Burgenland is Austria's eastern frontier and its most distinctive landscape: a flat Pannonian world of reed lakes, stork villages, and warm wine country that feels nothing like the alpine Austria most visitors expect. The Neusiedler See, a UNESCO-listed steppe lake so shallow you can wade hundreds of meters from the shore, sits less than an hour from Vienna by car or train. The surrounding wine country, particularly around Rust and Illmitz, produces some of Austria's best reds and dessert wines. Eisenstadt, the capital, was where Joseph Haydn composed for the Esterházy court. Bad Tatzmannsdorf is the region's thermal spa. Burgenland joined Austria from Hungary only in 1921 and its eastern, Central European character persists.