Less Known Places to See in Austria

Austria is a place that draws in lots of of travelers from all corners of the world throughout the year, because it is just such a wonderful place to see! Naturally, many of these visitors are guys and girls who are passionate about skiing, snowboarding or other winter activities. As a matter of fact, Austria is heaven for skiers, because of the large number of resorts located in the tall Austrian Alps. Tens of thousands of kilometers of ski runs welcome their users annually. But, since this country presents an interesting history and gave birth to such a wide variety of internationally recognized artists, traveling to Austria is also an opportunity to see attractions like Mozart's birthplace, the Vienna Opera House and many other famous cultural points of interest.

However, not too many tourists know about other, more discrete attractions that are quite interesting to visit, like the nice Schloss Ambras in Innsbruck and the vast Werfen Ice Caves, a stone's throw away from the same city. And it's a bit of a shame too, because there are other attractions that only local residents seem to appreciate, like the Golden Roof or the Hellbrunn Castle.

The Ambras Castle is situated above the town of Innsbruck, high up on a big mound nearby. It was built by Archduke Ferdinand II, and it was this person's home for nearly 3 decades, from 1563 to 1595. Due to this fact, the name of Ferdinand II always appears along with the name of Ambras Castle in every chat about this structure. There are about three important halls in the palace that you can't miss, and the most appealing is the wide Chamber of Arts and Curiosities, a big hall full of medieval mechanical devices , furniture, statues, paintings and other things. The rock crystals, coral crucifix, bronze animals and the painting of Vlad Dracula are just a few of the things that will surely capture your imagination when seeing them first hand. Second, the Spanish Hall is quite long and tall, being an excellent setting for nowadays' classical music concerts that are frequently held in Innsbruck over the whole year. The Armories and the Upper Castle section are also interesting to see.

The other tourist attraction I want to tell you about is the largest cave complex on Earth, the Werfen Ice Caves! About 40 km of caverns have joined under the mountains near Innsbruck, transforming these relatively small grottoes into a huge labyrinth that was a Mecca for geologists for about a century. The part that is open for visiting is of about one kilometer though, but who would like to go 40 miles on foot anyway, right? The caves are full of fantastic looking ice formations. You have never seen something like this in your life, trust me.

Like I said, you'll find many other cool things to see in this country besides the Ambras Castle and the Werfen ice caves, you just need to look around. Here's what you can do: if you travel to Austria, don't put all your trust into your tourist guide. Instead, you should ask some locals to tell you about the most interesting points of interest. You will love it when you find out there are some great, less known attractions in nearly every town you'll visit.