Become an adventurer in archaic nature

The cultural natural landscape around Seewinkel at the corner of Lake Neusiedel forms the transition zone between the Little Hungarian Plain and the eastern boarder of the Alps, connecting two contrasting landscapes and two different living environments. This unique mix is also accompanied by a wide variety of plants and wildlife.

Before it was inhabited, the Seewinkel was partially forested. The clearing work freed up valuable grasslands, which served the surrounding villages as a huge tending pasture for centuries. Until the middle of the 20th century, shepherds and their dogs herded livestock including cows, pigs, goats and gees from the villages to the large communal pastures to between March and September to be "tended" - hence the term "tending pasture". Today this cultural landscape is used primarily for wine-making.

A number of different domestic animals are used to protect and tend to the original living spaces in the Lake Neusiedel/Seewinkel National Park. In the Apetlon Long Lake conservation zone, south-west of the St. Martins Thermal Baths & Lodge, a herd of Simmental cattle tend to the pasturelands.

There are around 40 salt lakes in the Seewinkel. They have no natural drainage, meaning that they are extremely salty. However the number of salt lakes has been halved in the second half of the 20th century. The so-called Long Lake is the largest of them all.