Why Austria and not France or Spain ?

• Austria is an all year round location
• It is not expensive as you may have been led to believe. Diesel is now about 1 € a litre. (March 2010)   Bottles of drinkable wine cost from 2€-3€. Food is cheaper. Property is not expensive and has fallen relatively in price over the past few years, but has stabilised. 
• French & Spanish property prices have been volatile in recent years. So has the cost of living there.  Austrian property prices have remained steady.
• It is a clean, safe country in which to live. There is little crime in country areas. The hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions are invariably spotless. The lakes and rivers are maintained at "drinking water" quality. There is no litter anywhere, and strict  recycling laws are in place to keep the environment safe.
• The population is only 8 million so things are generally less complicated.
• It is so central to everywhere else - Prague, Venice and Budapest are in very easy reach.
• Public transport is excellent. The busses are regular and clean, no smoking and air conditioned. Transport is properly 'joined up' - the busses connect with the railway stations etc.
• It is rich in culture. Mozart, Lehár, & Strauss - to name a few, all came from there. The Austrians really know their music.
• There is skiing on the doorstep and there are 100+ major winter sports resorts in Salzburg province alone.

• For amusement there is walking, skiing, skating, sailing, tobogganing, langlauf, riding, cycling, scuba diving, hang gliding, swimming, climbing, golf,  potholing, paragliding, water skiing, rafting, concerts, thermal baths, theatre, operetta, cable cars, mountain railways, horse drawn sleigh rides . . .all within a few miles.
• The summers are quite hot enough with 25-35ºC on many days during the summer months, this is punctuated by thunderstorms which are very welcome and freshen things up. It's hot enough but still nice and green. Winters are a wonderland paradise of ice and snow when the skiing, skating, cross country, curling etc all get into full swing.
• The meadows are full of wild flowers. There are fields of orchids, and the woods are scented with the perfume of wild cyclamen.
• The health service is excellent.
• Motorway access through Germany or from Italy, Slovenia or Hungary is straightforward.
• Salzburg, Graz and Linz airports are serviced by cheap flights by Ryan Air from London Stansted making even weekend breaks affordable. There are also flights to Klagenfurt, Vienna (Easyjet) and Bratislava.
• A holiday property can be put to full use all the year round and is of interest to all ages.

Could you escape to somewhere like this ?