The most beautiful cities in Austria

Welcome to one of Europe’s most beautiful countries. Austria’s landscapes, regions and townscapes provide almost the full range of European variety in the centre of the continent. Austria is often associated, rightly, with winter sports, but there is so much more on offer. Its alpine areas are rugged and picturesque, but that’s far from being the whole story.

Costs

Travellers can expect to find Austrian cities to be compatible with or slightly more expensive than most German cities, less expensive than Switzerland but more costly to visit than central European neighbours.

International comparisons

Expatriate users of the numbeo.com website consider Austrian cities to be compatible with German cities for 2023 cost of living or a fraction more expensive. Austria was substantially dearer than central European neighbours and a little dearer than northern Italy but less expensive than France and a lot less expensive than Switzerland. It's generally agreed Austria is less expensive than Ireland and the biggest UK cities.

Numbeo’s international list of national cost indexes at the end of 2023 gave the following comparisons: Singapore 85.9, Australia 75.4, United States 74.2, New Zealand 70.7, Ireland 70.4, Israel 70.0, Austria 68.7, Canada 68.0, United Kingdom 63.6, South Africa 34.5.

Expatistan.com rated Vienna the 30th most expensive European city and Innsbruck 42nd.

Austrian comparisons

Numbeo.com names Villach (rating 78.18) the most expensive Austrian city, followed by Salzburg (74.24), Linz (69.96) and Innsbruck (69.92), both comparable with Munich. Vienna and Graz were similar at just over 67 each, a fraction cheaper than Berlin.

Costs tips

It’s most cost-effective to buy bottled water in a discount supermarket by the 1.5-litre bottle (€0.65-1.00). It’s equally possible to pay €0.90 for 500ml, or up to €3 in a restaurant or bakery.

Small bottles of beer can cost €4-5 in restaurants, much more expensive than in supermarkets (€1.20-2).

Value-added taxes & refunds

Austria's standard VAT (Umsatzsteuer or Mehrwertsteuer) rate for consumer purchases is 20%. Other rates applied are 10% (on most foods and groceries, most national passenger transport, restaurant meals, hotel accommodation, residential property rental, camping, books and drugs) and 13% (on hotels, domestic flights, cultural and sports events and amusement parks, and wine sales from the producer). There is no VAT on international rail fares.

Refunds: Tax-free shopping can be easier at retailers who partner with international payments networks, who will help fill out a tax-free form and guide travellers through the refund process. But the basic rules for claiming refunds are these:

The invoiced price for an item must be more than €75
The traveller must have a travel identity document showing a residential address outside the EU
The traveller must prove the export of the item to Customs officials
The traveller must fill out the U34 tax-free application form
Fees for refund services mean it's common not to get the full refund
The refund is claimed on leaving the EU
The goods must leave the EU before the end of the third calendar month following the month of purchase.

The goods and invoice must be presented on departure, so the rule of thumb is to carry the items in personal luggage when leaving the EU. A Customs stamp must prove departure from the EU. In the case of flights out of Austria connecting with transit flights out of the EU, or when departing for non-EU Liechtenstein or Switzerland, the stamp should come from Austria.

If items are intended to be part of checked airline baggage, they will have to be shown to Customs officers before check-in.

In some (rare) cases, departure confirmation can be issued afterwards.

At some ports or border crossings, private clearance offices can process the refund for a fee.

When departing the EU by train, it will be necessary to get a Customs stamp at the last station inside the EU, or from a Customs official who boards the train.

For departure by road through Switzerland, goods will have to be validated for export at a Customs post.

At Vienna's airport, export verification is carried out by digital export validation (DEV). The DEV details can be sent digitally before travel or the airport's DEV desk can record the necessary information. Travellers can go through the validation process with a digital device using the airport's DEV wi-fi, at a self-service kiosk, or (for a €7 fee, payable digitally) at a DEV Customs desk in the boarding area.

Customs stamping desks are in terminal 1 (level 1), terminal 3 (level 1), and the B, C, F gates areas (level 1), and on level 3 near the duty-free shop entering the G gates area. The money can be paid in cash at Interchange currency offices in terminal 3 (level 1, M-Su 6-20) or the the G gates area, or credited to a card account.

Keep these rules in mind:

Travellers can get their refund forms stamped at the last airport before you leave the EU. This is to prove you have taken a flight to leave the EU thus making the refund valid.
Export goods that are in checked baggage must be shown to customs at the airport where the bags are checked in (which does not have to be the last airport before leaving the EU).

● Export goods in hand baggage must be shown to customs at the last airport in the EU.