On Christmas Eve, the Christkindl (Christ Child), a golden-haired baby, brings the children their presents. Austrians, generally speaking, don’t believe in Santa Claus. He also decorates the tree. Throughout the holiday season, Austrians attend Christmas Markets with lots of holiday decorations and edible treats. If you live close enough to Salzburg, you will probably attend the Adventsingen. This performance, which attracts a world-wide audience, is full of folklore and music. Austrian families decorate their homes with the Tannenbaum, a Christmas tree, which is a throw-back to their Germanic history. Many also have a crèche, which is a small the Nativity scene. Baby Jesus is NOT placed in the scene until Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, Christkindl arrives. Children are summoned by bell ringing and led into the Christmas room, which is now fully decorated and filled with presents. Families open their presents and begin celebrating this holiest of holidays by singing carols, especially Silent Night (Stille Nacht), a uniquely Austrian creation. This carol was first heard at Midnight (Mitternachtsmette) at the Church of St. Nicholas in 1818. Fr. Joseph Mohr penned the lyrics; the melody was composed by Franz Xavier Gruber. At the time, Fr. Mohr was the church’s assistant pastor and Mr. Gruber, the choir director. After Mitternachtsmette, people return home to eat. Fried carp (Gebackner Karpfen) is a traditional main course. Veal and other kinds of meat are also found on many tables. Desserts might include chocolate and apricot cake and Austrian Christmas cookies. Yummy. On Christmas day, Austrians quietly celebrate the birth of Jesus. They usually get together with family and friends. The 26th is St. Stephen’s Day. This is another day off from work and school. It’s also another opportunity for get-togethers. Austrians keep their Christmas trees up until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. This is the day that the Church believes that the Three Wise Men brought the Christkindl his gifts. On this day boys and girls dressed in costumes go from house to house singing songs. They receive gifts and treats for their efforts.

Austria is a very popular holiday destination amongst people looking for activity holidays. Its stunning scenery draws back holiday makers year after year to its fantastic choice of self catering ski chalets and apartments. Holiday rental homes are becoming extremely popular in Austria with many tourists choosing to rent direct from the home owners. Austria is world famous for its winter skiing in the Alps and now many holiday makers return in the summer for lakeside sunbathing. It is also a country of great tradition and culture and many tourists rent self catering apartments for a city break. They find that by renting a self catering ski chalet or apartment in Austria that it gives them the freedom to live and explore the area like the locals. They see holiday home rentals as a good base for a relaxing vacation for couples or a family holiday.

Vienna is the capital of Austria and it has some stunning architecture. Holiday makers are now lucky that some of these apartments are now available as direct holidays. Holiday apartments are available to rent direct from their owners in Vienna. Renting them enable people on vacation to sample the city’s culture and musical life. There is a vast wealth of stunning and beautiful architecture making Vienna an extremely interesting and popular city to visit. For people looking for walking holidays there’s hardly a better place than Austria. This warm weather activity becomes a nationally embraced outdoor pastime once the mountains and valleys are in bloom. A network of well-marked walking trails winds through some of Austria’s best alpine recreational regions, including ones marked as push chair friendly and others as wheelchair accessible. Along all of the all routes are holiday chalets and self catering apartments available for rental. Austrian food can be delicate with Italian influences in the south and Hungarian to the north, and a range of good local cheeses. Austria also has a great range of beers and is now starting to develop a reputation for good local wines.