Physically, the alps dominate the landscape, but Austria is by no means all mountainous vistas: the country stretches across central Europe for some 700km, from the shores of the Bodensee in the west to the edge of the flat Hungarian plain in the east. Far removed from the archetype are the wetlands and reed beds of Burgenland, and the dramatic sequence of stopes that carve their way up the Erzberg in Styria. In Upper and Lower Austria in particular, the predominantly low-key landscape of gentle rolling hills and vineyards can come as something of a surprise to first-time visitors. Yet this fertile, low-lying northern half of the country is, in fact, where the majority of Austrians live and work, many of them within commuting distance of the capital, Vienna – the country's chief tourist destination after the alpine regions.

For all its love of old worldliness, and nostalgia for the days of the Habsburgs when Vienna was the capital of a vast, multinational empire, Austria today is a thoroughly modern, clean and eminently civilized country. Its tourist facilities are uniformly excellent, and whether you're staying in one of the popular skiing, hiking or spa resorts, or in an out-of-the-way Gasthof, you're likely to experience Gemütlichkeit – a typically Austrian term expressing a mixture of relaxed cosiness and hospitality – at some point during your visit. Like neighbouring Switzerland, Austria is also a supremely law-abiding nation, where no one jaywalks or drops litter, and the trains and trams run on time.

In fact, looking at the country at the beginning of the twenty-first century – stable, conservative and wealthy – you wouldn't think that Austria had spent most of the previous century struggling to find a national identity. After all, it was only in 1918, when the Habsburg Empire disintegrated, that the idea of a modern Austrian nation was born. The new republic, with a population of just eight million reluctant citizens, was riven by left- and right-wing political violence and, as a result, the majority of Austrians were wildly enthusiastic about the Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938. The price of Austria's participation, and ultimately defeat, in World War II, however, was Allied occupation. For ten years the country was split, like Germany, into Soviet, American, British and French zones. As a gesture of détente, the Soviets finally agreed to withdraw their troops, in return for Austria's "permanent neutrality". At this point, Austria turned over a new leaf, and recast itself as a model of consensus politics, with an almost Scandinavian emphasis on social policy as the guiding principle of national life. Postwar stability saw the growth of a genuine, albeit low-key, patriotism, while the end of the Cold War put the country, and its capital, back at the heart of Europe.

In 1995, Austria became a full member of the European Union, a move that for many was a sign that the country had finally entered the mainstream of European politics. From time to time, Austria's more reactionary elements have attracted widespread media attention, most notably during the Waldheim affair in 1986, when the wartime record of the president was called into question, and in the electoral success of the far right Freedom Party in 2000 under the charismatic Jörg Haider. But the reality is that the Socialist party retains the strongest influence in government, as it has for much of the postwar period, and the country's political stability, for the most part, continues intact.