Graz
Austria
Austria’s second city, with a red-roofed old town under a clock tower, a silver blob of a modern art museum beside it, and more Christmas markets than squares
Photo by Leonhard Niederwimmer on Unsplash
Photos by Jan, Daniela Turcanu, Leonhard Niederwimmer and Leonhard Niederwimmer on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Austria
Late November to late December for the markets, and May to September for everything else — the markets are busiest at weekends and in the last fortnight before the holiday
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 125mm in Jul
Where it is
47.07°N, 15.44°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Go up the Schlossberg and come down by the lift
- Put pumpkin seed oil on ice cream, once
- See the armoury, which is thirty thousand pieces
- Walk between four or five different Christmas markets
- Stand inside the Kunsthaus and look at the roof
Graz travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Austria
Good valueEuro, and cards work almost everywhere — but the Christmas market stalls are the exception, and a good many of them still want cash for a mug of Glühwein. Carry notes for the market and nothing else. Never change money at a station booth.
ATMs & cards
Use a bank’s own machine — Sparkasse, Volksbank, ING, BNP — rather than the Euronet ones near the markets and stations, which charge and push their own conversion. Always decline the conversion.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the machines beside the Christmas markets
Use these instead
- Erste Bank
- Raiffeisen
- Bank Austria
- BAWAG
Decline the conversion. Draw before the market rather than at it: the independent machines cluster where the stalls are, and a good many stalls still want cash.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Austria
Very safeVery comfortable. Graz is a student city and busy in the evening. The Schlossberg steps are steep and ice in the cold weeks; take the lift down rather than the steps. The markets are spread out, which keeps any one of them from becoming a crush.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (4 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the Schlossberg steps in the cold weeks — steep, and they ice over; the lift exists for a reason
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Austria visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Austria
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Tick-borne encephalitis — Austria has one of the highest rates in Europe and the vaccine is routine for residents
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. Mountain rescue is superb and is charged for; check your insurance covers it before hiking or skiing.
Ticks in forest and meadow up to about 1,500m, from spring to autumn.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodStyrian, and better than Vienna’s: pumpkin seed oil on everything including vanilla ice cream, which is not a joke; Backhendl, fried chicken; Käferbohnen bean salad; and Schilcher, a sharp rosé made from a grape grown almost nowhere else.
Nightlife
A student city with a bar quarter across the river that has nothing to do with the old-town tourism.
- the Lend quarter — where the city drinks, across the Mur
- the old town squares — the market huts, which serve punch until about nine
Closing: Around 02:00.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- Against a taxi
- A little under the meter, since the 2021 rules put both on the same tariff.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Vienna — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Getting online
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Austria, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
German
- HelloGuten TagGOO-ten tahk
- PleaseBitteBI-tuh
- Thank youDankeDAN-kuh
- Yes / NoJa / Neinya / nine
4 more phrases
- Excuse meEntschuldigungent-SHOOL-di-gung
- How much is it?Was kostet das?vas KOS-tet das
- The bill, pleaseDie Rechnung, bittedee REKH-nung
- Cheers!Prost!prohst
Religion
Catholic
Catholic in tradition and calendar — many shops close on religious holidays that are not obvious to visitors.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Use titles and surnames until invited otherwise; formality is real here
- Say Grüß Gott, which is the standard greeting rather than hallo
- Dress well for the opera, concerts and even a good coffee house
- Take your time in a coffee house — one order buys you the afternoon
Don't
- Do not call Austrians German, and do not assume the accents are interchangeable
- Do not be late; punctuality is close to a moral matter
- Do not talk loudly in public spaces
- Do not skip greeting shop staff on entering
Where to stay in Graz
No Holistay rentals in Graz yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Graz on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Graz GRZ
15 minfrom the airport· 10 km as the crow flies
15 min by train to the Hauptbahnhof.
Also worth pricing: Vienna VIE — two and a half hours by train.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
