Graz
EUROPE · FIESTA SIDE
Austria's second city and its most relaxed: a UNESCO red-roofed old town, 60,000 students, Balkan-leaning food and a silver blob in the river.
The plan
Schlossberg and the Uhrturm
Glass lift or funicular up to the 1560s clock tower. The lift runs 8am to 12.30am and costs €2.60 a ride.
📍 Map & photos · € · Website ↗
Landeszeughaus armoury
32,000 pieces of 15th to 18th century armour on five floors, the world's largest. Tue-Sun 10am-6pm, Herrengasse 16.
📍 Map & photos · €€ · Website ↗
Kunsthaus Graz
The Friendly Alien: a biomorphic blue blob of contemporary art beside the Mur. Open 10am-6pm, closed Mondays.
📍 Map & photos · €€ · Website ↗
Schloss Eggenberg
A Baroque palace built as a calendar: 365 windows, 31 rooms per floor. Tram 1 west; state rooms by guided tour only.
📍 Map & photos · €€
Lendviertel and Lendplatz
Cross the Mur for the scruffier half of Graz: independent bars, street art, and a produce market on Lendplatz most mornings.
📍 Map & photos · €
Getting there
Railjet from Vienna
About 2h35 over the Semmering, itself a UNESCO-listed railway. Sit on the right leaving Vienna for the viaducts.
Fly Graz (GRZ)
The S5 suburban train runs from the airport station to Graz Hauptbahnhof in roughly 12 minutes.
Trains from Klagenfurt
A new base-tunnel route has cut the run west dramatically. Check current OeBB timings before you plan around it.
When to go
Best time to go
May-June and September: warm, terraces full, students still in town.
Cheapest months
January-March and November. Cold and quiet, cheapest beds of the year.
Priciest & busiest
Advent weekends and late September, when trade fairs fill the hotels.
If you've got one day
Morning
Coffee on Hauptplatz, then wander Sporgasse and the courtyards off Herrengasse. Graz hides its best bits in yards.
Late morning
The Landeszeughaus for an hour: five floors of matched armour, racked more or less as it was left in 1749.
Lunch
Styrian cooking at Der Steirer on Belgiergasse, or build a picnic from the Kaiser-Josef-Platz market stalls.
Afternoon
Glass lift up the Schlossberg, walk down through the gardens, then the Kunsthaus and the Murinsel footbridge.
Evening
Drinks in the Lend district, dinner late, and Parkhouse in the Stadtpark until 4am if the night wants it.
Nearby & day trips
South Styrian Wine Road
An hour south: Sauvignon Blanc, ridge roads and Buschenschank taverns. Hire a car or join a tour out of Graz.
Riegersburg Castle
A fortress on a volcanic plug an hour east, with a raptor flying display and the Zotter chocolate factory nearby.
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