Compendium

Many of the larger train stations (including Jenbach) have coin-operated left-luggage lockers, where suitcases and other bags can be left for up to twenty-four hours (after that, station staff open the lockers and impound the contents and you need to retrieve them from a central depot). Train stations have the usual facilities including toilets but usually it is necessary to pay to use these. Most intercity trains have dining cars and all trains have toilets which are reasonably spacious though not luxurious.

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Local transport information

The Austrian Rail site will also provide information for local journeys, by train, bus or ferry.

Postbus Information and links for the entire regional bus network.

Transport in the Tirol including Innsbruck City

Transport in Salzburg City

Transport in the Salzburg Region

Transport in Vienna and Lower Austria

Transport in Pertisau

Achenseebahn (Steam train)

Achenseeschiff (Ferry)

Rofan Seilbahn (Cable car from Maurach)

Karwendelbergbahn (Cable car from Pertisau)

Buses serving Pertisau:Timetable Jenbach-Pertisau(Winter/Summer 2006, PDF)

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Telephone Directory

Herold, the Austrian online white and yellow-page telephone directory, is a mine of useful information. There is an English interface (link on the top right-hand side) and you can find practically everything you need right here. Maps are provided of each address/business – and they’re much more reliable than the usual tourist website/guidebook maps. When considering a hotel I always look it up on Herold to see where it it’s really located!

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Money

Austria is in the Euro-zone which makes life easier for all concerned! Austrians tend to use cash rather than credit or debit/switch cards, so bear this in mind in your travels. In particular, cafés and restaurants expect cash (except for the most expensive restaurants), so make sure you are well supplied before you fall to! Pertisau has a number of cash-points (ATMs), and though you may be charged a small fee by your bank for withdrawals, our own and friends’ experience suggest that this is offset by the more favourable exchange rate used for these transactions, compared with buying cash over the counter either at home or abroad (particularly if you are charged commission for buying Euro-cash).

It is possible to get Euro travellers’ cheques for use in Austria but they tend not to be much used and you may be charged a fee for cashing them unless you do so in the issuing office (for example, American Express). Shops are unlikely to accept travellers’ cheques. Photo ID will be required when cashing cheques in banks, we understand.

As we mentioned, some of the hotels will not take credit or debit cards, so bear that in mind when you choose a hotel/come to settle your bill. There may be a limit on the amount of cash you can withdraw in a single day so you may have to do as Rol did when preparing to settle a hotel-bill in cash, withdrawing the money in relays over two days.

Credit cards can be used to pay for your Achensee Erlebnis Card (in the Karwendelberg cable car office only), for train tickets, in upscale restaurants, and in larger stores (for example, to purchase clothing, shoes etc., but not in wee souvenir kiosks). Look out for the traditional signs and stickers to check whether a store takes credit cards – if you don’t see them, odds are they’re not accepted. Be warned that supermarkets and “drug stores” may not take credit cards.

Debit cards like Switch (Maestro) do work in Austrian ATMs but Rol has experienced difficulties using a debit card to pay in shops. I am informed that foreign debit cards will not work in Austrian shops because the shop can’t check the credit levels on a foreign debit card. So once more, it’s easier to get cash from an ATM and pay with that.

Rol travels a great deal in Austria and generally works on the principle of a wodge of cash to hand, debit card for withdrawals from ATMs when top-ups become required, and a credit card for larger purchases.

On the subject of purchasing your foreign currency, Rol is moved to say a few words about idiotic banks and travel agencies who try to load you down with 100-Euro notes. Avoid these if you can! These are a positive encumbrance since people loathe changing them, and the cost of living in Austria is not such that you’ll be spending that much in one go! Rol prefers nothing bigger than a 20-Euro note for her stash, and always demands a good proportion of 10 and 5-Euro notes as well (in the UK, Thomas Cook bureaux de change sometimes sell Euro coins too). The cafés in particular prefer smaller denominations and when you come to the complicated practice of working out a tip (see Etiquette and customs), it makes it easier too. In the event you are lumbered with a large-denomination note (cash-points tend to distribute these), the easiest way to break it is to use it in a supermarket such as Spar or Billa. They may give you a filthy look or two but they’ll usually oblige without going into histrionics.

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Events and ticket booking

Rol is the queen of online booking – in Austria, at least – and if you are moved to sample some of Austria’s cultural riches during your visit, you may find these sites useful.

OE Ticket: This is the nationwide ticketing centre which sells tickets for sporting events, pop and jazz concerts, and all manner of special events – pretty much everything except classical music events (though they do sometimes sell tickets for the smaller classical music festivals). They have an online ticketing website with a very helpful database of events which you can search by date, and they will mail tickets to addresses abroad (Rol has used this service and found it efficient). There are also branches dotted all over the country. For online orders they charge a handling fee to cover postage costs but not a huge mark-up (as a commercial ticket agency would).

OE ticket also handle online sales for the Spanish Riding School but these need to be accessed through the School’s own website.

Vienna Ticket Office is a commercial ticket agent based in Vienna – which slaps the expected hefty mark-up on tickets. However, Rol has found them adept at acquiring tickets for sold-out events, and also helpful in that they sell tickets for events outside the main centres of Vienna and Salzburg, such as the various Operetten festivals held around the country in the summer. Rol has had satisfactory service from them and is happy to use them when tickets are unobtainable through the normal channels. For a fee, tickets will be mailed abroad.

Salzburg

The Salzburg Festival takes place in July-August so you may like to combine a summer trip to Pertisau with some musical treats (as Rol plans to do this year). Tickets for the Festival can be purchased from the official website which is available in German and in English. Tickets are mailed to addresses abroad in advance of the event. The Festival events tend to sell out quite fast owing to sad cases like Rol who submits her order in November of the previous year, but it’s often possible to obtain tickets, at a mark-up, from the various ticket agencies in town. Rol has had satisfactory service from Polzer and from the Salzburg Ticket Service.

Vienna

Culturall is the centralized website for booking events in the state opera houses and theaters in Vienna (Bundestheater), and using it has the advantage that you only pay the face price of the ticket, without commission (tourist agencies typically charge 20-25%). It has an interface in English, and allows you to search the schedules of the various venues and, where ticket sales are available, order online, choosing your own seat from a seating chart – Rol is endlessly impressed by being able to pick the exact seat she wants!

Tickets can be purchased from the site with a credit card but are not usually mailed out. Instead, you collect your ticket from any of the Bundestheater venue box offices. (There are slightly complicated rules governing this but generally speaking, on the day of the performance you are advised to collect the ticket from the evening box office at the performance venue, but in advance of the day you can collect the tickets from other Bundestheater box offices – Rol finds the one in the foyer of the Staatsoper (on the Ring, Kärntnerstrasse side) very convenient.

Generally speaking, the Volksoper has some opera and musicals, while specializing in the traditional Viennese operetta, Rol’s personal favourite. Standards are high and tickets are comparatively cheap – go mad! A fun, friendly, relaxed place to sample real Austrian culture, alongside the locals.

The Staatsoper is of course world-famous and standards are generally high though at times they can be a bit too precious for their own good (said the amateur critic). Tends to be overrun by tourists. Tickets are more expensive and for some performances can be extremely difficult to obtain. Ticket sales begin one month before a performance date at 9am Austrian time (or a few minutes beforehand, as a rule!) Thus, for a performance on 6 January, tickets go on sale at 9am on 6 December. If you want a ticket, you’re advised to be online, waiting to pounce on the morning the sales go live (remember, that’s 8am in the UK!) There is an advance-booking system but Rol has found it difficult to use (you may still not get a ticket, you may get a ticket but it may be precisely where you do not want to sit etc etc). Standing places of extreme cheapness go on sale from an office on the Burggarten side of the Opera, on the day of a performance, if you can stay on your hinglegs that long.

Other classical music venues in Vienna with online ticket sales are as follows:

Musikverein: Famous venue of the New Year concert, as broadcast round the world. A mixed bag of events – some real tourist-trap Mozart/Strauss concerts, some Vienna Boys’ Choir concerts for those who like such things, and the real serious Wiener Philharmoniker concerts for which you can never get a ticket in a million years (bought up by subscription holders). They do, though, host a number of festival events and the occasional guest orchestra or soloist for which tickets can be purchased online. Expensive and inclined to be snooty. Tickets purchased online can be collected at the box office.

Konzerthaus: Less well-known but some interesting performances, with a mixture of classical and jazz events. Also hosts some of the Viennese festivals events. Tickets purchased online are collected at the box office.

Theater an der Wien: The oldest venue in Vienna, recently given a facelift. Beethoven’s Fidelio premiered here, as did Lehár’s Lustige Witwe. Used for the festivals and also hosts a number of musicals and other shows. Programmes and tickets for the Viennese Easter festival (Osterklang) and summer festival (Klangbogen) are available from this site though events take place at venues all over the city. Tickets are mailed abroad for a handling fee.

Church music in Austria

Information about church services (RC) with music and about occasional concerts held in Viennese churches can be obtained from this website (in German). Church music events are also usually listed among the events given on tourist information website events databases, such as those for Vienna and for Salzburg.

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Package tour organizers

The two companies currently offering package deals to Pertisau are

- Ingham’s Lakes and Mountains (www.inghams.co.uk)

- Crystal Lakes and Mountains (www.crystal-lakes.co.uk)

Inghams also do city breaks to Salzburg and Vienna under their “Eurobreak” brand (www.eurobreak.co.uk). We have used Eurobreak (when cutting our teeth as Austrian travellers) and found them efficient, and reasonably priced when compared with the competition. The Pertisau packages offered by Inghams likewise seem to offer a wider range of hotels and are more cheaply priced than those offered by Crystal.

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German online dictionaries and translation engines

German/English Dictionary (to look up words and phrases)

Babel Fish (to copy and past a wodge of German text into this translation engine and it will turn it into something resembling English!)

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The Austrian Dining Cheat Sheet

Food glorious food! (PDF)

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Bibliography

Chalet School

Other recommended Pertisau and Austria-related reading

Margaret Kennedy The Constant Nymph (set partly in Pertisau)

Lilian Forschinger Vienna Passion

M. Fagyas The Devil’s Lieutenant

Joseph Roth The String of Pearls, The Radetzky March and many others.

Alois Podhajsky My Dancing White Stallions (history of the Spanish Riding School)

Brigitte Harman Elisabeth

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Packing for your trip

Clothes

If you plan to attend a concert or similar evening event, you will see a wide variety of attire and as an Austrian acquaintance always reminds me, “there are no fashion police at the Volksoper!” But smarter clothes are, I think, a gesture of respect to the performers. Reasonably smart “restaurant” clothes; a tie for men; are appreciated. For ladies, trousers are fine but please no jeans (Rol continues her one-woman war against the dread denim). If you’re worried about being too smart, a good rule of thumb is to stick to long sleeves. Austrians tend not to flash the flesh (and look correspondingly well-dressed). Whatever you wear, you will probably feel frumpy and provincial, as the Austrians of all ages and shapes tend to be very elegant, especially in Vienna. Bright colours and smart tailoring among older ladies especially make a refreshing change from the baggy pastel sportswear prescribed to older Anglo women.

Useful items

Things Rol likes to take with her in her travels:

– a couple of clothes hangers (in lieu of a washing line)

– a universal basin plug, since some plugs in hotel basins leak

– a torch (it gets quite dark in Pertisau, if you plan marching about a lot in the evening)

– camera (obviously)

– corkscrew (if you plan on sampling the local wines)

– picnic kit – knife, fork, spoon, plastic plate/bowl/cup or glass

– a fan – either a little whizzy battery-operated gizmo or an old fashioned hand fan, in case of stupendous heat

– raincoat and umbrella

– proper stout walking shoes or boots if you plan on doing any walking at all (the paths around Pertisau can be lumpy and quite hard going, even on the flat)

– a hiking stick – Rol and Kaz both felt the need for one of these on the walk to Gaisalm and on the Bärenbad alm. According to Sally Dore’s guide, these can be hired from one of the sports shops in the village, if you don’t want to buy one specially

– sunscreen

– insect repellant – apparently some parts of Austria have ticks so you may wish to annoint your lower parts accordingly and avoid long grass

– a hat and sunglasses – the sun doesn’t seem to fierce when it comes to burning but it is very bright so anything to shade your eyes is welcome.

Note that certain items on this list like the corkscrew and picnic knife cannot be carried in carry-on luggage on planes nowadays. An elderly friend of mine was also made to check-in his hiking stick (which made me wonder how he would get on if he needed it as a walking stick!)

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Etiquette and Customs

General customs

Austrians are very orderly and will get annoyed with you if you litter, jaywalk, park cars in forbidden zones or otherwise contravene the rules. Some tourists gripe about this. However, Rol observes that they don’t gripe about the excellent, efficient public transport or the fact that women can walk alone day and night in most parts of Austria without being affronted (although do be wary of other tourists). This general civility seems all of a piece to Rol.

Café etiquette and tipping

Almost all cafés have table service. They operate by a rather esoteric set of rules and below is an account of the etiquette, gleaned by long experience by Rol, who suffers a morbid terror of the Oberkellner (head waiters). The etiquettte applies to most cafés and smaller, informal restaurants and also the Heurigen (vineyard taverns) in Vienna. You can certainly ignore it entirely without penalty but Rol has a happy delusion that she can pass for a local instead of a tourist, if only she pays enough attention to mysterious cultural customs. This account therefore for the benefit of similar perfectionists!

On entering a café, quickly grab a table. Avoid anything with a sign on it saying “Reserviert” or “Stammtisch” which are reserved for regulars. Some cafés, like Central in Vienna, will require cruising about looking for a table which is just about to be vacated – rather like locating a spot in a multi-storey carpark. Note that most cafés and restaurants do not have a separate smoking section. If this bothers you, you might wish to stick to those that do. A sign “Nicht Raucher” indicates a non-smoking section.

When waiter comes up to you, give your order (or if there is no menu on the table, ask for one – “Die Speisekarte, bitte”). Once you have ordered, the service is usually fast.

Paying and leaving is the real test of your nerve. It can be difficult to get your waiter’s attention. Basically, you just have to try to catch the fellow’s eye, possibly by waving your arms and bawling “Entschuldeegung!” When you do, you can either order dessert or ask to pay (“Zahlen, bitte” or “Die Rechnung bitte”). The fable is, if you ask three times and the waiter still doesn’t bring the bill, you are entitled to turkey off without paying. The waiters usually slope off to the tills to add up the bill. The waitresses, Rol is amused to observe, usually whip out a pad and calculate your bill on the spot, adding it up in a feat of mental arithmetic.

Having been presented with the bill, with the waiter clutching a vast wallet and awaiting your payment: now for the ordeal of tipping. It is voluntary – if the service is bad you can choose not to. The rule for restaurants (or if I’ve eaten a meal of more than one course in a café) is the usual 10-15%. For cafés where you’ve just had drinks, snacks, or cakes it’s easier – you just round it up to the nearest euro. So if it’s 8.90 or 8.10 you just pay 9. Now if you have 9 euros in change, waiter/tress will be grateful for exact sum so fork over the 9 and say “stimmt so” which means, keep the change. However, if you have only a 10 euro note you can either take the change and then hand them back one euro as a tip saying, “Das ist für Sie”, or – rather easier - you can pass the note to them and go “9 bitte” and then they will know you want to pay 9 and only want 1 euro change. On no account should you leave a tip on the table and walk off, which would be considered rather contemptuous.

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