Austria is known as a year-round holiday destination, with plenty of winter sports in the Alps, some of the most impressive architecture in Europe and a great musical tradition.

The cities attract great deal of visitors. Vienna is the capital, the center of the country's musical life and littered with beautiful buildings. Music, art and architecture reach baroque perfection in Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace.

In Austria winter sport fans are spoilt for choice: More than 800 resorts offering 22,000km of ski runs, 16,000km of groomed cross-country skiing trails and much more! In addition to terrific ski areas, Austria offers great toboggan runs, ice skating and ice sailing on frozen lakes as well as exciting climbing on frozen rocks and waterfalls!

In Austria both the young and the old are in for fun and adventure: children-friendly accommodation providers - hotels with qualified child carers and ski schools with certified children's instructors - offer everything the kids could possibly desire for a perfect holiday! Teens can do all the trendy sports:

snowboarding, carving, downhill - fun and action are guaranteed!

Austria is not only a great area for all kinds of sports but also the perfect destination for more leisurely pleasures. Enjoy a romantic sleigh ride, cozy evenings on a mountain hut or relaxing walks through the winter wonderland!

Here you can often meet both professional skiers and those who has come for the first time with a desire to try something new and to feel adrenaline. So if you are going to this wonderful country for the first time you are to know a few things you should be ready for.

Watching TV programs about Austria or looking through the photos in the internet you see beautiful mountains cowered with snow and smiling people skiing on the high speed. It is very seldom possible to find information about small accidents which take place there. But accidents happen more often than you think -- and they can cost you much more than you would expect. So arranging a vocation in mountains you should take care about such a thing as travel insurance. It will help you to feel protected and save. There were cases of frost-bites, breaking bones, losing way in the mountains etc. in all the cases which were mentioned, travel insurance would be very useful for you.

Ski patrollers are generally very well trained and experienced at assessing injuries and managing the evacuation of the injured person off the mountain and to hospital if required. They decide what is appropriate for the circumstances regardless of who insures you. Serious cases often involve helicopters but, more often, a combination of sled and ski lift is more immediate and appropriate. Other factors such as weather are also taken into account.

Insurance can also be useful in other, not so serious cases. If you are just a beginner, it is very good for you to know that the insurance cowers all the expenses if you broke your equipment or equipment which was rented. So if you really want enjoy your vocation for fullest, you should first of all think about your safety and buy a travel insurance which will not prevent you from the troubles caused by nature or your carelessness but let you know that in such a case you will receive any help you need and the company does everything possible to protect you.