Linz

A museum where science, technology and art meet, with many hands-on robots and AI exhibits. Downstairs, Deep Space throws high-resolution images over the entire wall and floor, so plan around a screening. After dark the glass skin glows in shifting colours.

A modern art museum like a long glass box on the Danube bank, holding Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka. A gap cut through its centre puts the river and the opposite hill in a frame. At night the facade lights up, best seen from across the water.

A mountain tram opened in 1898, among the steepest railways that climb on wheel grip alone, with no rack. Since 2009 its gauge has matched the city trams, so you board on the main square and ride straight to the pilgrimage church on top.

Inside an old fortress tower up top, a little dragon train circles past fairy-tale figures. Below is a storybook town modelled on old Linz's main square. Families with children make up many of the riders, and it pauses in winter, so check opening dates.

One of Austria's largest squares, with a Trinity Column raised in 1723 at its centre. The baroque town hall and pastel houses enclose it, and trams run straight across the middle. Even with no market or festival on, the trams keep it from being quiet.

Counting seats and standing room, it holds more people than any other church in Austria. The story goes that its spire was trimmed because nothing could rise higher than Vienna's St Stephen's. One stained-glass panel, the Linz Window, tells the city's history.

The old castle on its hill beside the old town holds the state museum, with a modern south wing added in 2009. Art, folk life and the history of technology are covered broadly; give it half a day. The yard's far terrace looks down on a wide Danube bend.

Warehouses and harbour walls in the industrial port, covered by graffiti artists from around the world. Many of the pieces face the water, so a small-boat guided tour shows them best. The port still operates, and only limited parts are open without a tour.

An Augustinian baroque abbey about 20 kilometres south of Linz, where the composer Anton Bruckner played the organ. As he asked, Bruckner lies in the crypt directly beneath the church organ. The interior is shown only on guided tours, which thin out in winter.

Site of a Nazi concentration camp beside the Danube east of Linz; barracks, a gas chamber and the quarry's Stairs of Death survive. The exhibits need two to three hours and weigh heavily, so keep the day loose. With young children, read the age guidance first.

A 17th-century Jesuit Baroque church that served as the cathedral until the new one was built. Anton Bruckner was its organist for over ten years from the mid-1850s. Its front is wedged between street buildings, so the door is easy to miss.

A concert hall with a curved glass front on the Danube, named after Bruckner. In the Donaupark before it, the Klangwolke projects sound and light into the sky every year. Even without a concert, people sit out on the riverside lawns.

A former tobacco factory designed by Peter Behrens, now home to start-ups, workshops and event spaces. Its long curved works building ranks among Austria's early steel-frame landmarks. Locals gather at the courtyard cafe and weekend markets.

Upstream of Linz the Danube, blocked by a ridge, turns almost full circle. A forest path of about 30 minutes climbs to a viewing platform above the horseshoe bend. Cyclists on the river path cross to the other bank here by boat.

A Cistercian abbey on the Danube west of Linz, its church filled with Rococo decoration. Pale pink and gold stucco climbs the walls into the ceiling paintings. Buses from town reach it quickly, and the abbey gardens are open for anyone to stroll.