Austria

The Sound of Music tour: Salzburg beyond the tourist Trapps

The Sound of Music turns 50 in 2015 and Salzburg is singing about it at the top of its voice. But who were the Trapps really? To find out you need to start at the very beginning – in the original family home in Aigen. 

Villa Trapp, the Von Trapp family home. Image by Andy Christiani/Lonely Planet.

Backcountry basics: going off-piste in the Alps

Skiing and snowboarding off-piste, away from the marked trails and into the great white wildness of the mountain, is one of winter sports’ greatest thrills – and the Alps is one of the best places to do it. When conditions are good, and you sweep seemingly effortlessly down great stretches of snow, fluffy powder flicking up from beneath you, nothing beats off-piste riding.

A snowboarder rides off-piste to a chair lift, La Plagne, French Alps. Image by James Smart/Lonely Planet.

48 hours in Vienna

As the former HQ of the Hapsburg Empire, the Austrian capital has a flabbergasting stash of cultural and art treasures – more than you could ever hope to see in a lifetime. But with 48 hours on your hands, you can easily take in some of the city’s trophy sights: baroque palaces bejewelled with Klimt’s golden wonders, grand concert halls, and contemporary art in the born-again imperial stables.