Sankt Pölten, Austria

Sankt Pölten is Austria's youngest state capital — named capital of Lower Austria only in 1986 after the state administration was finally separated from Vienna — and one of the most architecturally interesting small Austrian cities for that reason. The compact baroque old town in the Traisen valley sits beside a deliberately commissioned modern Regierungsviertel (Government Quarter) of the 1990s, anchored by the Festspielhaus concert and dance hall, the Klangturm sound tower and the Museum Niederösterreich. Both halves are walkable inside thirty minutes, and the city's position on the western railway line puts it 25 minutes from central Vienna on the direct Railjet service. The Wachau, the Voralpen pre-Alpine ranges and the abbey of Melk are all within an easy half-hour for travellers using St. Pölten as a base.