[ ITINERARY · THE DISPATCH ]
Three Days in Graz: Austria's Second City and Its Best-Kept Secret
Graz is the Austrian city everyone forgets, and that's exactly why it's brilliant. A clock tower on a hill, a blob-shaped art museum that looks like an alien, and pumpkin seed oil on absolutely everything. Three slow, delicious days.
Here’s my pitch for a 3 days in Graz itinerary, and I’ll keep it short because I get heated about this: everyone goes to Vienna, almost nobody goes to Graz, and Graz is more fun. There. Said it.
It’s Austria’s second city, a UNESCO old town, a massive student population, and a food culture built around a green oil pressed from pumpkin seeds that I now keep a bottle of in my own kitchen like a smug little souvenir. The first time a waiter named Lukas drizzled it over my vanilla ice cream I thought he’d lost it. Then I tasted it. Nutty, toasty, weirdly perfect. I apologised to Lukas.
Day 1 — The Schlossberg and the old town
Start at the Hauptplatz (main square) and just feel the scale of the Altstadt — terracotta roofs, Renaissance courtyards, none of the museum-piece stiffness of bigger cities. It’s lived-in. Students cycling through, market stalls, the lot.
Then up the Schlossberg, the wooded hill in the middle of town. You can take the funicular or the lift inside the rock (cute, fast), but I say walk the zigzag stone steps. They’re steep and your calves will file a complaint, but you earn the view and you pass little terraces on the way. At the top: the Uhrturm (clock tower), the symbol of the city, with hands that are deliberately backwards — the big hand shows the hours, the small one the minutes. It’s been confusing tourists for centuries and I respect that.
Lunch back down: a Buschenschank-style spot or a market stall doing Käsekrainer (a cheese-filled sausage) with mustard. Couple of euros. Cheap and good, the Graz way.
Day 2 — The Kunsthaus blob and the islands
Cross the Mur river to see the Kunsthaus, the contemporary art museum locals nickname the “friendly alien.” It’s a bulbous, biomorphic blue blob with weird nozzle skylights, plonked among baroque rooftops, and somehow it works. Whether the art inside grabs you or not, the building is the show.
While you’re at the river, walk out onto the Murinsel — a floating, shell-shaped artificial island/bridge by Vito Acconci, with a little café in the middle. It’s pure fun. A platform that pretends to be an island in the middle of a river. Sure. Why not.
Afternoon, wander the Lend and Gries districts on the west bank — this is the creative, slightly scruffy, student-bar side of town. Vintage shops, third-wave coffee, murals. And dinner here is where Graz quietly shines: small plates, Styrian wine, that pumpkin oil again. I ate too much and spent almost nothing and that, to me, is a perfect evening.
Day 3 — Eggenberg, and going slow
Take the tram out to Schloss Eggenberg, a Baroque palace on the edge of town built as a calendar in stone — 365 windows, 31 rooms on each main floor, 24 state rooms, you get the idea. The painted state rooms are genuinely gorgeous, and the gardens have peacocks strutting around like they own the place. They sort of do.
Back in the centre, spend the last afternoon doing nothing in particular. Find the Bauernmarkt (farmers’ market — Kaiser-Josef-Platz is the big one) and load up on pumpkin oil, pumpkin seeds, local cheese, apricots in season. It’s the best souvenir shopping in the city and it’s edible.
And But here’s my honest closing thought. I keep meeting people who “did Austria” and mean Vienna and Salzburg and a photo of a lake. They skipped the second city, the cheap-and-cheerful, oil-on-everything, blue-alien-by-the-river city. Their loss. Don’t make it yours.
Graz Fast Facts
| Info | |
|---|---|
| Currency | Euro (EUR); cards widely accepted |
| Getting around | Compact, walkable centre; trams reach Eggenberg and the outskirts |
| Budget/day | ~EUR 70–110 mid-range (cheaper than Vienna) |
| Best months | May–September; autumn for pumpkin harvest and wine |
| Skip if short on time | A second baroque interior; Eggenberg is the one to do |
FAQ
Is three days too long for Graz? Not at all — old town, Kunsthaus, the river, plus Eggenberg fills it nicely, and the slow pace is the point.
What’s the deal with the pumpkin oil? Styrian pumpkin seed oil (“Kürbiskernöl”) is a protected regional product, dark green, nutty, used on everything from salad to dessert. Buy a bottle.
Is Graz good for a budget trip? Yes — the student crowd keeps food, drink, and going out genuinely affordable for Austria.
Vienna or Graz? Do both if you can, but if you’ve already seen Vienna, Graz is the more surprising, more relaxed, better-value pick — go.**
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