Villach is a town located in Carinthia in Austria. It has about 50,000 inhabitants.

Understand

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Villach is the second-largest city of Carinthia. It is a railway gateway to most parts of Austria as well as the Italian border. In Austria Villach is well-known for its carnival which is broadcast on public television throughout Austria.
Villach is quite an old city with roots back in Roman times (when the city was called Santicum).The city was heavily bombed in World War II (due to its importance as a major traffic gateway) destroying many parts of the city.

Get in

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By plane
Villach has no domestic or international airport. If you are travelling by plane you have to go to Klagenfurt which has an airport.
By train
Villach is a railway gateway within Austria, so trains go from virtually every bigger city including Vienna, Graz,Klagenfurt, Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck and Bregenz. There are also direct connections to Munich, Venice, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Belgrade.

By car
If you are coming from north, take the A10 Tauernautobahn. If you are coming from east (Graz,Vienna) take the A2 Südautobahn. If you are planning to go from Slovenia, take the A11 Karawankenautobahn. If you are arriving from Italy also take the A2 Südautobahn.
The motorway around Villach has two exits at Faakersee which takes you to the centre of the city and Ossiachersee which takes you to the north of the city.

Get around

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Villach is a quite small town, so it is easy to get around on foot. Taxis can be found near the railway station and in the centre of the city near Hauptplatz. Federal buses go to the surrounding area from the local Busbahnhof (busterminal,located a few minutes away from the railway station).
Local busline no.10 (operated by a company called Kowatsch) goes around the historic city centre.
Getting around by car can be tiring since parking space is rare during weekdays and traffic jams at business hours are very common. During weekdays parking fees are charged in most areas around the center of the city.

See

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Villacher Fahrzeugmuseum - has antiquities which are worth seeing.

Museum der Stadt Villach - if you are interested in the history of the town go there.

Do

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Maibacherl - located in Warmbad near Villach. A hot spring, which only appears in springtime. The water is hot enough for bathing and is very popular with the locals. Entry is free. Buses and trains operate from the main station to Warmbad on a regular base. The hot springs were already known to the ancient Romans. Take bus No.1 from main station to Warmbad and get off in Warmbad. From there it's only a 10min walk to the hot springs.

Hiking - Villach is surrounded by a number of mountains including the Dobratsch which offer many possibilities for hiking.

Cross-country skiing - Cross-country skiing is possible on Dobratsch and all major ski resorts around Villach.

ice-skating - Ice-skating is possible on Faakersee,Ossiachersee and Vassacher See though this depends heavily on the weather in winter whether lakes are frozen or not.

Villacher Kirchtag - Every year (usually...