Straddling the River Mur, Graz is a historic tangle of Baroque and Renaissance buildings known by its red-roofed streets and the forested Schlossberg, a “city-mountain” once home to a medieval fortress. Its topography is lilting, adding rare dimension to its #22-ranked green spaces, among the finest around. Charming, clean, and flanked by verdant land on all sides, Graz can leave you feeling nestled away. Yet, this is Austria’s second-largest metro and a UNESCO City of Design to boot. Here, cultural wonders of today collide joyfully with the past: there’s the otherworldly Kunsthaus Graz (dubbed the “Friendly Alien”), a mere stone’s throw from the classic beauty of its Hauptplatz town square. With top-10 biking infrastructure, plus a sunnier, more Mediterranean climate than Vienna, it’s best seen on two wheels.
Last year ended with a bang for this Austrian wonder: the Koralm Railway opened in full in December, introducing a new, 130-kilometre high-speed line that connects the city with Klagenfurt for the first time. It should transform how Austrians (and the world) navigate the region, giving back time better spent enjoying local wines or exploring a year-long agenda of festivals that showcase local craft, film, and music.