Upper Austria (Oberösterreich) divides into three distinct zones. Linz on the Danube is a post-industrial city reinvented as a creative and technology hub, with the Ars Electronica Center and a compact Altstadt; Vienna to Linz by direct Westbahn takes about 70-90 minutes. The Salzkammergut lake district south of Linz holds Hallstatt, Mondsee, the Traunsee, and Bad Ischl, the Emperor’s summer resort; the Salzkammergut was the Habsburg salt-production zone and UNESCO-listed. The Muehlviertel to the north of the Danube is quiet granite highlands, largely off the tourist route. The Benedictine abbeys of St. Florian and Kremsmünster, both south of Linz, are among the finest Baroque complexes in the country. Plan 7-10 days to cover the main zones seriously.
state
Upper Austria
Upper Austria (Oberösterreich) holds two very different landscapes that rarely appear in the same itinerary. Linz, the state capital, transformed its steel-and-chemical industrial identity into a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts designation and built the Ars Electronica Center along the Danube.