Mostviertel
Lakes, limestone peaks and pear trees in Lower Austria.
The Mostviertel is named after the pear cider pressed here for centuries, which already says a lot: it's a stretch of country named after something that ripens slowly.
In the south, where the Ybbstal Alps begin, lies Lunz am See — a village around a cold, clear lake that freezes in winter and rarely warms past eighteen degrees in summer. The mountains behind it are limestone: Ötscher, Dürrenstein, with primeval forest untouched since the last ice age.
The Mostviertel has no ski resort with a name, no cable car anyone has heard of. That's not a shortcoming. It's the reason Viennese come here once they've left the Semmering behind.
An hour and a half from Vienna, and you're somewhere nothing is passing through.
Lunz is one of those places where, on the second day, you notice you don't miss your phone. Refugium Lunz on the church square makes that easy: good cooking, rooms with their own sauna, and the lake five minutes on foot. We like that it's a house in the village, not a resort beside it. Come in June or September to swim and walk — or in January, when the lake is frozen and the village belongs only to itself.
