Graz

The wooded Schloßberg rises directly out of the centre and is the city's visual anchor; the 28-metre Uhrturm clock tower on top is Graz's emblem. From the Schlossbergplatz a stone staircase, a funicular (Schlossbergbahn) or a glass lift in the rock all climb to the summit, where the bell tower, the casemates and an open-air stage share a panorama that takes in the full red-roof grid of the UNESCO old town. The old town itself is best explored without a list: the Hauptplatz with the Rathaus and Erzherzog-Johann fountain, the courtyard of the Landhaus, and the inner-block arcades around Sporgasse and Sackstraße each open out into hidden Renaissance and baroque courtyards.

The biomorphic blue Kunsthaus Graz, designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier for the 2003 European Capital of Culture, sits on the Lend embankment opposite the old town and houses contemporary exhibitions in a building that has become as much a landmark as the Schloßberg itself. A short walk downstream the Murinsel — Vito Acconci's floating steel-and-glass island in the Mur — operates as a café, a small amphitheatre and a pedestrian crossing, and is best seen lit after dark.

The Landeszeughaus on Herrengasse holds the largest preserved historic armoury in the world — about 32,000 pieces of late-Renaissance and baroque arms originally stockpiled for the Styrian defence against Ottoman incursions. It is part of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, the country's oldest public museum, which also runs the Neue Galerie modern collection, the Schloss Eggenberg Alte Galerie and the Volkskundemuseum across the city.

On the western edge of the city, the 17th-century Schloss Eggenberg is the second UNESCO World Heritage component of Graz and the most complete baroque palace in Styria. The building's calendar symbolism — 365 windows, 24 state rooms, the four corner towers as the seasons — is matched by the surviving Planetary Room frescoes and the Alte Galerie's pre-1800 painting collection. The Schloss can be reached on Tram 1 directly from the centre.

Styria's table is one of Austria's most distinct. The dark-green Kürbiskernöl (pumpkin-seed oil) flavours everything from salads to ice cream, Backhendl (Styrian fried chicken) and Sterz (a buckwheat or maize porridge) anchor traditional menus, and the daily Kaiser-Josef-Platz market and the Lendplatz market remain genuine working farmers' markets rather than tourist set-pieces. The South Styrian Wine Road south of the city produces the country's most celebrated Sauvignon Blanc.

The 'steirischer herbst' avant-garde festival in autumn has been one of Europe's leading contemporary-arts festivals since 1968, spreading commissioned theatre, music, performance and installation across the city's stages and public spaces. The Styriarte classical music festival in early summer adds the historical-performance counterweight, and the Diagonale national film festival fills the cinemas in spring.