12 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.
Very safe. The problem here is numbers: a village of 700 takes around a million visitors a year, parking is capped and booked, and drones are banned. The lakeside path has no railing in places and the water is deep and cold.
Comfortable: the village · the lakeside path · the salt mine · the funicular
- the lakeside path — no railing in places and the water is deep and very cold
- the day-trip crush between ten and four — a village of seven hundred taking a million visitors a year
- drones — banned, and the fine is real
Consistently rated among the world’s safest and most liveable cities. Standard big-city awareness around Praterstern station is all you need.
Comfortable: Vienna
- Praterstern — and Karlsplatz, at night
- Pickpockets on the U1 and around Stephansplatz
Very safe. The risks are the mountains, which start abruptly — a marked trail here can be exposed and the weather turns. The Getreidegasse is heaving between eleven and four with tour groups, and pickpocketing at Mirabell and the Mozart houses is the only crime worth mentioning.
Comfortable: Salzburg Altstadt · Nonntal · Mülln · Mirabell
- Getreidegasse — and Mirabell, for pickpockets among the tour groups
- Salzburg Hauptbahnhof — the station area at night
- Mountain trails that start gently and become exposed — a marked path here can still be alpine
Very comfortable, and the town is lively rather than dead in the evening. The altitude is low for a ski resort, which makes the snow less reliable and the lower runs icier in a warm week. The Streif is closed to the public except on marked days, and there is a reason for that.
Comfortable: the old town · the lift stations · the Schwarzsee
- the lower runs in a warm week — the resort is low for the Alps and the bottom third ices up
- the Streif outside the marked public days — it is closed for a reason that the race makes obvious
Very safe. The mountain above the city is a real mountain — the Nordkette drops away steeply and people in trainers get into trouble on it — and avalanche risk in the side valleys is posted daily in winter.
Comfortable: the old town · Mariahilf · the river path · the Nordkette stations
- the Nordkette in trainers — it is a mountain, the ground drops away and mountain rescue is called out to people in city shoes
- avalanche risk in the side valleys — posted daily in winter and worth reading
- the station area late at night — the usual, and nothing more
Very safe. The cycle path is shared with a great many other cyclists in summer, the river is fast and cold, and the tasting and driving problem is the same as in any wine valley.
Comfortable: Krems · Dürnstein · Melk · Weissenkirchen · the Danube path
- the cycle path in summer — shared with a great many other cyclists and narrow in the villages
- tasting and then driving — the valley is wine and the police check it
- the river — fast, cold and with barges on it
Very comfortable, and easier with children than most resorts because the town is a town. The glacier at Kaprun is high enough to close for wind regularly, and the lake, warm on the surface in summer, is cold and deep a few metres out.
Comfortable: the old town · the lakefront · Kaprun
- the glacier lifts in wind — the Kitzsteinhorn is high and closes often, sometimes for whole days
- swimming out from the shore — the lake is deep and much colder a few metres from the warm surface
Very comfortable. The town’s own geography is the hazard: it is built in tiers down a gorge, the paths between levels are steep and ice hard, and several of the grand empty buildings are genuinely derelict and fenced off for good reason. The radon baths are regulated and time-limited.
Comfortable: the town centre · the thermal baths · Bad Hofgastein
- the stepped paths between the town levels — steep, and they ice hard in a town built down a gorge
- the derelict hotels — genuinely unsafe, and fenced off for that reason rather than for looks
Comfortable, with two honest caveats. The off-piste is what the resort is known for and it is serious avalanche terrain — the top cable car to the Valluga will not take you without a guide, which tells you enough. And the après is heavy: the walk back from the Mooserwirt in ski boots after several hours is where the evening injuries come from.
Comfortable: the village · the lift stations · St. Christoph
- the off-piste under the Valluga — avalanche terrain, and the top cable car will not take you without a guide
- the ski home after the Mooserwirt — a piste down to the village, in boots, after several hours of drinking
Comfortable. The resort is high and snow-sure, which is its advantage, and the off-piste is avalanche terrain, which is the standard caveat here and a real one. The après is very heavy and the village road at night is the place where that shows.
Comfortable: the village · the gondola stations · Galtür
- the off-piste bowls — avalanche terrain reached directly from the lifts
- the village road late at night — a very heavy après scene on a road with ice on it
Comfortable. The glaciers are pisted and patrolled, and off them they are crevassed — that distinction matters more here than in most resorts. The village après is heavy and the valley road through it is busy with traffic, which is a worse combination than it sounds.
Comfortable: the village · the gondola stations · Obergurgl
- the glaciers off the pisted runs — crevassed, and the crevasses are covered rather than visible
- the valley road through the village at night — through traffic and a heavy après scene on the same strip of tarmac
Comfortable. The Harakiri is exactly as steep as advertised and the injuries on it are people who went to look and then committed. The après here is heavy, particularly during the spring festival week, and the town road is busy with buses at the same hours.
Comfortable: the town centre · the gondola stations · Finkenberg
- the Harakiri — 78 per cent at its steepest, and people commit to it before looking properly
- the town road during the spring festival week — a very heavy scene and bus traffic sharing the same hours
The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.
