Kamptal and Waldviertel: castles beyond the Wachau

Route description

From Krems, at the eastern gate of the Wachau, drive north to Langenlois, Austria’s largest wine town, surrounded by terraces of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The Heiligenstein vineyard hill is a good short walk.

The B34 follows the winding Kamp valley north through Gars am Kamp, a small summer resort with a castle ruin, to the Rosenburg, a Renaissance castle famous for its falconry shows. Horn has a pleasant old town, and nearby Altenburg Abbey has a Baroque library to rival Melk’s, without the crowds.

West of here the Waldviertel, the “forest quarter”, is a high plateau of fields, granite boulders and fish ponds. Zwettl has a Cistercian abbey and a brewery, and Rappottenstein Castle, never conquered, stands on a rock in the woods south-west of the town.

Finish at Gmünd on the Czech border, where the Blockheide nature park has rocking granite boulders. The Waldviertel is cooler than the Danube valley and few tourists venture here, so campsites and parking are easy; autumn colours and the poppy fields around Armschlag in July are the highlights.