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Unfolding across the gently undulating countryside, this under-the-radar region has a taste of all that is great about Austria. For starters, there's the mighty Danube and a rich musical heritage, old-world coffee houses and castle-topped medieval towns, and resplendent Augustinian abbeys and spas.
Beyond the high-tech museums and avant-garde galleries of Linz lies a land in miniature filled with surprises: from rustic farmhouses serving home-grown Most (cider) to the limestone pinnacles of the Kalkalpen, where the elusive lynx roams and picturesque towns such as Steyr and Schärding are painted in a palette of ice cream–coloured hues. Whether you're among the mist-shrouded hills rippling towards the Czech Republic or wheat fields fading into a watercolour distance at dusk, you'll find these landscapes have a quiet, lingering beauty of their own.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Upper Austria.
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The technology, science and digital media of the future are in the spotlight at Linz' biggest crowd-puller. In the labs you can interact with robots, animate digital objects, print 3D structures, turn your body into musical instruments and (virtually) travel to outer space. Kids love it. Designed by Vienna-based architectural firm Treusch, the centre resembles a futuristic ship by the Danube after dark, when its LED glass skin kaleidoscopically changes colour.
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Overlooking the Danube, the rectangular glass-and-steel Lentos is strikingly illuminated by night. The gallery guards one of Austria's finest modern-art collections, including works by Warhol, Schiele, Klimt, Kokoschka and Lovis Corinth, which sometimes feature in the large-scale exhibitions. Download Lentos' app from the website, or rent a multimedia guide (€2). Regular guided tours in German and 30-minute guided tours in English at 4pm on the first Saturday of the month are included in admission.
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Also known as the Neuer Dom, this neo-Gothic giant of a cathedral lifts your gaze to its riot of pinnacles, flying buttresses and filigree-traceried windows. Designed in the mid-19th century by Vinzenz Statz of Cologne Dom fame, the cathedral sports a tower whose height was restricted to 134m, so as not to outshine Stephansdom in Vienna. The interior is lit by a veritable curtain of stained glass, including the Linzer Fenster, depicting scenes from Linz' history.
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Kremsmünster’s enormous Benedictine abbey dates from 777, but was given a baroque facelift in the 18th century. Elaborate stucco and frescoes shape the long, low Bibliothek (library), where shelves creak under 160,000 volumes, and the Kaisersaal (Emperor’s Hall). The most prized piece in the Schatzkammer (treasury) is the gold Tassilo Chalice, which the Duke of Bavaria donated to the monks in about 780. You can visit all three on a one-hour guided tour (available in English).
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Street art comes into its own on the graffiti-blasted industrial facades in Linz' harbourside Hafenviertel. You'll find eye-catching, larger-than-life works from the likes of Roa (Belgium), Lords (USA), Aryz (Spain) and a host of Austrian artists. For more insider info, join one of the regular walks, workshops or cruises; combination tours include stencil and spray-can classes (you can also take classes separately). Visit the website for times and dates.
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Linz spreads out beneath you atop Pöstlingberg (537m), a precipitous 20- to 30-minute ride aboard the narrow-gauge Pöstlingbergbahn from the Hauptplatz. It's Austria's – and one of the world's – steepest adhesion railways (running on electricity alone, rather than cables and pulleys), which is quite some feat for such a low-lying city. At the summit is the turn-of-the-century Grottenbahn, where families – and anyone who loves a bit of cult kitsch – can board the dragon train to trundle past gnomes, glittering stalactites and scenes from Grimms’ fairy tales.
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Part of the Stift Kremsmünster complex, the 50m-high Sternwarte is dedicated to numerous schools of natural history. Spanning seven floors, the mind-boggling collection steps from fossilised starfish to the skeleton of an Ice Age cave bear. It’s a giddy climb up a spiral staircase to the top floor, which displays the Keppler sextant and affords a bird’s-eye perspective of the town and gently rolling countryside beyond. Guided tours are available in English.
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Housed in a sumptuous late-19th-century building, the Landesgalerie focuses on 20th- and 21st-century paintings, photography and installations. The rotating exhibitions often zoom in on works by Upper Austrian artists, such as Alfred Kubin's expressionist fantasies and Valie Export's shocking Viennese Actionist–inspired pieces. The open-air sculpture park contrasts modern sculpture with the gallery's neoclassical architecture.
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Romans, Habsburg emperors, fire – Linz' castle has seen the lot. Enjoy the panoramic city views before delving into its museum's trove of treasures, gathered from abbeys and palaces over the centuries. The collection skips through art, archaeology, historical weapons and instruments, technology and folklore. The Gothic ecclesiastical paintings are a real highlight.