Austria Guide
Lower Austria
Lower Austria, or Niederösterreich ( 
www.noe.co.at ), is easily the largest and most populous of all the Austrian Länder, yet also the least explored by tourists. One reason is that, apart from the foothills on the border with Styria, the landscape doesn't conform to the country's alpine image. Most visitors don't come to Austria to roam the gently rolling countryside that characterizes much of Lower Austria, or the unrelenting flat plain of the Marchfeld that extends east of Vienna. Only the famously un-blue Danube (Donau), which splits the region in two, attracts and justifies tourists in any great number, particularly along the most scenic stretch known as the Wachau.
Highlights
1 Krems an der Donau Hugely atmospheric old trading town, the finest along the Danube, with a wonderfully preserved late-medieval centre.
2 The Wachau Evocative castles rub shoulders with grand abbeys and idyllic vineyards along the most picturesque stretch of the Danube.
3 Melk A visual feast of High Baroque and probably the most spectacularly sited abbey in all Austria.
4 Schloss Drosendorf Sleep under stucco at this Renaissance castle in a tiny walled town perched above the Thaya.
5 Altenburg Baroque monastery as awesome as Melk, yet with a fraction of the visitors.
6 Marchegg Tiny walled town by the Slovak border that's perfect for observing nesting white and black storks.
7 Puchberg-am-Schneeberg and Raxalpe Two mountain excursions within striking distance of one another: a cog railway up the Schneeberg and Austria's first-ever cable car up the Raxalpe.