Divide et Impera: Bezirk - District
Political & Administrative Divisions of Austria
Despite of its rather humble size, Austria is a federal republic that consists of nine provinces or states called "Bundesländer". Colloquially, they are often referred to as "die Länder", usually if you want to underline a difference to Vienna, the smallest but most populous province and capital of Austria. Almost all federal institutions and administrative bodies have their headquarters in Vienna. The nine provinces, however, often send delegates according to their population to such institutions.
The nine provinces vary in size and population. They are (with their respective, approximate population in brackets) from west to east: Vorarlberg (367,000); Tyrol (692,000); Salzburg (529,000); Upper Austria (1.40 million); Lower Austria (1.57 million); Vienna (1.67 million); Styria (1.20 million), Carinthia (560,000) and the Burgenland (278,000). All in all, approximately eight million people call Austria home.
Sub-division of the Austrian Provinces
The provinces are sub-divided into "Bezirke" (districts). The Bezirke have no actual governments and are much less important than the federal provincial government or the federal government. They have mostly administrative purposes. The Bezirke are divided into municipalities (Gemeinden) of variant significance: Village (Dorf), market town (Marktgemeinde), city (Stadt) or constitutional cities (Statutarstadt). The municipalities are ruled by a mayor and a council.
In the following, you find a directory of all districts or Bezirke in Austria, arranged by
federal province. They link to the respective articles that
include all muncipalities for each district; they also serve as a reference for further reading on TourMyCountry.com. The list is arranged from west to east:
Districts of Vorarlberg
Bludenz,
Bregenz, Dornbirn and
Feldkirch
Districts of Tyrol (Tirol)
Imst,
Innsbruck, Innsbruck-Land,
Kitzbühel, Kufstein,
Landeck, Lienz,
Reutte and Schwaz.
Districts of Salzburg
Hallein,
Salzburg-Umgebung, Salzburg,
St. Johann, Tamsweg and
Zell am See.
Districts of Upper Austria (Oberösterreich)
Braunau, Eferding,
Freistadt, Gmunden,
Grieskirchen, Kirchdorf,
Linz, Linz-Land, Perg,
Ried, Rohrbach,
Schärding, Steyr-Land,
Urfahr-Umgebung
and Vöcklabruck.
Districts of Lower Austria (Niederösterreich)
Amstetten, Baden,
Bruck an der Leitha, Gmünd,
Gänserndorf, Hollabrunn,
Horn, Korneuburg, Krems,
Krems-Land, Lilienfeld,
Melk, Mistelbach,
Mödling, Neunkirchen,
Scheibbs, St.
Pölten, St. Pölten-Land,
Tulln, Waidhofen an der Thaya,
Waidhofen an der Ybbs,
Wien-Umgebung, Wiener Neustadt,
Wiener Neustadt-Land, and
Zwettl.
Districts of Vienna (Wien)
Alsergrund,
Brigittenau,
Döbling,
Donaustadt,
Favoriten,
Floridsdorf,
Fünfhaus,
Hietzing,
Hernals,
Innere Stadt,
Josefstadt,
Landstraße,
Leopoldstadt,
Liesing,
Margarethen,
Mariahilf,
Meidling,
Neubau,
Ottakring,
Penzing,
Simmering,
Währing
and Wieden
Districts of Styria (Steiermark)
Bruck an der Mur,
Deutschlandsberg, Feldbach,
Fürstenfeld, Graz,
Graz-Umgebung, Hartberg,
Judenburg,
Knittelfeld, Leibnitz,
Leoben, Liezen, Murau,
Mürzzuschlag, Radkersburg,
Voitsberg and Weiz.
Districts of Carinthia (Kärnten)
Feldkirchen,
Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt-Land,
Spittal, St. Veit,
Villach, Villach-Land,
Völkermarkt and
Wolfsberg.
Districts of the Burgenland
Eisenstadt, Eisenstadt-Umgebung, Güssing, Jennersdorf, Mattersburg, Neusiedl, Oberpullendorf and Oberwart.
Back to "background"
Sightseeing by Austrian Province
Bregenz and Vorarlberg - Innsbruck and Tyrol - Salzburg - Salzkammergut - Graz and Styria - Klagenfurt and Carinthia - Wachau and Lower Austria - Vienna - Burgenland
Further Reading
Official Website of the Austrian Tourism Council