Baumkronenweg is one of the strangest attractions that I have ever been to, which is probably why I…read moreenjoyed it so much. This isn't a place you just stumble upon. You have to drive quite a ways to get to this wooded area of Austria. You definitely get the impression that they don't get many English-speaking tourists here. None of the signage has English on it but the friendly staff was very helpful. After you go through the main entrance they'll snap a quick picture of you. You'll then encounter a boardwalk where you climb stairs up. Then you climb some more stairs up. Repeat until you're pretty high up in the trees. There's a large wooden observation tower near the beginning that you can choose to climb up if you want. I hate heights so I went up long enough to take a few pics and then "noped" my way down as fast as I could. The views are quite stunning in several places and it is a nice relaxing walk through the forest on the boardwalks. In the middle of the forest they have a restaurant and what I think was a hotel with five rooms elevated high above the ground. We stopped here and had a treat of a glass containing milk, a scoop of ice cream, and a little cookie! As you continue on there's a playground area with swings, rope courses, and other obstacles. Past this part we actually got really confused. There was what was obviously a one-way gate to exit, but it just spit you out into the woods. The signs weren't in English so we weren't sure what to do. We decided to follow the road (instead of a path we saw). After a little bit of "I hope this is right" walking we finally spotted a little shack in the distance. When we go to it we found it was a souvenir stand where they offer to sell you the picture they took of you at the entrance! Guess we took the correct path! This was a fun afternoon in an offbeat place.

While the town of Ebensee has a nice museum commemorating the Ebensee Concentration Camp…read more(Konzentrationslager Ebensee or KZ Ebensee), this is the actual site. After the war, the area was rezoned for a housing development and much of the camp is now family homes and gardens. However, some of the site remains along with a memorial wall. The museum in town is also on yelp and called "Zeitgeschichte Museum und KZ-Gedenkstätte Ebensee" and you should start there and then come visit the actual site. Its web site is http://www.memorial-ebensee.at/ There is no website for the site, but you can get lots of great info on wikipedia or at: http://en.tracesofwar.com/article/1287/Memorial-and-Cemetery-Concentration-Camp-Ebensee.htm There is not much parking or even great signage to get to the camp location, but it is worth a visit. There are also "Tunnels" you can visit that were dug by this camp's prisioners during the war to hide underground the V2 rocket production. The museum can tell you more.

We spent one night in Passau before boarding our Danube river cruise…read more The town was quaint and easy to navigate. The Old Town has several churches, medieval buildings, shops and restaurants worth visiting. Their pedestrian area makes it easy to stroll and enjoy the city.

What a quaint little town. So much to see, it's amazing…read more Most famously the St. Stephan Dome. A spectacular cathedral. Much smaller but also very picturesque and interesting is the St. Paul church. There are beautiful historic buildings all over, including a wonderful garden next to the tunnel adjacent to St. Pauls. Find cool little cafes and shops along the narrow cobblestone street. Careful though, traffic flows a lot faster than you would expect here. There is both old and new art in every corner it seems.

My friend and I spent a few days driving around Lower Austria and Burgenland at the beginning of…read morethis month. We stopped in Aggstein to see the ruins of Aggstein Castle, which was well worth our time! The castle was built in the 12th century but after years of neglect beginning in the 17th century, fell to ruins. The ruins sit atop a hill above the Danube River, and there are some incredible views. The castle has a small restaurant (they had inside seating, which wasn't open when we visited, but they had plenty of outdoor seating, which was lovely), where we enjoyed lunch when we arrived at the castle. We had some frankfurters with rolls, horseradish, and mustard - super simple and delicious. They also serve lemonade, beer, and other food. It was packed when we ate lunch, because a school group was visiting (lots of orders of French fries), but the food was fast, and it couldn't have been more convenient. But the reason to visit is definitely, easily the experience of walking through the structure of the ruins. It's really very cool to explore and take photographs of the structure - and the wonderful views you can see though the window and doorframes of the ruins. There wasn't much in the way of signage that I could see, but it's interesting to walk around and you can Google the castle before you walk around to get some context for your visit. A great stop in Lower Austria (we visited between stops at Melk and wineries in the Wachua Valley)!

Drive up the hill all the way to the carpark which is right next to the ruins. Unusually perched…read morehigh on a hill on solid rock these ruins offer great panoramic views of the area and Danube. The audio guide was helpful for creating even more atmosphere. There is a Tavern in the courtyard, closed this week but I am sure great in Summer. We like to intersperse Ruins with Schloss's and Abbeys, contrast is good. There are a number of walks you can set off on from the Abbey all signposted with distances.

The entry fee is insane amount just to see the shop and the restaurant. And thats it pretty much…read more There are a few rooms open which are not exciting at all. The only way to see the castle if you pay a guided tour. Which is not a problem but they dont tell you this when you huy the ticket so you are pretty much screwed. All of the inside is closed!!! They run tours every hour or so. They should articulate better that they only meaningful way to see the castle is via the tour.

We had a great afternoon at the Berg. We took a tour and there is even a falconry show if you get…read morethere in time to see it. Very entertaining. They also have a restaurant, gift shop, and a concession stand.