Linz

Linz: history & character

The capital of Upper Austria and Austria's third-largest city with 207,000 inhabitants, Linz began as the Roman fort of Lentia in the 1st century on the south bank of the Danube. Granted city status by Frederick III in 1490, it grew into a thriving trading hub between Vienna and Salzburg. The 19th-century industrial age shaped it around the VOEST steelworks and the river port — still visible downstream of the centre. Designated European Capital of Culture in 2009 and UNESCO City of Media Arts in 2014, Linz has reinvented itself around the Ars Electronica Center and a digital-art scene unique in Europe. For dog owners, it is one of the most practical Austrian cities after Vienna and Salzburg: a compact baroque Altstadt, the 539 m Pöstlingberg reached by adhesion railway, a Danube dog beach at the Hundefreilaufzone Urfahr, and a Linz Linien network that carries dogs free with any monthly pass.