Eggenburg: Pretty far from Everything
Since the northern parts of Lower Austria are widely neglected by international tourists, the "pretty far away from anything else" town of Eggenburg does not receive an awful lot of attention by visitors. If for any reason at all, people use it as a stop-over destination on a trip between Vienna and the Czech Republic. Those who make it there might be surprised about the pretty historic city centre of Eggenburg.
The obligatory main square or Hauptplatz features a Baroque plague column, a Gothic parish church including a filled Charnel House, and several Baroque and Renaissance burgher houses, some of which bear noteworthy sgraffitos. Eggenburg′s town walls invite visitors to explore the ancient fortifications. An idea of how much effort went into the construction of these can be obtained from the walls by the Kanzlerturm Tower, which houses a small museum of the local "Bürgerkorps" or "citizen militia" (now a historic thing).
Sightseeing on the Edge (of Austria)
Beyond that, there are three more museums in Eggenburg: The Krahuletz Museum, which houses a private collection of fossils and minerals gathered by the local geologist Johann Krahuletz. The town museum is located in the first floor of the same building and presents the usual array of items with some sort of significance for the town′s history, starting with some nice pieces from the Iron Age.
The third museum is the "Österreichisches Motorradmuseum" or "Austrian Motorcycle Museum", which attracts nation-wide attention among bike-aficionados due to its well-kept collection of more than 300 old motorcycles.
Nearby attractions are rare, as I stated above - Gars, Horn and Rosenburg are local villages that might be worth a closer look if you have a lot of time to kill. Otherwise, I would recommend moving on northwards to the towns near the Czech border. Retz, Hardegg and Drosendorf are pretty places and the monastery of Geras is certainly worth a visit. If you travel with your own car, it is relatively easy to go to Krems, which is about 40 kilometres south of Eggenburg.
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Sightseeing by Austrian Province
Bregenz and Vorarlberg - Innsbruck and Tyrol - Salzburg - Salzkammergut - Graz and Styria - Klagenfurt and Carinthia - Wachau and Lower Austria - Vienna - Burgenland
Further Reading
Official Website of Lower Austria
