Krems an der Donau

Krems is older than Vienna in documentary terms - it minted coins in the eleventh century - and it stands where the Wachau gorge opens into flatter country, which made it a trading and river town. The old centre is largely intact: the Steiner Tor gate of 1480, the Hoher Markt, Gozzoburg, a thirteenth-century merchant palace with painted rooms, arcaded courtyards and stepped lanes running down to the Danube, and the neighbouring town of Stein absorbed alongside. The Kunstmeile, an art mile in converted industrial and monastic buildings, holds the Kunsthalle Krems, the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich in a twisted concrete block of 2019, the caricature museum and the Dominican church. Wine is the other economy - Krems sits between the Wachau and the Kamptal.

What you actually see

• The Steiner Tor - the 1480 town gate at the head of the main street.
• Gozzoburg - a thirteenth-century merchant palace with painted medieval rooms.
• The Kunstmeile - galleries in converted industrial and monastic buildings.
• Stein - the absorbed neighbouring town along the river.

When to go

April to October; autumn for the wine season. A day.

Honest expectations

The old town is hilly with steps. Galleries close on Mondays and between exhibitions. Cyclists and boat traffic fill the riverside in summer. The centre is quiet on Sundays.

Nearby

Dürnstein and the Wachau are west; Göttweig Abbey is across the Danube.