Is Graz Worth Visiting? A Sustainable, Authentic, and Charming YES

Is Graz Worth Visiting? Well… of course it is. But what you’ll get out of the trip depends on what kind of traveler you are. 

Graz is Austria’s ‘second city,’ but you really wouldn’t guess it when you first step foot onto the Main Street, Herrengasse. The city is still large and expansive while maintaining a countryside attitude, a slower pace of life, and an appreciation for little things like a delicious chocolate, a cold spritzer on the patio, and a sunny afternoon.

I spent the first half of my trip dumbfounded that Graz isn’t really on the tourist map, but the second half coming to the conclusion that I think it sort of likes it that way. 

Graz Tourism has everything a destination would want – fascinating history, viewpoints, charming streets, truly unbelievable food of all kinds, modern design and architecture on every corner, many types of day trips and nature close-by, wine, plenty of culture, and largely just locals in the streets. 

But Graz tends to find itself on the itineraries of a different type of traveler – one that likes to delve a bit deeper, stay a bit longer, and trace stories back to their roots rather than just accepting them at face value. This is the place for people who want to really savor their morning coffee in a local shop, interact with farmers at the farmers market, get lost in the tiny streets and courtyards, and spend actual time in the museums and parks rather than just making a new tick on their bucket list.

Graz is perfect for slow travel.

But is visiting Graz still worth it if you only have one day? I mean, again, of course it is. But after your first taste you’ll already want to start planning your second. 

Here are some reasons to visit Graz that will impress any traveler who likes not to only scratch the surface, but to dive much deeper into such a delightful destination. If you are already set on Graz, check out my massive Graz Travel Guide too.

With LESS TOURISTS: Graz is a MORE AUTHENTIC European City to Visit 

Again, Graz is Austria’s second largest city, but there’s a distinct lack of overpowering tourism that you see in other big European cities these days. The city center is FULL of locals – living, working, and showing off their city. It’s also a young city with many universities and over 60,000 students taking different types of courses.

You would never see so many locals in the center of Paris or Amsterdam, but it’s a normal thing for locals here in Graz to spend their Sunday at their favorite restaurant or even museum in town. It’s somehow still a hidden gem even being only 2.5 hours away from its massive big sister, Vienna… learn how to get to Graz from Vienna here.

Graz is SO special because it has been able to preserve the authenticity that many other European cities have lost. It’s impossible NOT to interact with locals here – you’ll find them exploring the alleys and visiting courtyard bars, and even in the shops and city viewpoints.

I have found that they LOVE their city and they’re happy to share WHY, with you. Everything isn’t automatically tourist-tailored or English here, and you have to delve a bit deeper to get by (the google translate camera is amazing). 

Unbelievable Food: Truly Deliciously Incredible and Diverse Food Offerings!

Graz is the foodie capital of Austria for a reason (Actually though, it was voted the food capital of Austria). Because of hundreds of farms within the city lines and SO much local produce comes dozens of restaurants in the city serving super fresh, super local, super delicious food. 

Graz has every type of restaurant you can imagine, in the highest of quality. There are plenty of traditional Austrian places as well as Austrian with a modern twist. But, you can find all kinds of ethnic food here too as Graz is also very diverse!

We tried Levantic food, vegan food, Italian food, other middle eastern and more modern interesting menus too. All of it was divine! I’ll need to write a foodies guide to Graz one day and I’ll link it here when I do. 

Graz has Incredible Sustainability Initiatives from Tourism to Everyday Life 

Sustainability is a part of Graz’s DNA. With a young and forward-thinking city comes dozens of sustainable, organic, fair trade, and more initiatives all over the city. It truly feels like it’s second-nature for Graz residents to source locally, reuse, minimize waste, and do things the more gentle and sustainable way.

Some of their most impressive sustainability measures include refillable coffee cups called Backups that people use to minimize coffee cup waste, water taps all over the city coupled with reusable water bottles to minimize plastic bottle waste, some zero waste food shops where you can bring your own containers, and more.

Graz Sustainability in Food 

One of the most special things about Graz is that there are over 100 farms within the actual city lines, and this increases the ease of sourcing products locally from the individual to the large restaurant or company. There are quite a few local farmers markets in Graz (that are open 6 days a week), and unlike many places in the world, you interact with the farmers themselves – selling you the product that they grew, baked, distilled, made, or even killed themself. Now THAT is going straight to the source! 

There’s a special certification for restaurants called GenussHauptstadt (Capital of Delight) that they can only get if they source at least 70% of their products locally – from the ingredients to the wine. And the coolest thing is that the people of Graz actually look for and care about a certification like this, because being sustainable is a way of life. 

Just a Few Examples of Local + Sustainable Graz Restaurants

Hummel Restaurant is owned by two local women who also own a zero waste food shop. By meticulous portion measurements and sharing platters as their way of eating, they aim to make the restaurant as close to zero waste as they can, too. 

Der Steirer Restaurant specializes in local Styrian wine and typical Styrian food dishes with a different special each day. Try the backhendl or the tafelspitz!

Stammtisch am Paulustor crafts incredibly creative dishes from local and seasonal fare. They are a member of the GenussHauptStadt program and you just might try a delicious dish combination you’ve never heard of before!

Graz Sustainability in Clothing 

Many clothing shops in Graz also either upcycle or use fair trade and local products. In the creative and hip neighborhood of Lend (which used to be the bad area, but a few hundred years and some gentrification later, it’s the place to be) you can find dozens of small, fair trade shops along the main road of Mariahilferstrasse. There’s no chain store to be seen on this street – only locally owned shops exhibiting unique products you won’t find anywhere else. 

Many of the shops here have community initiatives also. In the shop called Offline Retail, you will find upcycled fabric turned into bags, cloths, and clothing as well as thrifted pre-loved items being resold. The MOST special thing about this shop is that they employ recovering drug addicts to help give them a chance to get back to work and learn new skills. 

We also got the chance to visit a very special clothing company called Peaces.bio, owned by a woman named Susanne who creates incredible screen prints from plants in her garden and photos that she took. She takes pride in her clothing being organic and fair trade, and also locally sourced whenever possible.

She uses Austrian linen from within a few hours away, organic cotton, tencel (which is a material made from trees), lovesick (made from butterfly silk without harming butterflies), some hemp, and fair wool. Check out her store online – she has some lovely pieces!

Graz is Worth Visiting for Fascinating History Throughout the Ages 

The story of Graz is fascinating from start to finish, and there are remnants of so many different times in history left throughout the city. 

The entire old town is an UNESCO protected historical site stacked with medieval buildings and courtyards, adorned with renaissance frescos and even baroque stuccos and colorful painted scenes. From Hapsburg Mausoleums to WW2 sites, you can find a bit of everything. Graz was first made a city in the 1200’s, and went

The old town is as charming as anything, with cobblestone streets giving way to patio cafes, dancing clock chimes and green leafy pathways up to the ancient castle and iconic clock tower.

The Old Town and Newer Hip Design Neighborhoods are Just Across the River

But the history here isn’t JUST ancient. Something I really loved about Graz was the more newly gentrified neighborhoods. See, there are no ‘new’ neighborhoods in Graz – they have all been around for hundreds of years – but some of them are more recently, well, ‘accepted’ as good places to live.

Lend used to be the bad part of town. It used to be the grimy trade street between Graz and the sea in Trieste. It was known to be full of traders selling their goods, over 100 bars and pubs, prostitutes, brothels, and more. It was never known to be safe.

But in the last 20 years, Lend has become the new and trendy place to hang out in Graz; it’s where the creative youth come to live, work, make art, open trendy bars and restaurants, and enjoy being edgy. The brothels and pubs have been converted to trendy eateries/bars and dozens of super-local, fair trade shops showcasing local work.

Lend really took off back in 2003 when Graz won the European culture capital which enabled tons of new museums and projects such as the Kunsthaus and Murinsel. Lend is now a modern design city (an actual UNESCO City of Design) because of the architecture school and the massive boom of modern architecture!since the early 2000’s.

With such a massive transformation of Lend comes the need for its reputation to move on, and that’s there Gries comes in. Gries is even more grungy and has the vibe that Lend used to have. It’s more multicultural and full of street art, culture, and incredible stories to learn. It has a GriesKram street festival once a year that we were lucky enough to be able to visit with live music and drinks in the streets.

In Graz, Everything is Within Walking Distance.

From ancient to modern, the history in Graz is tangible and captivating. And the BEST part about it is that all these places are within 10 minutes of each other on foot. You don’t have to go far in Graz to get a dose of something different. 

You can truly walk between all the main sites of Graz in 10-15 minutes. That’s all you need to get from a historic courtyard/armory museum to a newly opened hip eatery across the river, or from the contemporary art museum “Kunsthaus” to the old 16th century castle. 

Many European cities are MUCH more spread out, and it’s refreshing to have all the different vibes from old to new be so easily accessible in Graz. 

There’s TONS of Things to do Outside the City of Graz, too.

But, the city center isn’t all Graz has to offer. One of the best reasons to visit Graz is actually the beautiful countryside around the city itself in Styria, Graz’s province. The countryside is full of many farms and small towns, some mountains and hiking trails, LOTS of wineries, and even more historic places and museums to visit and learn from.

In the north there are farm shops to visit and get home made products, hiking trails and even climbing areas, beautofu countryside, and even an open air museum with historic Austrian medieval houses and setups so you can learn how people used to live around here.

In the south there are dozens of wineries and even a winery taxi service that goes between them. Styria produces some incredible wine, so it’s important to try some whether you make it to an actual winery in Graz or not!

In the east, there’s an extinct Volcanic field to visit that is home to a great spa region with multiple options, thermal hot springs, and MANY more wineries in the same area. This area is called Vulkanland, and would be the absolute perfect getaway. In the west there are even bigger mountain peaks to conquer! Where will you go first?

Graz Pays Attention to Accessibility

Graz takes great care to ensure the city meets accessibility requirements for all kinds of disabilities. I was first impressed when entering my hotel that there were multiple floors of completely accessible rooms with ramps and lots of space. I noticed many ramps to get into stores around the city, too.

Something that impressed me the most about accessibility in Graz were the tiny models in front of some of the main sights in Graz that enables the visually impaired to also be able to experience the shape and design of the building even if they couldn’t see it.

Most of the main sights have a small model of it in front of it with a braille explanation, like the Kunsthaus, the Clock Tower, the Opera House, and more. Each road crossing also has raised lines so visually impaired know they’re coming up to a crossing. 

Graz Shows an Incredible Mix Between Old and New

Given that Graz has an UNESCO protected historic Old town right across the river from a certified UNESCO city of Design, there’s a truly incredible micture between old and new here that can be seen across the entire city.

There are dozens of modern, magnificently designed buildings next to charming historic ones that creates a beautiful and thought provoking form of dissonance (in the best of ways).

From the architecture school across from the Graz opera to the few hundred-year-old converted monastery next to futuristic office buildings, its thrilling to see so much variety of architecture and sculpture in this city.

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So…. is Graz worth visiting? I truly hope after reading this the answer is an enthusiastic YES!

If you are thinking of comin from Vienna don’t forget to choose the best ways to Graz from Vienna, and check out my full comprehensive Graz Travel Guide.

More on Austria and Central Europe:

• Vorarlberg Destinations + What to Do in Each
• A daring Via Ferrata in Montafon, Austria
• 3 Days in Prague

Thank you to Visit Graz for sponsoring this post. As always, all words are completely my own and I can’t wait to return to this city!