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Lower Austria

Providing popular day-trip material from Vienna, Lower Austria possesses the country's most vibrant cultural landscape, a combination of vineyards and art, monasteries and low wooded hills. Through this enchanting scene flows the mighty Danube which forms the famous Wachau – one of Europe's most fascinating valleys, watched over by castles and medieval villages.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Lower Austria.

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    Stift Melk

    Of the many abbeys in Austria, Stift Melk is the most famous. Possibly Lower Austria's finest, the monastery church dominates the complex with its twin spires and high octagonal dome. The interior is baroque gone barmy, with a riot of chubby cherubs, barley-sugar twirls and polished faux marble. The theatrical high-altar scene, depicting St Peter and St Paul (the church's two patron saints), is by Peter Widerin. Johann Michael Rottmayr created most of the ceiling paintings, including those in the dome.

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    Stift Göttweig

    Founded in 1083, the abbey was devastated by fire in the early 18th century and so sports an impressive baroque interior. It's still a working monastery today. Aside from the sublime view back across the Danube Valley from its garden terrace and restaurant, the abbey’s highlights include the Imperial Staircase with a heavenly ceiling fresco painted by Paul Troger in 1739, and the over-the-top baroque interior of the Stiftskirche, which has a Kremser Schmidt work in the crypt.

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    Nationalpark Donau-Auen

    Nationalpark Donau-Auen is a thin strip of natural flood plain on either side of the Danube, running from Vienna to the Slovak border. Established as a national park in 1997, it was the culmination of 13 years of protest and environmentalist action against the building of a hydroelectric power station in Hainburg an der Donau. You’ll find plentiful flora and fauna, including 700 species of fern and flowering plants, and a high density of kingfishers (feeding off the 50 species of fish).

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    Landesgalerie NÖ

    From one side it looks like a squashed cube, from the other as though it's about to topple over – welcome to the latest addition to Krems' Kunstmeile: a bold, 21st-century statement in grey aluminium tiles that looms over the newly created Museumsplatz like an alien spacecraft. It's a more than apt setting for the ever-changing exhibitions of edgy modern art and contemporary installations inside, and gives focus to the 'Art Mile' that had been missing up until it opened in 2019.

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    Domäne Wachau

    If you're intent on tasting the best of what the Wachau has to offer, it's a good idea to do a broad range of vineyards, from the innovative family-run operations to the big boys like Domäne Wachau, one of the region's most well-known producers internationally. A large, modern tasting room is set back from the river and staffed by an army of keen young assistants. It also stocks some nice local food products if wine's not your thing.

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    Egon Schiele Museum

    The Egon Schiele Museum, housed in a former jail near the Danube, vividly presents the story of the life of the Tulln-born artist. It presents around 100 of his paintings and sketches, and a mock-up of the cell where he was briefly imprisoned, when he fell foul of the law in 1912 and over 100 of his erotic drawings were seized. Schiele-themed temporary exhibitions add more flesh to the bones.

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    Piaristenkirche

    Reached by a covered stairway (Piaristenstiege) from Pfarrplatz, Krems' most impressive church has a wonderful webbed Gothic ceiling and huge, austerely plain windows. It's most atmospheric after dark, when you can best imagine the spectacle of the massive baroque altar for the 18th-century parishioners.

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    Forum Frohner

    Part of Krems' Kunsthalle network, this contemporary white cube is named after the artist Adolf Frohner and is housed in the former Minorite monastery. It has an impressive calendar of conceptual work, both international and Austrian.

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    Kunsthalle Krems

    One of the main attractions on Krems' Kunstmeile, the Kunsthalle has a program of changing exhibitions. These might be mid-19th-century landscapes or hard-core conceptual works, but are always well curated.