Vorarlberg
in Austria

Austria's smallest and westernmost region has a quietly outsized sense of itself. Squeezed between Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Germany at the foot of the Arlberg, Vorarlberg has more in common culturally with its Swiss neighbours than with Vienna, and the architecture, the food, and the particular Alpine pragmatism of its inhabitants reflect that. The Bregenzerwald valley is the place to understand what the region does best: a landscape of steep meadows and dark fir forest dotted with villages where the cheese dairies, the woodworking traditions, and an improbable concentration of architecturally considered buildings exist in easy proximity. The Bregenzer Festspiele each summer puts opera on a floating stage on Lake Constance with a backdrop that no theatre can replicate. Lech and Zürs, for those who ski, are at the top of the Arlberg pass and among the finest resorts in the Alps. Vorarlberg asks for attention and repays it generously.