The municipality is situated amidst the extended forests of the rural Waldviertel region, close to the border with the Czech Republic.

The Kuenring (or Kühnring) family of ministeriales had acquired the originally Bohemian estates in 1185; they fell from grace after the extinction of the Austrian ducal House of Babenberg in 1246, as they had sided with King Ottokar II of Bohemia against the rising Habsburg dynasty.

Ottokar was defeated by the Habsburg king Rudolf I of Germany at the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld, and Rudolph's son, Duke Albert I of Austria, finally seized Weitra in 1296.

In 1581, the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II enfeoffed Weitra to his chamberlain Wolf Rumpf who had the medieval castle rebuilt in its present Renaissance style.

Beside its historic textile industry, Weitra is known as the oldest beer-producing site in Austria with several breweries documented since the 14th century.