Graz lives in Vienna’s shadow, and it seems perfectly content there. Austria’s second city has a UNESCO World Heritage old town, a university that fills the streets with youthful energy, and a food culture so strong that it was designated a UNESCO City of Design partly on the strength of its culinary innovation. The Schlossberg — a forested hill in the city center — is crowned by the Uhrturm clock tower, Graz’s icon, and reached by a glass-enclosed funicular or 260 steps carved into the rock.
The Altstadt is a Renaissance jewel — the Landhaus courtyard with its Italianate arcades, the Landeszeughaus armory holding 32,000 pieces of medieval weaponry, and the painted facade of the Herrengasse that rewards close inspection. The Kunsthaus — a biomorphic blue blob nicknamed the Friendly Alien — sits on the riverbank as Graz’s bold statement of contemporary ambition. The food scene centers on Styrian ingredients: pumpkin seed oil drizzled on everything, Buschenschank wine taverns in the surrounding hills, and farmers’ markets where the produce reflects the fertile southern Austrian landscape.
When to go: May through September for outdoor dining and festivals. December for a Christmas market that rivals any in Austria.