Bad Ischl

Bad Ischl became the Habsburg summer residence in the nineteenth century after Franz Joseph's mother took the brine cure here and credited it with her three sons; Franz Joseph came every summer for over sixty years, met Elisabeth here, and the court followed, which turned a salt town into a resort with villas, a Kurhaus and a promenade. The Kaiservilla, still owned by his descendants, is open with the rooms as he used them - and it was in his study there, on 28 July 1914, that he signed the declaration of war on Serbia, which makes a modest desk in an Upper Austrian villa one of the more consequential objects in Europe. Lehár lived here and his villa is a museum. The town was a European Capital of Culture in 2024.

What you actually see

• The Kaiservilla - Franz Joseph's summer house, still in family hands and furnished.
• The desk of July 1914 - where the declaration of war on Serbia was signed.
• Lehár's villa - the operetta composer's house on the river, now a museum.
• A brine spa town - the cure that brought the court and built the resort.

When to go

May to October; the villa closes for much of winter. A day.

Honest expectations

The Kaiservilla is shown by guided tour, mainly in German, and closes seasonally. The town is busy in summer. The 1914 room is treated matter-of-factly, which some visitors find jarring.

Nearby

Hallstatt is south; Gmunden and the Traunsee are north; St Wolfgang is west.