Best Time to Visit Austria
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Austria is really two holidays sharing one calendar, and the month that suits one may not suit the other. The cities — Vienna, Salzburg, Graz — are pleasant for three quarters of the year and at their finest in late spring and early autumn. The mountains and the lakes keep a stricter timetable, with two between-seasons when lifts, huts and even hotels simply close. Below is the honest month-by-month picture, written for travellers who would rather be comfortable than heroic.
The short answer
Two windows, one exception, and three weeks to avoid.
Late May and June
The cities are warm and in flower, the days are the longest of the year, the alpine trails have cleared and the huts and cable cars are open. June is the strongest month of all for mountain walking, and neither month carries the July and August crowds or prices. If the Alps are any part of why you are going, this is the window.
September into early October
Our narrow first choice. The heat breaks, the schools go back and take the crowds with them, the light turns gold, the trails stay dry and open, and hotel rates ease while everything is still running. Add the wine harvest in the Wachau and Styria and you have the most comfortable fortnight of the Austrian year.
December, for one specific reason
The Christmas markets in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck are among the loveliest in Europe and worth a trip on their own. Go in the last week of November or the first fortnight of December, midweek, and book early. Expect short dark days, thick weekend crowds and cold rather than picture-book snow in the cities.
What to avoid
Salzburg during the Festival, from mid-July into August, unless you are coming for it. Anything alpine in November or between Easter and early May, when the lifts and huts shut. And the ski resorts in the February school holidays, the most crowded and dearest weeks of the mountain year.
The between-seasons — the thing most guides do not tell you
Twice a year, a good deal of alpine Austria simply closes. It catches people out.
Austrian mountain towns run on two seasons, winter and summer, and between them they rest. The gaps are roughly from just after Easter to mid or late May, and from mid-October to just before Christmas. In those weeks cable cars stop for maintenance, mountain huts and many lake boats close, some restaurants take their annual holiday, and in the smaller resorts whole hotels shut for a month or more. Nothing is wrong; it is simply the local year.
This matters because those same weeks look extremely attractive when you are booking from home: rooms are cheap and the photographs are beautiful. A traveller who books a bargain week in Zell am See in early November can arrive to find the lift closed, the lake boat laid up and half the town dark. The cities are unaffected — Vienna, Graz and Salzburg run all year — so a between-season trip is a fine idea as long as it is a city trip.
The practical rule: if your plan involves a cable car, a mountain hut, a lake steamer or a small alpine village, check that specific operator’s own website for its opening dates before you book the room. If your plan is museums, concerts, coffee houses and Christmas markets, come whenever suits you.
Month by month
Weather, light, crowds, prices and what each month is genuinely good for. Temperatures given are typical daytime highs in the cities; the mountains are colder and the valleys warmer than you expect.
January
Deep winter, and a month of two halves. In the mountains this is the heart of the ski season — reliable snow, short bright days, and the highest resort prices of the year outside February. In the cities it is cold, often grey, with highs around freezing, and it is the quietest and cheapest time to have Vienna’s museums almost to yourself. The Christmas markets are gone by the 6th. A fine month for galleries, concerts and coffee houses; a poor one for lakes and long walks.
February
The coldest month in the valleys and the busiest on the slopes, since European school holidays fall here and resort rates peak. Vienna is at its most atmospheric and least crowded, and the ball season fills the palaces — the Opera Ball is the famous one, but there are hundreds, and some sell ordinary tickets. Days are lengthening noticeably by the end of the month. Bring proper cold-weather clothes and expect ice on the cobbles.
March
The turn, and an awkward one. Low-lying cities warm into the forties and fifties and begin to feel like spring; the high resorts still ski, often in glorious sun, into April. What you should not expect is the alpine countryside at its best — the lower trails are muddy or still under old snow, and many mountain huts and lake boats have not opened. Good value in the cities, and a quiet time in Salzburg before the crowds return.
April
Spring proper in the cities, and unreliable everywhere. Vienna and Graz can give you a warm, blossom-lined week or a cold wet one, sometimes in the same week. Easter is the one date to plan around: hotels fill, and Good Friday through Easter Monday closes a great deal. The Salzkammergut is greening but the lakes are still very cold, and higher cable cars often shut for maintenance between the ski and summer seasons. A month for cities rather than mountains.
May
One of the two best months, and our joint pick. The cities are warm without being hot, the parks and palace gardens are at their peak, the days are long, and the alpine valleys are green and full of wildflowers with the trails clearing from the bottom up. Late May is better than early May, once the last snow has gone from the middle paths. Prices are moderate and the summer crush has not begun. If you can travel in May, do.
June
Excellent, and the best month for the mountains. The longest days of the year give you light until well after nine, the high trails and cable cars are open, the lakes have warmed enough to swim in by the end of the month, and the cities are lively but not yet overrun. Vienna’s outdoor concert and film seasons start. Thunderstorms build on hot afternoons in the Alps, so walk in the morning and be off the tops by early afternoon.
July
High summer: hot, busy and expensive. Vienna and Graz regularly reach the high eighties and sometimes the nineties, and a great many older hotels have no air conditioning, so confirm it in writing if heat troubles you. This is also the best swimming and hiking month, with everything open. Hallstatt and the lake villages are at their most crowded, and the Salzburg Festival begins in the second half of the month and fills that city entirely. Book early or come another time.
August
As hot, busy and dear as July, and in Salzburg dearer, because the Festival runs through it. The lakes are at their warmest and loveliest, the mountain huts are all open, and the country is on holiday. If your dates are fixed, base yourself somewhere with air conditioning or altitude, start early, and keep the hot afternoons for a lake or a cool church. Note the 15th, Assumption, a public holiday when much closes.
September
Our other pick, and for many travellers the best month of all. The heat breaks, the light turns golden, the crowds go home with the schools, the trails are dry and open, and hotel rates come off their summer peak while everything is still running. The wine harvest begins in Lower Austria and Styria, and the Heuriger taverns around Vienna are at their most enjoyable. If you want the country comfortable, uncrowded and fully open, come the second or third week of September.
October
Quiet, cool and often beautiful. Autumn colour comes down the valleys through the month, the vineyard country of the Wachau and southern Styria is at its best, and the cities are calm and well priced. Higher cable cars and mountain huts begin closing for the between-season from mid-month, and the weather turns unreliable in the last week. The 26th is the national holiday. A lovely first half; a chancier second.
November
The month to skip unless you have a reason. Grey, damp and dark early, with the between-season at its deepest: many mountain lifts, huts and lake boats are shut, and some alpine hotels close outright. The compensations are that it is the cheapest month of the year, the cities are entirely uncrowded, and the Christmas markets open in the third week, which is the loveliest time to see them before the December crowds arrive.
December
Short, dark, cold and genuinely magical in the cities. The Christmas markets in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck are among the finest in Europe, and the first three weeks are far pleasanter than the last, when the markets are shoulder to shoulder at weekends and hotel rates climb. The ski season opens properly in the mountains around the middle of the month. Christmas Eve closes almost everything by early afternoon; the week to New Year is the busiest and dearest of the winter.
Where to stay, whenever you go
Each of these has its own chapter, with hotels picked by style and an honest word on lifts and legs.
Browse all Austria hotels on Trip.com ›Best time to visit Austria — common questions
What is the single best month to visit Austria?
September, narrowly ahead of May and June. Mid-September gives you warm days and cool nights, the summer crowds gone with the European school holidays, alpine trails dry and still open, lake steamers and cable cars still running, the wine harvest under way, and hotel rates below their July and August peak. May and June are just as pleasant in the cities and are better for wildflowers and long daylight; June is the strongest month for high mountain walking. If your trip is mainly urban, any of the three will serve you well.
Is December worth it for the Christmas markets?
Yes, if you know what you are buying. The markets in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck are among the best in Europe and the cities look their finest under lights. The trade-offs are real: daylight is gone by four, it is cold and often damp rather than crisply snowy in the cities, and the markets are shoulder to shoulder on December weekends. The trick is to go in the last week of November or the first fortnight of December, midweek, and to book well ahead, because rooms in the market cities are dear and scarce once the season starts.
When is the cheapest time to go?
November is the cheapest month, followed by early December before the market rush, and the second half of January in the cities. November is cheap for a reason: it is the deep between-season, when many mountain lifts, huts and lake boats are closed and some alpine hotels shut altogether. It is a genuinely good bargain for a city-only trip to Vienna or Graz, and a poor one for anything involving mountains or lakes.
When should I avoid Austria?
Three windows, for three different reasons. Salzburg during the Festival, from the second half of July into August, when the whole city is full and rates double. Anywhere alpine in November and early December, and again after Easter into early May, when the between-season closes lifts, huts and many hotels. And the ski resorts during the February school holidays, which are the most crowded and most expensive weeks of the mountain year. None of these is a disaster if you know about it in advance; all of them disappoint people who did not.
How hot does it get in summer, and will my hotel have air conditioning?
Vienna and Graz regularly reach the high eighties Fahrenheit in July and August and can pass ninety in a heatwave, and the cities hold the heat overnight. Air conditioning is far from universal, particularly in the historic old-town hotels that are otherwise the nicest places to stay, and a listed building often cannot be fitted with it. If heat is difficult for you, confirm air conditioning in writing when you book rather than assuming it, ask for a courtyard-facing room, or plan your summer trip around the mountains and lakes, which stay cool.
Is there snow in the cities in winter?
Less than most visitors expect. Vienna, Graz and the lower valleys get some snow most winters, but it is often thin and short-lived and the cities are more grey and damp than white. Reliable snow means altitude: Innsbruck, which sits at about nineteen hundred feet with the mountains rising directly behind it, and the resorts above it. If you are coming specifically to see snow, go west and go up; if you want a Christmas-card city, go in December and accept that the picture may be more lights than snowfall.
Ready to pick your month?
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