From Vienna and Surroundings
Many people know the feeling: an excursion into nature is a lot like being newly in love. Everything delights you, from the wide, open landscape to the most unassuming wildflower.
And what season is more beautiful for this than autumn? It’s a time that nature seems to have created especially for painters. (Most of these photographs were taken on trips in autumn 2025; some are from earlier years.)
We spend most of this season in Vienna, taking day trips and always coming back inspired.
Vienna itself offers so much in this regard. Even just driving to the city’s outer districts, you have a huge selection of picturesque destinations.
The drive through the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald) is an experience in itself. The wooded hills to the west and southwest of Vienna offer many hiking routes and places to visit.
Laxenburg
When we are shorter on time, we often drive to Laxenburg. The palace park is like a walk-in chronicle of the Habsburg dynasty and was a true favorite of the imperial family.
Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) spent their honeymoon here, and Sisi used the endless avenues of the vast park for her legendary, hours-long rides.
A special highlight is the Green Pavilion (Grünes Lusthaus), also known as the Temple of Diana. Built in 1753, it is one of the small historic structures scattered through the park.
With its green latticework and open arches, it is a small, delicate contrast to the surrounding trees.
The Vienna Woods are not just the city’s “green lung,” but also a place full of imperial history and inspiration. The Lainzer Tiergarten, a part of this biosphere reserve, was once the private hunting ground of the Habsburgs.
It was right here that Emperor Franz Joseph had the “Hermesvilla” built for Empress Sisi. The Wien Museum describes it as “Sisi’s palace of dreams”, a country retreat in the former imperial hunting grounds.
Wienerwald Area
The Kaltenleutgeben valley was once a famous “summer resort” for Viennese society escaping the city heat. Today, it’s an ideal gateway to the Föhrenberge Nature Park.
From here or the neighboring village of Sulz, you can hike through the black pine forests that give the park its name and lend the landscape an almost southern flair.
This area is particularly lovely in autumn, when the beech trees turn color among the dark pines, and you can walk on paths where 19th-century spa guests once sought relief.
Wachau Valley
Further out, the Wachau Valley offers a different autumn palette. This is when the grape harvest fills the steep stone terraces with life, and the leaves above the Danube turn into brilliant shades of gold and red. [1]
A hike on the World Heritage Trail (Welterbesteig), past medieval ruins like Dürnstein or Aggstein, offers spectacular views of the river. It’s the perfect time to stop in one of the old wine-growing villages and taste the young wine at a local Heurigen.
Even if not everyone knows the Wachau, most people know the story of King Richard the Lionheart
While returning from the Third Crusade, the king was captured in 1192 on the orders of Duke Leopold V and imprisoned in the castle high above the town of Dürnstein.
According to legend, it was his loyal minstrel, Blondel, who found him by singing. The enormous ransom England paid for his release is said to have laid the foundation for Vienna’s city walls. Today, the castle ruin remains a powerful symbol of this dramatic story.
Melk
Melk Abbey, whose Baroque buildings were designed by Jakob Prandtauer, marks the western end of the Wachau. Its position above the Danube brings architecture and landscape together. The library invites thoughts of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, whose narrator is Adso of Melk; that literary association should not be confused with proof that this room was the model for the novel’s fictional library.
Waldviertel
When we have more time and want to stay overnight, we often drive to the north of Austria. The Waldviertel has its own unique charm. Since I’ve spent a lot of time there in the past, it holds a special place in my heart.
Border Towns
Just across the border, there are many picturesque towns in Bohemia and Moravia. One place we have visited often and always love is Český Krumlov.
It’s not just a breathtaking UNESCO World Heritage site, but also a fateful, longed-for destination for Egon Schiele.
It was his mother’s hometown, and Schiele himself moved there in 1911 with his partner Wally Neuzil to escape what he felt was a restrictive Vienna.
Krumau remained a subject for Schiele long after this brief stay. He returned to sketch its buildings and developed these studies into paintings in his Vienna studio, as the Egon Schiele Art Centrum explains.
Their stay ended in August 1911 amid hostility towards their unmarried life together and his use of very young local girls as models for nude studies. His attachment to the town, however, lasted.
Afterword
I am deeply grateful to live in such a beautiful part of the world. While the high quality of life is exceptional—from Vienna’s mountain spring water [2] to the food we find on our travels—what truly brings me joy is something deeper.
It is the magnificent landscape in every season, the profound historical significance, and the constant artistic relevance of this region. And so, I always find something to photograph or simply file away in my visual memory.
Footnotes
[1] I have often wondered why roses are planted among vines. The familiar explanation is that they give early warning of mildew, but roses and grapevines are affected by different powdery mildew fungi. The University of California’s account cautions against treating roses as reliable disease indicators.
[2] It has become something of a running gag: when foreign friends first communicate with us back home, they tell us that we flush our toilets with spring water here.
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