Top 10 Castles in Austria
Austria has more castles per square kilometre than almost any other country in Europe — over 1,200 sites, from Alpine mountain fortresses to Danube valley tower houses, Baroque palaces built over medieval foundations, and some of the most dramatically sited ruins on the continent. The Habsburg dynasty that unified the country accumulated a castle landscape of extraordinary range. These ten represent the best. Find them on the map.
1. Festung Hohensalzburg, Salzburg
Hohensalzburg, dominating Salzburg from its rocky promontory above the Old Town, is the largest fully preserved medieval castle in Central Europe. Founded in 1077 by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg, it was expanded continuously through the 15th century by successive prince-archbishops and reached its current form under Leonhard von Keutschach from 1495-1519. The Golden Chamber and the Golden Hall in the palace wing are among the finest late Gothic secular interiors in Austria. The fortress was never taken by force.
2. Schloss Schonbrunn, Vienna
Schonbrunn, the former summer residence of the Habsburg emperors, is the most visited building in Austria. The current Baroque palace was built for Emperor Leopold I from the 1690s, substantially enlarged under Maria Theresa from 1744-49, and given its distinctive yellow exterior in the 18th century. The 1,441 rooms (441 open to visitors), the formal gardens designed on the Versailles model, and the Gloriette on the hill above the gardens make it one of the great Baroque palace ensembles in Europe.
3. Burg Hochosterwitz, Carinthia
Hochosterwitz stands on a 160-metre dolomite rock above the Carinthian plain. The approach spirals up the rock through fourteen successive gatehouses, each with its own portcullis and defensive features. The castle dates from the 9th century in its earliest form; the current gatehouses were built by Georg Khevenhüller in the late 16th century in response to Ottoman raids on Carinthia. The castle remains in Khevenhüller family ownership.
4. Burg Kreuzenstein, Lower Austria
Kreuzenstein near Leobendorf is one of Austria's most complete-looking medieval castles — and one of the most instructive examples of 19th-century historicist reconstruction. The original castle was demolished in the Thirty Years' War in 1645; the current structure was built between 1874 and 1906 by Count Johann Nepomuk Wilczek, who assembled medieval architectural fragments from demolished buildings across Europe and incorporated them into a romantic ideal castle.
5. Burg Durnstein, Wachau
The ruins of Durnstein castle above the wine town of Durnstein in the Wachau valley are primarily notable for their documented historical association: Richard I of England, returning from the Third Crusade, was captured near Vienna in 1192 and imprisoned here by Duke Leopold V of Austria until ransomed for 150,000 marks of silver. The romantic legend of Richard's minstrel Blondel searching for his master and hearing him sing through the prison window dates from the 13th century. The ruin is a moderate walk above the town.
6. Schloss Esterhazy, Eisenstadt, Burgenland
Esterhazy is the principal seat of the Esterhazy family, one of Hungary's great aristocratic dynasties whose territory straddled the present Austrian-Hungarian border. The Baroque palace, built over a medieval castle in the 17th century, is best known for its Haydn Room — the concert hall where Joseph Haydn served as Kapellmeister from 1761 to 1790 and where most of his work was first performed.
7. Burg Aggstein, Wachau
Aggstein, on a 300-metre rocky spur above the Danube in the Wachau, is among the most dramatically positioned ruins in Austria. The castle was a 12th-century foundation of the Babenberg margraves, later associated with the notorious Jorg Scheck vom Wald, a robber baron who terrorised Danube shipping in the 15th century. The ruin, accessible on foot from the village below, commands a full view of the Danube and the wine villages on the opposite bank.
8. Schloss Rosenburg, Lower Austria
Rosenburg, in the Kamp valley north of Krems, is a fully furnished Renaissance palace castle of the 16th century. The arcaded inner courtyard is one of the finest Renaissance courtyard arcades in Austria. The castle runs a falconry demonstration that is among the most technically accomplished in Central Europe, reflecting the site's historical association with Habsburg court hunting culture.
9. Festung Kufstein, Tyrol
Kufstein fortress, on a granite massif above the Inn river at the Bavarian border, was an important frontier fortification between Bavaria and Tyrol until the 19th century. The fortress's most famous feature is the Heldenorgel (Heroes Organ) — an outdoor pipe organ built in 1931 whose sound carries across the Inn valley, played daily at noon and in memory of the dead of the First World War.
10. Schloss Liechtenstein, Lower Austria
Liechtenstein castle, in the Vienna Woods south of the capital, is the ancestral seat of the Liechtenstein princely family — the dynasty that rules the contemporary principality of Liechtenstein. Rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style in the mid-19th century on genuine medieval foundations, it retains the family's collection of medieval arms and hunting trophies in an unusually well-preserved 19th-century interior context.
Explore on the map
Austria's castle landscape — dense in the Wachau, the Carinthian Alps, and the Vienna Woods, with isolated strongpoints throughout the Alpine passes — is fully represented on the interactive map.