Wachau - The Vibrant Valley

The Wachau is a ~30 km long region, located in & around the Danube valley between the Lower Austrian cities Melk and Krems an der Donau. Famous for its unique landscape, which earned it the title of UNESCO World Heritage, and only 80 km away from Austria’s capital Vienna, it has become an attractive travel destination for tourists from all around the world.

Characterized by the Danube as its dominating center, the valley around it is well known, mostly, for its large vineyards, reaching even the top of the hills which flank the river banks. In between the endless vineyards: orchards – apricot orchards to be precisely. The harvesting of the apricots has turned into a popular seasonal event not just among the local population, but also for outsiders.

The natural scenery gets separated only by human made structures, in the form of tiny villages, all kept in very traditional architecture. You will hardly find any buildings higher than 3-4 floors; not even hotels. City-like structures are more to be found in the cities Melk and Krems, which mark the entry and exit points of the Wachau.
The only tall buildings in the valley, are the monumental & dominating leftovers from another era of time: ruins of former mighty fortresses, castles, defense churches with impressive towers and of course huge monasteries – so huge, that even filmed by air it’s still hard to imagine their colossal size.
It’s these achievements of humanity, which give the region also a rich cultural aspect to be discovered. The church of Weissenkirchen for example, stores Austria’s oldest school in its walls.

The word, which describes the Wachau best, would be: vibrant.
It’s probably because of this reason, why already the roman empire had cultivated it – remains from their time can still be found along the many pathways through the region. Even long before the romans, around 27.000 B.C., humanity already knew about the advantages of these lands. An ancient sculpture found from this time, the so-called “Venus von Willendorf”, is the most famous representative, symbolizing the areas fruitfulness.

If you decide to come and visit this fairytale-like valley, a bicycle would be your best choice of transportation, during your stay in the region. While there are small Danube cruisers and even an own Wachau railway, bicycles give you the most freedom if you want to discover all the corners of the Wachau.