Freistadt is a small walled town in Upper Austria's Mühlviertel, north of Linz and close to the old route toward Bohemia. The name means "free town", and the old trading role is still legible in its gates, towers, main square, and former salt house.
The centre is the reason to come. Freistadt's rectangular Hauptplatz sits inside a ring of medieval defences, with the Linz Gate, Bohemian Gate, and towers making an easy walking circuit. The castle now holds the Mühlviertel Castle Museum.
Freistadt is not a big-ticket Austrian stop, but it clears the day-trip bar from Linz. It has a coherent old town, a fortified shape you can still read on foot, and enough architecture to reward a slow afternoon.