Vöcklabruck
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Please find information on holidays in Austria in your local language by selecting it here.
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Resting area in Vöcklabruck
Nature and Climate
Find out about Austria's weather and climate, wildlife and plants and its broad variety of landscapes.
Weather and Climate
Austria is located in a temperate climatic zone. Whereas Central European climate predominates, climatic influences by the Atlantic are still noticeable. The geographic location also leads to great differences of temperature and climatic characteristics during the year, which makes every season in Austria a unique experience.
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Due to the relatively large West-East expanse, Austria is divided into three different climatic regions:
- East: Pannonian climate with a continental influence – low precipitation, hot summers, but only moderately cold winters.
- Alpine Regions: Alpine climate - high precipitation (except inner alpine valley regions such as the Upper Inntal), short summers, long winters.
- Remainder of the Country: Transient climate influenced by the Atlantic (in the West) and a continental influence in the South-East.
Fauna and Flora
Austria's topographic diversity accounts for a great variety of wildlife, including endemic species that are under preservation. It has a predominantly Central European fauna and is one of Europe's most heavily wooded countries.
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Fauna
In Austria, one can mostly find characteristics of a Central European fauna, with species including deer, stag, rabbit, pheasant or fox.
Native to the Alpine regions are the chamois, groundhog, eagle and mountain jackdaw, whereas the Pannonian fauna is popular for its vast bird population in the reed beds of the Neusiedler See such as heron, spoonbill, wild goose and many more.
In recent years, Austria has become home again to a small bear population, which can mainly be found in the heavily wooded Southern and Central mountainous regions.
National Park Gesäuse
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Flora
The diversity of climatic conditions accounts for the country's species-rich flora. Austria is one of Europe's most wooded countries. Characteristic are the hardwood forest (oak, beech), the mixed forest (beech, fir) and in higher altitude regions fir, larch and pine.
Especially diverse and colourful is the Alpine flora, which includes Edelweiss, Arnica, Alpine Rose, Heather and much more.
The Northern edge of the Alps is especially dominated by grassland. Typical in the Pannonian region are the scrub forest, mixed deciduous forest and the steppe moors. East of Lake Neusiedl one finds a unique salt steppe flora.
Austria's national parks, that stretch across 3 percent of the whole country, show the diversity of the landscape with its partly unique natural landscapes, such as the rain and primeval forests.
Austria's variety of landscapes
Not only temperature and climate varies between Austria's states, the country also shows an incredible topographic diversity. Between the flat steppe landscape of the Pannonian lowlands in the East of the country to high Alpine regions in the West, one can find forest and hilly landscapes, wetlands and lake plateaus just as much as Mediterranean-like landforms in the South.
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