Favorite destination in Austria?

I've only been to a few places in Austria and loved them all. Vienna for the depth and breadth of art, music and public events; Kitzbuhel for the slope where Franz Klammer won the downhill in 1976; and oversll the friendliness of the people. I spent less time in Innsbruck and Linz but look forward to returning to all these places and more.

Vienna for sure. We have been many times each visit ranging from 11 days to 1 month...still will go back for more. Vienna is also very dog friendly. We took our Jack Russell there over Christmas 2011 and he was welcomed in all restaurants, cafes, and heurigen.
Vienna has everything you want in a great European city: great food, art, museums, music of all types, EXCELLENT wines, and one of the best and easiest public transit systems I have seen. It is also one of the safest cities in Europe.
Lech am Arlberg is another excellent place in the Voralberg for fabulous summer hiking in the Austrian Alps...multitudes of trails of varying levels of difficulty. Our Jack, Thor, was welcomed there as well by all.
We will be biking through part of Austria (with Thor in his bike trailer of course) this spring, coming from across Germany to hit Reutte, and many smaller villages as we make our merry way biking into Sud-Tirol.
We have loved literally every place we have visited in this beautiful country, but Vienna is definitely our favorite of all.

Without a doubt in Austria it's Vienna...captivating atmosphere, mood and attitude, great food and coffee culture, the music from frivolous to morose, unique, different from traveling in Germany, well connected by tram and U-Bahn, interesting mixture of nationalities one sees in Vienna. The various sights...Schönbrunn, the Hofburg, Gloriette, the Army Museum, Volksoper, Soviet War Memorial, Zentralfriedhof, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Beethovenhaus, Schwarzenberg Platz, Heldenplatz, the Prater, etc. are to be visited and revisited.

Everything considered, I could easily spend a month, day after day, in Vienna along with a couple of day trips to its outlying areas.

I love Salzburg. There are so many great day trip options to mountains and lakes that you can take from Salzburg. I love wandering around the old town during the day finding all of it's many little squares. Old town Salzburg at night is beautiful with it's squares and fountains and the fortress lit on the hill. There are good options for concerts. So Salzburg is my favorite, but I haven't been to Vienna...yet!

Salzburg. I spent a college semester there, living with a family near the airport, and going to school next door to the Schloss Leopoldskron. I walked over the mountain between the Schloss and the old town more times than I can count, spent lots of time at Augustinerbrau, and loved to hang out in the old town helping lost tourists and chatting with Sound of Music tours. There is so much to see in Salzburg and the outlying areas!

Lech am Arlberg. One of the great hidden Alpine escapes.

@Tom

Fond memories of Lech...Hus nummer 8 was our fav to eat at after a day on the trails.

Innsbruck is where I went to college for Summer, 1970, and we've been back many times. The area has absolutely breathtaking scenery.

Salzburg is a tourist city where just about every person you run into is like a tour guide. And it's full of great B&B's. Augustiner beer haul is an absolutely great place to spend a long afternoon in an authentic beer hall.

Vienna is a classy city in the continental style. They've got incredible art museums, architecture and history. The Vienna Woods is where the vineyards open the taps, and a wonderful place to go at night. Vienna is probably underrated, but on par with the other great European cities.

My favorite drive is over the Grossglockner Alpine Highway--south of Zell-am-See. The road goes over the second highest peaks in Europe and ends up in Lienz, Austria just north of the Italian Dolomites. It's absolutely the most beautiful place I've every seen in this world--especially the south side of the Alps.

Hallstatt: along with Kleinwalsertal (in Austria, but only accessible from Germany), problably two of the most beautiful places on earth.

I have been to all of the destinations posted already many times,this year we went to St Wolfgang near Halstatt which we have stayed,we had a Hotel right on the lake with the restaurant on the water,this was a very relaxing area with boats to ride to other towns on the lake and a tram railway that gives you views of several lakes from the top of the mountain,lots of hiking areas,there are nice shops in the town and good restaurants.Close by is Bad Ischl with Franz Josephs and Sissis Hunting Lodge which you can visit.There is also Durnstein Tram and Ice Caves which are spectacular,worth visiting.St Wolfgang is about forty five minutes from Salzburg.
Mike

Salzburg is one of the most beautiful cities I've visited. Vienna has more to do and see because it's much larger. I'll go with Salzburg, it's so walkable and just plain beautiful.

Was lucky enough to live in Vienna for 2 yrs back in the early 1980's. Still one of my favorite cities. We have returned to Austria often and never tire of the natural beauty.

Besides Vienna and Salzburg, my favorite area is the lakes region near Salzburg. Have stayed in both Hallstatt and St. Gilgen many times now and plan to return to St. Gilgen for 10 days in September as well as a short visit to Vienna.

There is so much to do if you like to be busy but you can also just enjoy the peacefulness of the lake while feeding the ducks and swans.

Zell am See, Kaprun, Finkenstein (in Villach area). All very picturesque with a wonderful scenery.

I have only been to Salzburg and really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed walking through Mirabell park and walking down the Geitreidgasse. This is my mother's favorite place in Europe.

Wow, too many to pick just one.

Salzburg has to be near the top of the list. Our favorite city in Europe so far. Hall in Tirol is another favorite.
For stunning alpine scenery, we love the Zillertal (stayed in Finkenberg), Zell am See, the Oetztal (we stayed in Solden), Heiligenbut and probably now our favorite, Ramsau am Dachstein near Schladming. "Der Dachstein" trip is a must if in the area.

Paul

We've been to Austria twice, and will return in 2014 with a visit to Vienna, and a return trip to Salzburg. We really enjoyed every place we have visited: Kitzbuel, Oztal Valley (Oetz), Salzburg. Each location is different and unique, but worthy of enjoyment. We've both hiked and skied in the Alps - both are outstanding. We are really looking forward to staying in Vienna this fall.

When answering the question "favorite place" there is some assumption that the answer represents some relative ranking of multiple locations. On that standard with my limited visits I would rank my enjoyment in the towns of the Wachau Valley first, then Melk, then Vienna. But it all can be intriguing depending on your interests.