Neusiedl am See, Austria

 

Neusiedl am See is a city in the Neusiedler See region in Northern Burgenland. The district capital Neusiedl am See is located directly on Lake Neusiedl. It is particularly popular as a holiday destination in summer, as the Neusiedler See region has many activities to offer. Neusiedl am See is a suitable starting point for this. In Northern Burgenland, Neusiedl am See is known for its school center. You can choose from different subjects from the fields of tourism, economics and technology.

 

Sights

Neusiedl am See Parish Church: The church, which is essentially Gothic, was made baroque. The fisherman's pulpit dates from the 18th century.
Trinity Column: Erected from Kaiserstein in 1713/14 by the Kaisersteinbruch master stonemason Elias Hügel.

Column of Christ (1609).
Tabor ruins: ruins on the Taborberg, probably built in the 16th century as a military lookout tower against the Turks, later the southern end point of the Kuruzzenschanze (Old Schanze) in the fight against the insurgents under Franz Rákóczi.
Neusiedl Castle, former Berger barracks.
The Burgenland Way of St. James, coming from Frauenkirchen and mostly in Burgenland, leads through Neusiedl am See until it joins the Way of St. James in Austria in Haslau-Maria Ellend.

 

Getting there

By plane
The large international airport Vienna-Schwechat is 36 km away and can be reached in 30 minutes by car via the A4 (Ostautobahn). Bratislava Airport can also be reached within half an hour by car via the A6. However, this is 51 km north of Neusiedl am See.

By train
The city has a well-developed rail network. The surrounding villages (Parndorf, Weiden, Pamhagen) can be reached every hour by regional train. The train stations Wein-Meidling and Vienna Central Station as well as Eisenstadt and Wiener Neustadt are served several times a day.

Coming from Budapest (Keleti) and Bratislava (Petržalka) you have to change trains in Bruck an der Leitha.

By bus
Neusiedl am See is served every hour by buses from Vienna (Südtiroler Platz) and Eisenstadt (Domplatz). The surrounding towns can also be reached several times an hour.

In the street
Coming from Vienna via the A4 to the Neusiedl am See exit. The journey time is about 50 minutes.

From Eisenstadt the B50 federal road leads to Neusiedl am See; it takes 40 minutes.

From Budapest you take the M1 motorway (toll) via Győr to the border at Nickelsdorf and continue on the A4 to the Neusiedl am See exit. Travel time approx. 2 hours.

From Bratislava you drive on the D4 motorway (toll) via Petržalka and Jarovce to Kittsee and then on the A6 to the Bruckneudorf junction. There you change to the A4 towards Budapest, which you leave at the Neusiedl am See exit (30 minutes). If you want to save yourself the Slovak and Austrian motorway vignette, you can also drive via the small border crossing at Jarovce to Kittsee, then continue on the B50 to Gattendorf, on the B10 to Parndorf and again on the B50 to Neusiedl (45 min).

By boat
The city cannot be reached directly by ship. There are berths for line and other crossings in Podersdorf and Illmitz, which can be reached by bus and car in around 20 minutes.

 

Around the city

As a school town in Burgenland, Neusiedl am See has excellent bus connections to Eisenstadt and the Seewinkel. The buses run every hour. There is also a large main train station, from which Vienna, Eisenstadt and the Seewinkel are served every hour. It should be noted that the times of the buses and trains on weekends and public holidays may differ from the regular schedules. However, the stations are extensively signposted and equipped with monitors that show the current timetables.

 

Geography

Geographical location

Neusiedl am See, 133 m above sea level, is located on the northern shore of Lake Neusiedl between the foothills of the Leitha Mountains and the Parndorfer Platte. The municipal area is characterized by the surrounding vineyards and by the Kalvarienberg and the Taborberg clay massif.

650 hectares of the city area are in the Zitzmannsdorfer Wiesen national park area.

 

Climate

A new temperature record for Burgenland was recorded in Neusiedl am See on August 8, 2013 with a maximum temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius.

 

History

The first documented mention of "Sumbotheil" (Eng. Saturday market) dates back to the year 1209. In the middle of the 13th century the place was destroyed by the Mongols and repopulated around 1282 under the name "Niusidel". In 1517 Neusiedl received market rights. Neusiedl was devastated in 1683 during the second Turkish siege and in 1708 by the Kurucs. In 1926, Neusiedl am See received city rights, which had already been applied for in 1824 in vain.

Like the entire Burgenland, the town belonged to Hungary (German-West Hungary) until 1920/21. After the end of the First World War, after tough negotiations, German-West Hungary was ceded to Austria in the 1919 treaties of St. Germain and Trianon. The place has belonged to the newly founded federal state of Burgenland since 1921 (see also History of Burgenland).

Between July 1944 and April 1945, Hungarian Jews, including women and children, were used as forced laborers in a brick factory.

 

Population development

Due to the favorable transport connections to the greater Vienna area, the city has had one of the highest population growth rates in Burgenland since the 1980s, alongside Parndorf.

Until 2011 Oberwart was the second largest city in Burgenland after the provincial capital Eisenstadt. After the number of inhabitants in Neusiedl am See had risen faster, Oberwart was from then on only the third largest town in Burgenland. On January 1, 2023, Neusiedl am See, Burgenland's second largest city, had 8,948 inhabitants.

 

Economy and Infrastructure

Traffic

Road: Neusiedl am See has transport links to the greater Vienna area via the A4 motorway. In addition, the municipality is the starting point of the Neusiedler Straße (B 51) and connected to the Burgenland Straße (B 50). In November 2007, the Neusiedl am See–Bratislava motorway link was opened (A4/A6).
Bus: Neusiedl is also the hub for many ÖBB post buses and regional buses from Südburg, all of which belong to the Verkehrsverbund Ost-Region (VOR).
Train: In addition to a stop for the Pannoniabahn, the terminus of the Neusiedler Seebahn is also located here.
History: With the narrow-gauge railway to Lake Neusiedl, the city of Neusiedl am See had its own non-electrified tram line from 1928 to 1939. From December 2006 to June 2014, Neusiedl am See also had a city bus line that was operated under the name ne'mo (neusiedl mobil).

 

Established businesses

Neusiedl lives from viticulture, tourism and numerous commercial enterprises. Due to the lido, the main season for tourism is in summer, with visitors from the greater Vienna area, but also numerous guests from southern Germany using the nearby swimming, windsurfing, kite surfing and sailing opportunities. From spring to late autumn, Neusiedl am See is a popular starting point for cycling tours in the Neusiedler See region thanks to the good transport connections.

In the winter months, the frozen lake, which is closed for weeks, also attracts numerous ice skating and ice sailing tourists.

Numerous commercial and trading companies are based in Neusiedl am See. At the end of the 1990s, a large commercial park with a technology center was built at the motorway exit. In Parndorf, directly adjacent to Neusiedl am See, there is a designer outlet center with dozens of fashion brand shops. Since the third quarter of 2006, Neusiedl am See has had its own shopping center called "Pannonia".

 

Public facilities

As the district capital, Neusiedl am See is the seat of a district court and the district administration. The labor market service also has its district headquarters in the city. Berger barracks have been located in Neusiedl am See since the 19th century and were used until mid-2006 as part of the army's assistance mission on the Hungarian border. At the end of July 2006, however, the barracks were abandoned and stripped down to the listed main part to make room for terraced houses. There is also a police post in Neusiedl. The district office of the Red Cross, which has been entrusted with the rescue service by all communities in the district, is also based in Neusiedl.

 

Education

In addition to a public and a private Roman Catholic elementary school and a Roman Catholic Secondary school, Neusiedl am See has a sports secondary school, a polytechnic school and the Neusiedl grammar school, a federal grammar school and a real grammar school. Other schools are a higher education institute for economics and tourism (Pannoneum), a commercial academy and commercial school (Academy of Economics), which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015. There are four municipal kindergartens for the city's youngest residents (Kindergarten Gartenweg – formerly Roman Catholic kindergarten, Kindergarten Am Tabor, Montessori Children's House, Kindergarten Storchennest).

 

Leisure and sports facilities


Neusiedl am See has a newly developed lido with a sailing center and schools for kitesurfing and windsurfing. The lido also offers beach volleyball and beach soccer courts as well as a basketball court.

In addition, there is an indoor swimming pool in Neusiedl am See (with a fun and skate park right next to it), a golf course, tennis courts, a soccer field with natural and artificial turf and a riding stable. Neusiedl am See is also particularly popular with cyclists, as it is located directly on the cycle route around Lake Neusiedl.

Due to the successes in sailing at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, a federal sports center was set up in Neusiedl to promote sailing for young people.

Two long-distance hiking trails, the Central Alpine Trail and the Burgenland Long-Distance Trail, run through the municipality.

 

Nursing home

Caritas Burgenland offers care for sixty people in need of care in the St. Nikolaus house.