Pielach

The Pielach is a river in south-western Lower Austria, flowing north for about 70 kilometres from its source high in the Türnitzer Alps to its mouth on the Danube near Melk. The Pielachtal, the valley it carves, lies between the Traisen valley to the east, the Erlauf valley to the south and the Melk valley to the west. The river drops from roughly 976 metres above sea level at its spring to about 200 metres where it joins the Danube, draining a catchment of some 590 square kilometres. Its main tributaries include the Schwarzenbach, Nattersbach, Weißenbach, Loichbach and Sierning, which join in sequence along the way. The landscape shows gentle hills, broad meadows and traditional orchards of Streuobst trees, with clusters of cornels known locally as Dirndln. The Pielach is one of Austria’s cleanest rivers, its banks largely untouched and protected as part of the Natura 2000 network. The water supports a rich fish population, including the huchen, a large predatory species stocked here, and provides food for birds such as the kingfisher, black stork and goosander. Around a hundred bird species live along the valley, and beavers have moved in from the Danube floodplains. The river’s steady flow once turned many mill wheels; today small hydro plants harness the same energy. Visitors follow the Pielach’s course through towns like Schwarzenbach, Frankenfels, Kirchberg and Rabenstein, where the Mariazeller railway runs close to the water. Between Hofstetten-Grünau and Haunoldstein the river passes orchards and small woods, its banks lined with cornels in autumn. The valley’s quiet lanes and riverside paths offer views of the surrounding hills and the distant peaks of the Türnitzer Alps.