Danube - Sailing Tour - Strudengau

The Grein Theater stands on the left bank of the Danube and is the main venue for the annual Strudengau Festival. The festival runs from early to late August, with numerous performances of drama, operettas, and full-scale operas. Many other venues are also used for the festival, including the Greinburg Castle, the Waldhausen Abbey Church, the Bad Kreuzen Church, the Innerstein Palace and the Ardagger Abbey Basilica.

Above Persenbeug (on the left side of the Danube; alt. 225m/738ft) stands Schloss Persenbeug, on a crag overhanging the river. First established in the ninth C., it dates in its present form from 1617-21. Charles I, the last Austrian Emperor (1887-1922), was born here. Below the Schloss stands the Ybbs-Persenbeug power station (conducted tours).

Off the little market town of Struden (on the left side of the Danube), with the ruined castle of Werferstein, lies the wooded island of Wörth. Beyond this follows another charming stretch of river, with the picturesque hamlet of St Nikola and Sarmingstein, where the Danube enters Lower Austria. Above Sarmingstein-Waldhausen stand the ruined castles of Säbnich and Freyenstein. The Strudengau now gradually opens out.