Graz, verdict by verdict

Graz is the Austrian city that gets on with being pretty without performing it: a UNESCO-listed Renaissance old town spread under the Schlossberg's clock tower, the blue bubble of a Kunsthaus floating beside the Mur, an artificial island in the river, Eggenberg's 24 staged Baroque state rooms, and a South Styrian wine road on the doorstep. It is Austria's second city at student pace, and the food is better than the fame.

The caveats are mostly scale and access. The sight list is a one-to-two-day affair, the airport's route map is thin and shrinking, so Vienna plus a railjet is the usual way in, and evenings run at student rather than capital-city volume. Sunday shuts the old town down, Eggenberg's interiors close November through March, every scheduled food walk is German-only, the Kunsthaus's rotating shows are a lottery, and the Schlossberg view arrives with little signage.

Two days covers it: Schlossberg, Hauptplatz and the Landhaus courtyards on day one, Eggenberg and the Kunsthaus on day two, with a wine-road evening as the upgrade. Sleep in the old town, take the railjet from Vienna, and Graz suits travelers who want an Austrian city break without Vienna's crowds or Salzburg's markup.