cheap.

As with booking hotels, a useful way to save money is to book in advance with a Sparschiene ticket by national train operator ÖBB. This is a reduced rate ticket with prices starting at €9.90. 

Sparschiene tickets are mostly available for routes between Austria’s biggest cities, like Vienna and Graz, or Salzburg and Innsbruck, making it a convenient service for tourists.

But the downside is that Sparschiene tickets can’t be cancelled or refunded. 

This means if you miss the train or change your mind, you will lose the money and have to buy a new ticket at full price.

Alternatively, consider hiring a car for travelling outside of the main train routes. A car is also essential for accessing many nature spots or start points for hiking trails.

Food

There are great restaurants to visit all over Austria, with cuisine ranging from traditional to fusion and everything else in between.

Then there is the famous cafe culture in Vienna with long-standing establishments serving coffee and cake throughout the day.

Sampling the food is part of the experience of visiting Austria, but for people trying to stick to a budget, it can eat away at the bank balance.

FOR MEMBERS: Cost of living – Seven tips to save money in Austria

Instead, select cheaper meals and snacks from menus, such as pretzels (brezel), frittatensuppe (pancake soup), goulash (meat and vegetable soup) or sliced bread with cold meat and cheese.

Saving money on food also becomes easier if staying in self-catering accommodation where you can cook meals or prepare packed lunches in advance.

If shopping at an Austrian supermarket, the most affordable is Hofer.

Tourist attractions

There is an entry fee for most tourist attractions in Austria, like museums and historical buildings. You either pay it or miss out on seeing the site.

However, there is a cheap way to see opera in Vienna by buying a standing ticket on the day of the performance. 

At other times of the year, affordable tourist attractions and events include Sonnwendfueur in the Alps to celebrate the summer solstice, annual Christmas markets in towns and cities across the country and numerous cultural festivals.

In the mountains

Austria is a playground for winter sports, but if the cost of travelling is already squeezing the budget then skiing might seem completely out of reach. 

This is where ski touring and cross-country skiing come in. 

Ski touring doesn’t involve using a lift, although some resorts charge a small fee for accessing a piste. This is a much cheaper way to go skiing without forking out for a full lift pass. 

It’s a similar story with cross-country skiing. Again, you don’t need a lift pass, just the right equipment and access to trails. 

In the summer, hiking in the mountains or spending an afternoon at a lake is an inexpensive way to explore the Alps. You can even take your own food to avoid spending money at a mountain hut.

FOR MEMBERS: Five unwritten rules that explain how Austria works

Travel in the off-season

Finally, a top tip for saving money while travelling in Austria is to plan a trip during the off-season.

This means booking a holiday in May for early spring weather, or in September to avoid the high-summer crowds and peak prices.

Or try booking a ski holiday for late in the winter season between March and April (depending on snow conditions and coronavirus restrictions) to skip the main tourist months of late December to early March.

Not only is there the possibility to save money by travelling in the off-season, but it can be more enjoyable without crowds of people all doing the same thing at the same time.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

What will Europe’s EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU's Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport checks will usher in big changes for travellers - here we answer readers' questions on the position for dual nationals.

What will Europe's EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU is preparing, after many delays, to introduce the EES system for travel in and out of Europe.

You can find a full explanation of how it works HERE, but in essence it is an enhanced passport check – registering biometric details such as fingerprints and facial scans and introducing an automatic calculation of how long you have stayed within the EU/Schengen zone in order to detect ‘over-stayers’.

And it’s already causing stress for travellers. We asked readers of The Local to share their questions here – and one of the biggest worries was how the system will work for dual nationals ie people who have a passport for both an EU country and a non-EU country.

EES: Your questions answered

EU passports 

One of the main purposes of EES is to detect ‘over-stayers’ – people who have either stayed in the EU longer than their visa allows or non-EU nationals who have over-stayed their allowance of 90 days in every 180.

As this does not apply to EU nationals, people travelling on an EU passport are not required to do EES pre-registration and will continue to travel in the same way once EES is introduced – going to the ‘EU passports queue’ at airports, ports and stations and having their passports scanned as normal.

Non-EU 

Non-EU travellers will, once EES is up and running, be required to complete EES pre-registration.

This means that the first time they cross an EU/Schengen zone external border they will have to go to a special zone of the airport/port/terminal and supply extra passport information including fingerprints and a facial scan.

This only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years.

Non-EU residents of the EU/Schengen zone

This does not apply to non-EU citizens who are permanent residents of an EU country or who have a long-stay visa for an EU/Schengen zone country – click HERE for full details.

Schengen zone passports/Irish passports 

EES applies within the Schengen zone, so people with Swiss, Norwegian and Icelandic passports are treated in the same way as citizens of EU countries.

Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not the Schengen zone – these countries will not be using the EES system at their borders, but their citizens are still EU citizens so can continue to use EU passport gates at airports and will be treated the same as all other EU citizens (ie they don’t have to do EES pre-registration).

OK, so what if you have both an EU and a non-EU passport?

They key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any of the rules on immigration – it’s just a way of better enforcing the rules that are already in place. 

Therefore the rules for dual nationals remain as they are – for most people which passport to travel on is a matter of personal choice, although Americans should be aware that if you have a US passport and you are entering the USA, you must use your American passport. 

But it’s also important to remember that the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’ – therefore if you present an American passport at the Italian border, you will be treated exactly the same as every other American, there is no way for the border guard to know that you are also Italian.

Likewise if you are a UK-Germany dual national and you travel back to the UK on your German passport, you can expect to be treated the same as every other German at the border, and might be asked for proof of where you are staying in UK, how long you intend to stay etc – the system has no way of knowing that you are also British. 

Therefore whether you have to complete EES pre-registration or not is entirely a matter of which passport you are travelling on – if you use your EU passport you won’t have to do it, if you use your non-EU passport you will.

It’s also possible to use two passports for the same trip – so let’s say you’re travelling from Spain to Canada – you enter Canada on your Canadian passport, and show your Canadian passport again when you leave. However, once you re-enter Spain you show your Spanish passport in order to benefit from the unlimited length of stay.

If you’re travelling between France and the UK via the Eurostar, Channel Tunnel or cross-Channel ferry, you need to remember that the Le Touquet agreement means that French passport checks take place in the UK and vice versa. You can still use both passports, but you just need to keep your wits about you and remember to hand the French one to the French border guards and the British one to British guards.

In terms of avoiding immigration formalities using two passports is the most efficient way for dual nationals to travel, but some people prefer to stick to one passport for simplicity, or don’t want to keep both passports together in case of theft.

Basically it’s a personal choice, but you just need to remember that you will be treated according to the passport that you show – which includes completing EES pre-registration if you’re showing a non-EU passport.

It’s also worth remembering that if the changes do cause border delays (and there are fears that they might especially at the UK-France border), then these will affect all travellers – regardless of their passport. 

SHOW COMMENTS