Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), known as “the cradle of Austria’s history,” is the largest of the nine federal states that make up the country today. Although the province is located to the east of Upper Austria, it’s named Lower Austria because it sits lower on the Danube, which flows through it from west to east. The 19,171 sq. km (7,402 sq. miles) of the state are bordered on the north by the Czech Republic, on the east by Slovakia, on the south by the province of Styria, and on the west by Upper Austria. It lies on Vienna’s doorstep and can easily be visited from there.

This historic area was once heavily fortified, as some 550 fortresses and castles testify – many are still standing, but often in ruins. The medieval Kuenringer and Babenberger dynasties had their hereditary estates here. At the foothills of the Alps is Wiener Neustadt, the former imperial city. Along the Danube, Dürnstein, with terraced vineyards, was where Richard the Lion-Hearted was held prisoner. Many monasteries and churches, from Romanesque and Gothic structures to the much later baroque abbeys, are also found in Lower Austria. Klosterneuburg Abbey dates from 1114, and Heiligenkreuz, founded in 1133, is the country’s most ancient Cistercian abbey. The province is filled with vineyards, and in summer it booms with music festivals and classical and contemporary theater.