Podersdorf am See

The Neusiedler See is ringed almost entirely by a reed belt several hundred metres wide, so most villages on it have no actual shoreline - you reach the water down a channel. Podersdorf is the exception: the reeds thin here and the village has open water at the edge of the settlement with a beach and a lido, which is why it takes most of the lake's swimming traffic. The lake is shallow, rarely more than two metres, so it warms fast and is safe to stand in almost anywhere, and the wind that runs across the flat Pannonian plain is reliable enough that Podersdorf is the main windsurfing and kitesurfing base in Austria. A lighthouse stands on the mole. Cycling round the lake and into Hungary is a standard route.

History

Finds from the Stone Age and Bronze Age show that the area has been lived in for a very long time, and from the 1970s more than 40 Avar graves of the 7th century were uncovered here. The village, then a small peasant settlement owned by Heiligenkreuz Abbey, first appears in a document of 1217 recording King Andrew II's donation to the Cistercian order. Until 1919-20 it was called Patfal and belonged to Hungary; the treaties that followed the First World War awarded the region to Austria, and since 1921 Podersdorf has been part of the state of Burgenland (Wikipedia, Podersdorf am See).

What to look for

• Open water at the shore - the one break in the reed belt round the lake.
• A shallow warm lake - rarely over two metres, standable almost everywhere.
• Reliable wind - the reason it is Austria's windsurfing and kitesurfing centre.
• The lighthouse mole - the landmark on the harbour arm.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Good to know

The lake is shallow, muddy-bottomed and greenish - it is not clear alpine water. High summer packs the beach. Levels have dropped markedly in dry years, which is an ongoing concern.

Nearby

The Seewinkel pans are inland; Rust and Mörbisch are across the lake.