Thayatal National Park

Thayatal was gazetted in 2000 over about thirteen square kilometres along the Thaya river where it winds through a deep wooded gorge, and its ecology is a direct consequence of politics: the river was the Iron Curtain border, the valley was closed military ground for forty years, and nothing was farmed, built or forested in it, so what emerged in 1990 was a stretch of central European river valley in a condition that exists almost nowhere else. Over thirteen hundred plant species have been recorded in that small area, along with wildcat, black stork and eagle owl. It works as a single park with the Czech Podyjí on the other bank. Hardegg, the smallest town in Austria, sits at the bottom with a bridge across to the Czech side, reopened in 1990 after decades closed.

What you actually see

• A closed border valley - forty years inside the Iron Curtain, never developed.
• Austria's smallest national park - thirteen square kilometres of gorge.
• Over 1,300 plant species - the density that came from being left alone.
• Hardegg and its bridge - the smallest town in Austria and the reopened crossing.

When to go

April to October. A day.

Honest expectations

The park is small and the trails are steep in and out of the gorge. Visitor centre hours are seasonal. Wildcats are present but effectively never seen.

Nearby

Podyjí National Park is across the river; Retz and its wine cellars are south.