The Ebenwaldhöhe is an plateau with an elevation of about 1000m above see level. It's located south-west of vienna, near the village kleinzell, and can be reached by car within one hours drive from vienna.

It's our favorite observing site since it provides a descent night sky where it is sometimes possible to reach a visual limiting magnitude of 6.5 near the zenith.

The Brunnalm is located in the north of steria near the mountain Hohe Veitsch. It's considerable farther away from vienna but offeres even better conditions than our favorite observing site Ebenwaldhöhe. There are at least three good places to set up a telescope, but all of them nearby some buildings.

Often called "Helle Wand", this natural preserve provides only sub-optimal conditions for deep-sky astrophotography: disturbing light pollution from Wr. Neustadt and occasionally too many cars driving late at night - brights-on of course. On the other hand, you probably won't easily find another area with that many suited locations. Set up at the Kleine Kanzel (large concrete parking site; recommended), the Gasthof Postl or discover your own favorite location. The toll station at the beginning of the natural preserve has opened on summer weekends until 6pm. Wind and temperature are mild compared to the Ebenwaldhöhe, but at the price of much more light pollution.

Suited for moon/planets/testing purposes only, the Großmugl area provides large plain fields with heavy light pollution and proximity to country roads, but still better suited than Vienna of course. Too bad that the huge concrete storage/parking site at the end of Großmugl has a ban on driving.

Stuhleck is the highest mountain of the Fischbacher alps located in northern Styria at the border to lower Austria. Its about a 90 minutes drive away from Vienna and the mountaintop can be reached by car through a toll road.

It's a pity since this place is offering only a good view at the surrounding light pollution.

Anyway, It might be a good place to use as a last resort to escape the low stratus in autumn because of its elevation - at least before the toll road is closed for winter.

Vienna is our light polluted home. It's the capital of Austria and with a population of about 1.7 million it's Austrias largest source of light-pollution. Even if you are more than 100km away from the city, you can see it's glow on the horizon.

It's a pity most people growing up in the city or sub-orbs have seldom, if ever, seen the milky-way and what a sky full of thousands of stars might look like.