Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
departures for Melk (€5.80, 20 minutes) and at least four a day to Mariazell (€14.10, 2½
hours).
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Herzogenburg
Although the region around Lower Austria's capital won't bowl you over, the baroque
Augustinian abbey
Stift Herzogenburg
( 02782-831 12;
www.stift-herzogenburg.at
;
Herzogenburg; adult/
child €9/7; tours 9.30am, 11am, 1.30pm, 3pm & 4.30pm Apr-Oct)
is a highlight. Admission is with a
guided tour (in English at 9.30am and 11am Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), which in-
cludes the
Stiftskirche
and a late-Gothic collection of paintings by the Danube school of
artists.
Herzogenburg lies on the main train line between Krems (€3.80, 30 minutes) and St
Pölten (€3.70, 15 minutes); at least a dozen trains pass through the town's train station
(which is 10 minutes' walk from the abbey) daily.
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Mostviertel
The Mostviertel, in Lower Austria's southwestern corner, takes its name from apple cider
which is produced and consumed in the area. By Lower Austrian standards, the landscape
is spectacular, with the eastern Alps ever-present in its southern reaches. It's largely ig-
nored by international tourists and is certainly an area off the beaten track.
One town not to be missed is
Waidhofen an der Ybbs
, with historic gabled houses, arcaded
courtyards and dramatic onion domes. Staff at its
tourist office
( 07442-511 255;
www.waidhofen.at
;
Schlossweg 2; 9am-6pm Tue-Fri, to 5pm Sat)
have information on the town and
the numerous
mountain bike trails
of varying degrees of difficulty around Waidhofen. The
tourist office rents road bicycles and mountain bikes for €12 per day for a maximum of
one week. It also has useful maps of the region and can point you towards the mountain-
bike trails.
From Gstadt, Bundesstrasse 31 leads through some lovely mountainous country and a
string of pretty little villages such as
Göstling
,
Lunz am See
and
Gaming
.
