Austria. Media News.

Dear friends of Austria and fellow travelers,

Christmas is arguably the most important holiday in Austria. The Advent season, which comprises the four weeks leading up to the festivities, is a time for celebrating beloved traditions with family and friends. Read on to discover some of our favorites, many of which we are keen to uphold even when we find ourselves far away from Austria over the holidays.  

We also have a few last news items for 2022: The Biohotel Schwanen in Vorarlberg was recognized for its authenticity and remarkable design with the title Gault Millau Hotel of the Year 2023. And in two months, Vienna will see the opening of another luxury boutique hotel, the Almanac Vienna. 

We wish you and yours a lovely holiday season!

With warmest regards,
Sigrid Pichler & Helen Bitschnau

Managers of Public Relations
Austrian Tourist Office New York City
sigrid.pichler@austria.info
helen.bitschnau@austria.info 
tel 212 575 7723 x 119 or x 112
www.austria.info 

Christmas Season in Austria is a time for celebrations and traditions. From baking Christmas cookies to singing Christmas carols and lighting a new candle on your Christmas wreath, there are a lot of ways in which you can incorporate some Austrian traditions into your holidays:

Countdown to Christmas: The Advent Calendar and Advent Wreath are two indispensable traditions around Christmas time. Both count down the time to the evening of December 24th, when the Christkind brings presents for the old and the young. For 24 days, starting on December 1, children open a door of their Calendar each day to find a cute picture or a chocolate treat. The Advent Wreath is adorned with four candles and on each of the four Sundays before Christmas, a new candle is lit - often in the company of family or friends, gathered for hot chocolate (or perhaps some mulled wine) and Christmas cookies.

Christmas Cookies: From Vanilla Crescents to Cinnamon Stars, there is a wide variety of traditional cookies Austrians love to bake during Advent. They are usually intended for family get-togethers on Sundays, as presents for hosts or for Christmas Eve, but it can be hard to resist eating them all as soon as they come out of the oven. There is always a little competition going on as to who has the best recipes. We are featuring our favorites on our website, but feel free to browse the internet for variations. You can even order your own box of delicious cookies from the NY based Vienna Cookie Company.

Christmas Songs: Every country has their own favorite Christmas songs, and Austria is no exception. We have compiled a list of highlights including folk songs, popular classics as well as the essential “Silent Night” song performed by the Vienna Boy’s Choir. Did you know that the song originated in Austria and there is a chapel/museum commemorating the occasion in Oberndorf, just outside of the city of Salzburg?

Of course, if you do decide to visit Austria during this time of the year, you'll also be able to join in the numerous events such as the Perchten runs or the glamorous Christmas markets. Perhaps next year? For now, we wish you a wonderful holiday season and all the best for an amazing 2023!

We have often enthused about Vorarlberg’s Bregenzerwald region, with its unspoiled scenery and its creative inhabitants who shaped the area’s architectural landscape into something both modern and completely in sync with nature and tradition. If there is one hotel that thoroughly embodies this philosophy, it is the Biohotel Schwanen, which has now been awarded Gault Millau Hotel of the Year 2023 by one of the leading restaurant and hotel guides in Austria.

The Schwanen is remarkable for its minimalist architecture and design, its award winning restaurant, as well as its commitment to sustainability and organic ingredients and materials. Located in the town of Bizau, halfway between the Arlberg and Bregenz, the hotel is led in the fifth generation by Emanuel Moosbrugger. Both the hotel and its owner are deeply entrenched in the local community, with local craftsmen working on the interiors and the ingredients for the restaurant kitchen sourced from local producers and the organic kitchen garden.

Architect Hermann Kaufmann, who specializes in building with wood, adhered to a modern minimalist design that fits seamlessly into its historic surroundings with its Bregenzerwald aesthetics. Emanuel Moosbrugger’s philosophy “Reduce to the Max,” also permeates the design of the house: Everything has been reduced to essentials, yet, guests want for nothing because everything that is necessary for comfort and relaxation is sourced from organic and highest quality materials. The same goes for the kitchen, where Thorsten Probost, Gault Millau Chef of the Year 2008, joined Franziska Hiller in creating a 100% organic menu influenced by the teachings of Hildegard von Bingen.

The luxury boutique hotel will be located in the heart of the city, right next to the Stadtpark at the Parkring. It will have 111 rooms with about two thirds planned as suites. The new property is housed in the historic Palais Henckel-Donnersmarck, which has been completely redesigned for this purpose. The Almanac Hotel Vienna will feature its own high-end restaurant, spa and meeting rooms. A coffee shop and a concept store are also in planning.
Almanac hotels, which can be found in Vienna, Barcelona and Prague, pride themselves on showcasing the unique characteristics of a city, deepening the overall travel experience.