Austria Geography & Climate

Austria is a landlocked country of about 84,000 square kilometres in central Europe, bordering eight others, and it is defined by the Alps, which cover roughly sixty per cent of its territory.

The Alps

The ranges run east to west across the south and west of the country, dividing into the Northern Limestone Alps, the Central Eastern Alps and the Southern Limestone Alps. The highest point is the Großglockner at 3,798 metres, with the Pasterze glacier below it — the longest in Austria and retreating fast. The mountains are lower and gentler in the east, and the country’s eastern edge is genuinely flat.

The Danube

The river crosses the north-east from Germany to Slovakia, through Linz and Vienna, and its valley holds the main transport corridor and much of the population. The Wachau, between Melk and Krems, is a UNESCO-listed stretch of terraced vineyards and abbeys.

Lakes

The Salzkammergut holds dozens of alpine lakes, of which Hallstätter See and Wolfgangsee are the most visited. In the south, Carinthia’s lakes — Wörthersee, Millstätter See — warm enough to swim comfortably in summer. In the east, Lake Neusiedl is a steppe lake averaging barely a metre deep, ringed by reed beds, and shared with Hungary.

Underground

The limestone produces extensive cave systems, including the Eisriesenwelt near Werfen, the largest ice cave in the world, and the salt mines at Hallstatt, worked for three thousand years and the source of the archaeological culture named after the village.

Woodland

Nearly half the country is wooded, one of the higher proportions in Europe, and the Vienna Woods reach into the capital’s western districts.

Austria has a temperate continental climate, with four distinct seasons, and altitude matters more than anything else — the rule of thumb is a drop of about six degrees for every thousand metres.

The lowlands and the east

Vienna, the Danube valley and Burgenland have warm summers, regularly above 30°C in July and August, and cold winters around freezing with some snow. The Pannonian influence from the Hungarian plain makes the east drier and sunnier than the rest of the country.

The Alps

Cold and snowy from November to April above about fifteen hundred metres, with the highest resorts holding snow into May and glacier skiing through the summer. Alpine summers are short and cool, and above three thousand metres snow can fall in any month.

The south

Carinthia and southern Styria are sheltered by the mountains and are noticeably warmer and sunnier, with lakes that reach 25°C in summer — which is why Austrians holiday there.

The föhn

A warm dry wind falling down the northern slopes of the Alps, which can raise temperatures by ten degrees within hours, produce startling visibility, and is blamed locally for headaches and irritability. It also raises avalanche risk in winter.

Rain and thunderstorms

Precipitation is highest on the northern edge of the Alps, where moist air is forced upward. Summer afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains are routine and are the reason alpine walkers start early.

A warming picture

Austria has warmed roughly twice the global average. Glaciers are retreating measurably year on year, snow reliability below about twelve hundred metres has declined, and lower resorts increasingly depend on artificial snow.