The Wachau is a well known Austrian valley with a landscape of high visual quality formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located between the towns of Melk and Krems. It is 30 km in length and was already settled in prehistoric times. A well-known place and tourist magnet is Dürnstein, where King Richard the Lion-Heart of England was held captive by Duke Leopold V.
The Wachau is well known for its production of apricots and grapes, both of which are used to produce specialty liquors and wines.
The Wachau was added to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites in recongition of its architectural and agricultural history.
Related to the Austrian Wachau is an area in North Carolina, comprising most of Forsyth County. Founded in 1753 by members of the Moravian Church the colony of 100,000 acres was named "die Wachau" after the valley in Austria because western North Carolina reminded their leader Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg of the ancestral home of the Moravians' patron Nicolaus Ludwig, Imperial Count von Zinzendorf 1700-1760. Now the Latin form of the name, Wachovia, is used, hence the name of the Wachovia Corporation founded there in 1879.
Wachau is also the name of a municipality in the district of Kamenz in Saxony, Germany