Graz

Old town, Schlossberg and pumpkin seed oil.

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  1999

  A World Heritage old town

  The old town of Graz has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, and Schloss Eggenberg joined it in 2010: Styria's largest baroque palace, built from 1625 to 1646. Because so many retired officials settled here in Habsburg times, Graz was also known as Pensionopolis.

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  A clock tower that runs differently

  The city's landmark stands on the Schlossberg, and you read its clock the other way round: the big hand shows the hours, the small one the minutes. Originally it only had an hour hand.

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  64 m

  Up on foot, down through the hill

  A stairway zigzags up through the rock to the clock tower. You can come back down through the hill itself: The Slide inside the Schlossberg is said to be the highest underground slide in the world, 64 metres high and about 170 metres long. About 40 seconds later, you're at the bottom.

Did you know?

• 2.5 km of the South Styrian Wine Road have the border with Slovenia running down the middle.
• About 35 tonnes of ice go into the ice nativity scene that has stood in the Landhaus courtyard every Advent since 1996.
• 1947 is the year Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Thal near Graz. His birth house is now a museum.

Capital of Culture 2003, City of Design

In 2003, Graz was European Capital of Culture. The Kunsthaus and the Murinsel, both on the river Mur, date from that year.

• Kunsthaus Graz

  Peter Cook and Colin Fournier designed the art museum that is called the "Friendly Alien" because of its shape.

• Murinsel

  A floating steel platform in the river, about 50 metres long, by Vito Acconci, with a café and a small amphitheatre.

• City of Design

  UNESCO has made Graz part of its network of Cities of Design.

Pumpkin seed oil and wine

Since 2008, Graz has carried the title of Austria's "GenussHauptstadt", its capital of good food. Styria's signature product is pumpkin seed oil: as Steirisches Kürbiskernöl PGI, its origin has been protected in the EU since 1996.

About 45 minutes by car takes you to the South Styrian Wine Road, which winds through the hills along the border with Slovenia.

Business in Graz

Magna Steyr builds cars for other brands in Graz, and AVL List has its headquarters here. Around them, hundreds of companies work on vehicles, mobility and green technology.

• 300+ companies belong to the ACstyria mobility cluster.
• 70,000+ people work for these companies.
• About 300 green technology companies make up the Green Tech Valley.
• About 30,000 students attend the University of Graz alone.

Events in Graz

Film, music and folk culture: the big dates of the year.

• Diagonale

  Festival of Austrian film, 7–12 April 2027

• styriarte

  Styria's music festival, 25 June – 25 July 2027

• Aufsteirern

  Festival of Styrian folk culture, 18–19 September 2027

• Ice nativity scene in the Landhaus courtyard

  A nativity scene carved from ice, every year in Advent

Connecting regions

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  Friedrichshafen

  A trade fair city and industrial hub right on Lake Constance, with the airport next to the exhibition grounds. On holiday you're soon by the lake, in the mountains or on a boat to Lindau, Konstanz and Meersburg.

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  Berlin

  Meetings, trade fairs or a congress: in Berlin you're right in the middle of things. And at the weekend, the capital's museums, neighbourhoods and nightlife are waiting.

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  Hamburg

  The port, trade and media make Hamburg the place for business trips to the north. In between, there's time for the Elbe, the Speicherstadt and a concert at the Elbphilharmonie.

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  Saarbrücken Coming soon

  Saarland's capital near the French border, with a university, research and the automotive industry. In your free time, there's the Saar Loop, the Völklingen Ironworks and trips into France.

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  Sylt from May 2027

  Wide beaches, dunes and the Wadden Sea: Sylt is the island for a break on the North Sea. With conference hotels and plenty of quiet, it's also a place for retreats and workshops.