since I already wrote that in another forum I'll just copy it here too, might be interesting for someone who plans its holidays here
austria is a small country, south of germany. there are 9 provinces in austria, the capital is vienna, what is a province of its own as well, has about 1,6 million habitants and is the biggest city in austria. our language is german, tho we have a variety of dialects, specially going form east to west... in the west part of austria people speak even a bit like the swiss. and its also a variation of landscapes going from east to west. in the east there are a lot of beautiful plains, specially in the province of burgenland that is close to hungary, its a very wild place and very quiet too with lots of good wine and food hehe
vienna is the biggest cultural place, if u wanna see operas, museums etc. , vienna is full of it, also with imperial buildings like schloss schönbrunn and historic places. its a great city if u know the right places where to go, but just dont go in winter, its cold and unfriendly (exept for the christmas time where u have beautiful chrismtas markets and romantic atmosphere). other nice cities are graz, the cultural capital of 2003 and a very young and modern city with one of the most beautiful venues of austria, the orpheum. and then also salzburg is very nice to see, with the mozart birth house and the mirabell gardens! one of the most beautiful cities in austria I think. innsbruck is a bit smaller, but surrounded by great nature and mountains, we had 2 olympic winter games here too in the 60ies and 70ies. well in the west and also south the mountains start, the thing what austria is famous for... alps, mountains, wildlife, nature. in winter great for skiing, in summer beautiful for hiking.
if u ever come here try out some typical food like schnitzel, regional wine (specially in steiermark, vienna and burgenland) and the sweets. cafe sacher is famous in vienna, go there and eat one of these gorgeous sacher cakes, its worth!
oke, so to tell the 3 things austria is famous for and that I also appreciate very much: mountains, culture, nature
3 things I dont like in the country (except for the politics that just suck here): we have no sea, winters can be very very cold, summers very very rainy... rough clima
about the people: austrians can be very warm hearted but very weird at the same time. they like to complain about everything but in the deepest of their heart, they like it. some are very conservative, but mostly people are open minded about the world and unusual things, specially in vienna. the characteristic of people also varies from province to province, I like for example the tyroleans for having such a warm and friendly heart, even if some of them are very religious and that for tyrol is called the "holy land"... austrians dont like to be compared to germans at all, so never ask them hehe
and also austrians are much more chaotic and easy going than the germans I think, there is something called "gemütlichkeit" (try to translate that, dunno sorry), that we just live...
if u wanna know more just check the site I'm working for
www.tiscover.at 
