Seewinkel National Park

The Seewinkel is the flat land between the Neusiedler See and the Hungarian border, and what makes it exceptional is the water: dozens of shallow soda pans, the Lacken, sitting on saline ground, filling in spring and drying to white crusted mud in summer, with almost no depth at any time. That combination - shallow, saline, seasonal - produces feeding conditions that draw birds in numbers, and the area records well over three hundred species, with great bustard, avocet, black-winged stilt, spoonbill and enormous passage flocks of waders and geese. It is part of the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park, formed with Hungary in 1993, and the wider cultural landscape is inscribed by UNESCO. The terrain is entirely flat, which makes cycling the standard way to cover it, and hides are set out at the main pans.

What you actually see

• Shallow soda pans - the Lacken, filling in spring and drying to salt crust.
• Over three hundred bird species - including bustard, avocet and spoonbill.
• Hides at the main pans - watching points across the flat ground.
• A cross-border park - joined with the Hungarian side since 1993.

When to go

March to May and August to October for migration. A day.

Honest expectations

Bring binoculars or you will see very little. The plain is entirely exposed - no shade, and wind is constant. Many pans dry out completely by late summer. Mosquitoes are severe near water.

Nearby

Rust and its stork nests are across the lake; Podersdorf is north.