Our family returned from our first trip to Europe two weeks ago. Not surprisingly, we are already thinking about a return. We visited UK and France and now considering either Italy or Austria for our next trip.
For those of you who have traveled to these countries, which would be your recommendation?
Oh man! Both are good choices. Are you foodies? Italy. Like wine? Italy. Are you interested in baroque art and music? Austria. What I’m trying to say, is figure out what your interests are and plan around them. Having been to both (both on tours to Italy and Austria and a 3 week home exchange in Austria), I would pick Italy, but that’s me.
When I was deciding, as you are, many years ago, a well traveled friend told me “Italy has something for everyone”. Very true. We’ve been there many times, including this year, and we are returning next year. Vibrant cities, beautiful small towns, art, architecture galore. And the food...a struggle to not over do it every time. It’s always first on our list.
You could do a little of both if you have time and plan it well!
Any interests would help to give recommendation.
Wine = Italy and baroque music = Austria are stereotypes - you will find vice versa, e.g. Italian barock or Austrian Weinviertel.
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On flights home from Europe, we’re usually already planning our next trip. It took a long time to get to Greece, being that much farther from parts of Europe closer to the USA, but with our upcoming trip to Crete, we’ll have been there twice in 2 years!
Italy's a long country, running north and south, and it’s different, in climate, sights, and lifestyle, depending where you are. The far north is mountainous, and parts of it were once part of Austria, ceded over after World War I. Rome can take a week or more of your itinerary, especially with its wealth of museums and ancient sights. Other places are worth a visit, north, south, and in between. There’s also Sicily, way south.
Austria, running east-west, may be a little more culturally similar throughout the country, but the alps are in the west and Vienna is to the east. Austria's got some fine wine, too, mostly white. And a tour of a salt mine should be on everyone’s bucket list.
I can't speak for Austria but you could spend your next 3 trips to Italy and still only get a taste. I could say that for France and the UK as well. If Italy, and you have the Europe bug and are planning future trips even beyond your next one, I'd suggest breaking Italy into regions and concentrate on one region at a time. i.e. not knowing how much time you have, perhaps look at Rome, Naples/Pompeii and possibly Sorrento and Amalfi. Another region could be Florence and Tuscany or Venice and area.
"For those of you who have traveled to these countries, which would be your recommendation?"
Whichever one calls to you now the most.
If you need help deciding, start researching. Read travel books (Rick's as well as others) and blogs. Watch videos about these destinations (Rick's are here: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show). Ask your friends if they have recent experiences.
Another way to decide is money. You should never go someplace just because it's cheap, but price differences can be a great tie-breaker. Is it much cheaper or easier to fly to one or the other? Do the places that interest you in Italy have cheaper accommodations than the places that interest you in Austria, or vice versa?
Speaking of which, you didn't say how long you have for this trip, but unless it's months, you will have to decide which parts of Austria or Italy you want to see. There's also nothing to prevent you from seeing parts of both on one trip. You can take a train or flight to connect the two easily.
I'll confuse you a little more. Why Austria? Why Italy? Something already made you narrow it down to those two. Was it sights, food, history, art? First you need to research them both. Decide on WHAT you want to see and do in each country and that will answer your question for yourself. My guess is that this forum will lean towards Italy over Austria, but wouldn't dismiss Austria. Once your family decides on a country, you can get more specific on an itinerary.
Both are great, but Italy its my favorite country. It is loads of history from the ancients up through medieval and Renaissance. The art is amazing. St. Peter's in Rome and the Sistine Chapel are just amazing, then you go to Florence and see David and more. Venice is special, even with all the other tourists.
Both have great things about them. Which is better really depends on you? What do you like?
When friends ask me about Italy. I tell them about the great art and history. The different regions can give you a little of everything - rolling hills, coasts, old medieval towns, modern cities. I also ask how they would feel if they checked into their lodging and there was one threadbare towel (for two of them)? Are they okay with that? What if they called the front desk to ask for towels and none arrived? Would they be upset? What if they then went to the front desk to ask about towels and the person just shrugged at them? What if you asked your hotel to make reservations for a museum you really want to see, but you get there and they neglected to do it - so you miss that museum? If you can laugh at that and consider it part of the fun, you'll love Italy. If you'd have a stroke, you might not love Italy. Italians have what I call a "come what may" attitude about everything. It's why you see buildings that have needed painting for 50 years (and won't be painted anytime soon).
Austria can offer great rural scenery, history, and great cities. Buildings are nicely, generally freshly, painted. The streets and toilets are clean and your room will have decent towels. If that's important to you, you might prefer Austria. On the other hand, you might find Austrians a little anal because they are so orderly.
It sounds like I hate both places but that's not it at all. I find it funny that different cultures have different attitudes about things. It really is what you think you would prefer.
