Someone recently asked me to describe my impression of Austria in a single word…so I answered in German, with the best word I could think of – Gemütlichkeit.
Gemütlichkeit, for those of you unfamiliar with Deutsch, is a word that can be loosely translated as coziness, warmth, contentedness, friendliness, and the sense of peace of mind that comes from feeling like you belong…something I’ve always felt while visiting Austria.
My introduction to the welcoming vibes of Austrian gemülichkeit began on my first ski trip to the Tyrolean Alps in 1998, and it’s kept me going back every winter since. Over the years I’ve schussed and “schnappsed” my way across some of Austria’s most scenic and spectacular ski resorts. I’ve devoured the best schnitzels on the planet, lingered in iconic Viennese cafés once frequented by Freud, Trotsky, and Klimt, and heck, I once even received a full-body chocolate massage at Vienna’s luxurious Hotel Sacher. Still, I’d never visited Austria in the autumn, so I flew there last October with a motley crew of travel journalists from around the globe to check out the fall colors, on a seven-day road trip before Mother Nature blanketed the place in her beautiful winter whites.
Here are some of the daily highlights…
DAY 1 – VIENNA – FALL COLORS (SORT OF…)
You don’t go to Vienna for the fall colors, you normally head there for the abundance of incredible art, culture, architecture, dining, and shopping it has to offer, especially accessible when the summer crowds have gone. I’ve always likened this magnificent imperial city as a mini-Paris – with better coffee and croissants – where everyone sprechens Deutsch. But since “normal” isn’t a concept I abide by religiously, I visited a part of Vienna on this trip to “take in” autumnal colors of a very different fashion.
For many Viennese, the most vivid colors of fall are red and white, and corked in bottles! I’ve never thought of Vienna as a global wine hotspot, and to be fair, it’s not. It is, however, the world’s best place to swig a delicious seasonal potion called “Sturm” – which is basically a fizzy, fruity, wine that’s still in its fermenting stage.
Sturm is the German word for storm, and that’s exactly what happens inside wooden casks full of pressed grape juice before their contents mature into wine. Tap a cask during the inner turmoil stage, and you have a magical harvest season elixir that is coiffed in the millions of gallons every September and October by throngs of Viennese who swarm the city’s various “heurige” restaurants, mostly found at family run wineries on the outskirts of the city.
My first sturm drinking experience took place at one of Vienna’s most charming and rustic heurige establishments, the 200-year-old Das Schreiberhaus, run by Stephanie Huber-Jordan, and her dad Leopold. A Viennese wine tavern known for its superb selection of local reds and whites (with some outstanding Grüner Veltliners and Rieslings I must say), I spent the night gorging on schnitzel, sacherwürstel, and backhendl (best roast chicken ever) while throwing back sturms in a bacchanalian frenzy!
Oh, and the gemütlichkeit vibe at Das Schreiberhaus is off the charts, I felt like I was eating in the Huber family dining room, and that’s a very special feeling!
DAY 2 – VIENNA – A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
There is no better visual expression of Austrian gemütlichkeit than Gustav Klimt’s iconic painting The Kiss, and no better way to absorb the golden light of contented coziness it exudes than by seeing it up close and personal.
Housed in Vienna’s majestic Belvedere Palace, a sprawling Baroque architectural beauty in the heart of the city, The Kiss and 23 other Klimt masterworks (many from his Golden Period around the turn of the 20th century) are on display to the public year round. I was fortunate enough to see it during an unforgettable private evening dinner, and a guided tour of the palace with one of the museum’s curators.
Seeing this masterpiece in its mass-produced commercial manifestation over the years on zillions of greeting cards, tote bags, and calendars at museum gift shops around the world is one thing – but seeing it, and really feeling it’s golden glow up close is something every lover of art history should experience first hand!
DAY 3 – VIENNA TO ZILLERTAL – PUMPKIN SOUP TO DIE FOR
On the third day of my autumnal adventures in Austria I hopped on a speedy cross-country train deep into the heart of the Tyrolean Alps. After a four hour ride with a small group of hearty mountain-loving journalists from Australia, the U.K., and the United States, we jumped on a shuttle and made a beeline to the towering alpine peaks, and picturesque villages of the otherworldly Zillertal Valley, not very far from the Italian border.
Our ultimate destination would be the uber-cozy, Alpendorf Anno Dazumal, a chic lodge-style boutique hotel & chalet resort we’d be calling home for the next three days – but before succumbing to the incredible beauty, and downhome warmth of the Zillertal region, we needed some gourmet-style culinary gemütlichkeit in the form of Kübriscremesuppe – or as we call it in North America – pumpkin cream soup, the mother-of-all autumnal comfort foods.
Now you can find Kürbiscremesuppe at many restaurants in the Tyrolean Alps, but its most scrumptious incarnation can only be found at Restaurant zum Nester, a Gault Millau rated eatery in Stumm im Zillertal.
If pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks turn your crank, you’ll definitely blow a gasket after inhaling, what is for me, the most delicious pumpkin cream soup I’ve ever had the good fortune of consuming, and after spending a quarter century wandering around the European Alps I’ve tried more than a few. When I think of autumn now, I think of two things, colorful leaves, and pumpkin puréed to perfection in soup form at Nester’s, topped with a dollop of homemade cream, and divinely roasted pumpkin seeds!
DAY 4 – ZILLERTAL ALPS SPA DAY
A sudden, high-intensity flare-up of lingering, soul-destroying sciatic back pain kept me from joining my journo-colleagues on our second day in the Zillertal Alps, but all was not lost. While my travel writer friends were hiking up the flowering meadows not far from our hotel to the nearby Friesenberghaus and Peterköpfl peak to take in the jaw-dropping alpine views from the Zillertal Alps High Mountain Nature Park, I chose to rehab my back with at the Alpendorf Anno Dazumal’s luxurious indoor/outdoor spa.
With alpine skiing and ice cave spelunking at the Hintertux Glacier (about 7kms away and accessible by bus) planned for the next day I decided to spend my day healing my back at resort’s chic and cozy (extremely high gemütlichkeit vibe by the way) Apinvital Bath Hut spa facility. After a fantastic massage, I spent most of the day repeating the hot/cold/rest spa cycle with the hotel’s hot tub, sauna, steam bath, cold shower, and relaxation room at my disposal.
The gleaming, stainless steel outdoor hot tub at this hotel was unforgettable, perched high above the town of Lanersbach-Tux, directly across a quaint country church with a towering white bell tower. The audio-visuals of the chiming church bells, and heavenly views of the Hintertux Glacier massif, and the snow-capped peaks of the Zillertal Valley are etched forever in my heart, mind and soul.
DAY 5 – HINTERTUX GLACIER SKI & SPELUNKING ADVENTURES
There is something very special about skiing before Halloween, and when you get full-on winter snow conditions, wide open crowd-free slopes, sunshine, and mind-blowing panoramic views of the Austrian Alps, it’s even sweeter! That was the essence of my ski day on the famed Hintertux Glacier, one of only two glaciers in the world open for skiing 365 days a year (the other is Zermatt in Switzerland).
Alpine ski racers have trained on this ginormous glacial monster for years, and after a solid three hours of ripping on perfect corduroy snow I knew exactly why the Hintertux is so popular with the speed demon crowd.
Normally when I click out of my bindings for the day, my après ski routine involves beverages in a warm chalet by a roaring fire, but on this occasion things would be very, very different. Just steps away from the pistes I’d been tearing up all morning was the entrance to a deep, dark labyrinth of ice caves called Nature’s Ice Palace, snaking directly beneath the glacier I was skiing on hours earlier.
This magical, mystical icy underworld attraction (priced between 15-39 Euros not including your ski pass) is one of the only places on the planet where amateur spelunkers can see the wonders of our planet’s sub-glacial frozen world with their own eyes. Anyone over the age of six with sturdy shoes, warm clothing (it’s always about 32 degrees fahrenheit in the caves), and the ability to climb up and down ladders, is welcome to explore the cave’s gigantic ice stalactites, frozen waterfalls, and even take a boat ride on a bone-chilling glacial lake almost a hundred feet below the ski slopes. Definitely worth the price of admission, especially when you read a sub-glacial ski piste sign telling you you’re 60 feet below the run you were slaying a few hours earlier!
DAY 6 – ALPIN RESORT SACHER & SEEFELD
If you’ve been to Austria before you’ve probably devoured a piece of Sachertorte, the country’s national dessert, a delightful chocolate sponge cake with a hint of apricot, often served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. If you’re really lucky, and a mountain-lover, you’ve also had the good fortune of enjoying a piece four thousand feet above the clouds, at the Alpin Resort Sacher, a five-star luxury hotel in beautiful Seefeld in Tirol…fortunately for me this was in the cards, as this magnificent hotel was the last stop on my autumnal Austrian adventure.
Newly redesigned by the grand dame of Austrian hôtellerie Elisabeth Gürtler, who owns and operates the Sacher hotel group with her family, the Alpin Resort Sacher’s 82 extremely large, and meticulously decorated rooms and suites truly embody the concept of Austrian gemütlichkeit.
“Creating a warm, cozy, home-like environment for our guests is very important to us,” Frau Gürtler told me during a tour around the resort.
“We have a huge amount of square footage at our hotel, but we’ve chosen to limit the number of rooms and suites, and to decorate each one individually to give our guests, who we like to think of as family, a feeling of space, comfort, and home. Similarly, our spa and wellness facilities are very expansive, again allowing users to feel relaxed and rejuvenated, and never feeling like they’re in tight quarters.”
Day 6 of my trip quickly turned into a morning of wandering and shopping in Seefeld’s beautiful town center, followed by a marathon spa afternoon, enjoying the hotel’s various dry and wet saunas, and it’s spectacular indoor/outdoor pool, capped off with a Churchill and cognac at the hotel’s cigar bar. Dinner was highlighted by roasted loin of venison, and yes, you guessed it, a delectable slice of Sachertorte for dessert.
DAY 7 – INNSBRUCK & THE TRAPP CASTLE
My last day in Austria was spent re-visiting my favorite Tyrolean city, Innsbruck, on an unforgettable group tour led by Frau Gürtler. Our first stop, Innsbruck’s must-see Tyrolean Museum of Folk Art for a walk through time, and THE MOST heartwarming, spine tingling private yodeling concert with local folk music legend Rosi Mairhofer!
After some light refreshments (which included more Sachertorte thanks to Frau Gürtler) we scooted off to another classic Innsbruck sightseeing destination, Swarovski Crystal Worlds in nearby Wattens, to experience its renowned 18 Chambers of Wonder. The multimedia, crystal-themed art and music at Swarovski Crystal Worlds, include works by Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Keith Haring, Jesse Norman, and Brian Eno to name just a few. My favorite chamber of wonder was a room full of shimmering works of fashion, which included a dazzling replica of the glittering, rhinestone encrusted “nude dress” Marilyn Monroe wore when she serenaded President John F. Kennedy with with a sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday Mr. President” at a Gala All Star Show in 1962.
Once our Innsbruck day trip ended, we head back to the Alpin Resort Sacher for some R&R (which translated to more spa time for me) before heading out to a spectacular farewell group dinner at a towering 13th century stone castle owned by the Trapp Family (very distant relatives of the singing von Trapp clan).
The castle, officially known as Schloss Friedberg, built in 1230, is a late Gothic beast of a building perched high atop a strategic hill overlooking the land around Innsbruck. Open to the public (and available for destination weddings!!!), the castle is also the residential home of Count Gaudenz Trapp and his family.
After a torchlight champagne party under the stars in the castle’s ancient courtyard, we wound our way up Schloss Friedberg’s narrow, medieval stairway to a heavenly candlelight dinner put on by our hosts. Gigantic stone castles don’t generally ooze the comfort and coziness of classic Austrian gemütlichkeit, but this one did because of its warm, friendly hosts…and thanks to them, now I know exactly where to go if my daughter wants a destination wedding in a Cinderella castle with a cozy vibe!
WHEN YOU GO:
Austria is easily accessible via direct flights to Vienna from many North American cities.
While in Vienna I stayed at the uber-chic Leo Grand Hotel, a great hotel choice if you want to stay in the heart of the city. While in the mountains, I spent my nights at the beautiful Alpendorf Anno Dazumal in Zillertal, and the luxurious Sacher Alpin Resort in Seefeld, both of which I would highly recommend.
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