Holiday in the Vienna Alps

Holiday by train! We boarded in Brno and less than 3 hours later we'd arrived. Semmering — a picturesque spa town best known to railway enthusiasts. The town sits on the hill above the station. From the centre you can see more hills, left and right. Everywhere you go is uphill or downhill. The surroundings are really lovely — the paths along the railway offer stunning views, as do the ridge trails with their panoramas of forested hillsides.

Austria, unlike the Czech Republic, doesn't have such detailed trail marking — I occasionally hesitated about which way to go. But we never got lost. We always ended up where we wanted to be.

One day we set aside for RaxAlp, a nearby limestone plateau. After all those hillside trails from the previous days, RaxAlp was in a different league. Well worth a visit too.

As a holiday destination it's ideal — not far from Brno. The journey is comfortable — highly recommended.