Instagram hashtags for Austria: finding regional and local ones.

Patterns for provinces, cities and regions, a simple way to find suitable local hashtags and what you can skip.

By Paul Hölzl and Ben Braunsperger, founders of Pipeflow · Last updated: October 24, 2026

Why regional hashtags matter for businesses

For a hairdresser in Wels or a joiner in the Mühlviertel, people from the area matter more than followers on the other side of the world. Regional hashtags help Instagram assign your post to a place, and help people searching for that place to find it. They do not work miracles, but they are a simple building block.

The basics, meaning what hashtags do and how many make sense, are in the guide Using hashtags properly. This one is about Austria: which patterns exist and how to find the right ones for your area.

Important upfront: all hashtags in this article are examples of a pattern, not a recommendation for these exact words. Whether a hashtag is actually used and suits you is something you check yourself in Instagram search.

Pattern 1: the province

The broadest level is the province. Many people tag their posts this way, for example with #Wien, #Niederoesterreich, #Oberösterreich, #Steiermark, #Tirol, #Kärnten, #Salzburg, #Vorarlberg or #Burgenland. There are also short forms such as #ooe or #noe, and variants where the umlauts are written out, such as #oberoesterreich. It is best to check both spellings.

Province hashtags are broad. Holiday photos, landscapes and posts on all sorts of subjects end up under them. They work as an addition, but rarely as your only regional hashtag. For an audience outside Austria, some businesses also use #austria.

Pattern 2: city and town

Closer to home is the name of your city or municipality, for example #linz, #graz, #villach or #dornbirn. It gets even more precise when you combine the place with a topic or your industry:

Place plus industry: for example #friseurwels, #physiotherapiegraz or #tischlereilinz. Hashtags like these are often used by people searching for something specific.
Place plus topic: for example #grazessen, #linzfood or #salzburgcity. Here you often find posts from locals and visitors.
Postcode plus city: in Vienna, some people tag their posts with the district, for example #1070wien. That can suit a café or a boutique in the neighbourhood.

Pattern 3: regions, valleys and districts

Many Austrians feel more connected to their region than to their province. Hashtags such as #Mühlviertel, #Waldviertel, #Weinviertel, #Salzkammergut, #Wachau, #Zillertal, #Pinzgau or #Bregenzerwald show this pattern. In tourism and hospitality in particular, they reach people looking for exactly that area.

Districts are used too, for example in the form #bezirkperg or simply with the name of the district town. In rural areas this is often the best level, because small municipalities are hardly searched for on their own.

Which level suits which place

Depending on where your business is, a different level is most useful. As a starting point:

Big city such as Vienna, Graz or Linz: the city name alone is very broad. Combine it with your industry, a topic or the district.
Smaller town or district town: the place name can already work well, plus one hashtag for the region.
Tourist resort: region and place together, because guests often search for the area where they are on holiday.
Village or small municipality: the district or region rather than the municipality name, plus the location in the post.

How to find local hashtags

Instead of copying lists from the internet, you can put together a suitable selection yourself in half an hour:

Look in search: enter your place name or region in Instagram search and see which hashtags are suggested.
Learn from others: which hashtags do your municipality, the tourist board, the town marketing team or other local businesses use?
Check the posts: open the hashtag. Are the posts recent, from your area and do they suit you? If there is only advertising or unrelated content, leave it out.
Keep a short list: note down a handful of regional hashtags and switch between them instead of always copying the same block.
Do not forget the location: when posting, you can add a place. For venues and shops, that is often at least as useful as a hashtag.

Examples for three businesses

This is what a selection could look like. The hashtags only show the pattern, you need to check the actual ones for your area:

Hair salon in Wels: one hashtag for the town, one for industry and place such as #friseurwels, one for the province, plus one or two on the topic of the post, for example #balayage.
Café in Graz: #graz, one hashtag for topic and place such as #grazcafe, a district or neighbourhood if it is used, plus #kaffeehaus or a hashtag for the cake of the week.
Joinery in the Mühlviertel: #Mühlviertel, the name of the district town, #tischlerei and a hashtag for the project, for example #kuechenplanung.

What you can skip

A few habits cost time and achieve little:

Places where you are not: #wien under a post from Carinthia brings no customers, just confusion.
Always the same block: if the same hashtags appear under every post, they rarely match the content.
Very general words: hashtags such as #love or #instagood have nothing to do with your business.
Unchecked hashtags: Instagram shows some hashtags only to a limited extent, for example because a lot of spam ends up there. Look at the hashtag page before you use it.

Quick questions.

How many hashtags should I use?

A few suitable ones rather than many random ones. For a business, one or two regional and a few topic hashtags are a good start. More on this in the guide Using hashtags properly.

Should I write hashtags in upper or lower case?

It makes no difference to Instagram. Capital letters at the start of each word, as in #BregenzerWald, make hashtags easier to read, though, including for people using a screen reader.

Do umlauts work in hashtags?

Yes, Instagram can handle umlauts. Because some people write them out, there are often two versions of the same hashtag. Check which is more common in your area.

Is a hashtag of my own worth it for my business?

It mainly helps when customers use it too, for example at weddings, events or with photos from your venue. You will hardly reach new people with it, but you will find posts about you more easily.

Is the location enough instead of regional hashtags?

The location is very useful for local businesses and often the more important signal. Adding one or two regional hashtags does no harm. It is best to use both.

And Pipeflow?

Pipeflow plans Instagram posts from your website, with text, image and a fixed time. Before approving, you can edit any text and add or remove regional hashtags. If you give a short reason, such as “always use a hashtag for the region”, Pipeflow turns it into a rule that you can see in the settings. How Pipeflow works for businesses all over Austria is explained on the page Social media automation in Austria.

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