The Rába is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in southeastern Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and western Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 and a right tributary of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

. Its source is in Austria, some kilometres east of Bruck an der Mur

Bruck an der Mur

Bruck an der Mur is a city of some 13,500 people located in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the Mur and Mürz Rivers. Its manufactures include metal products and paper; Bruck is an important rail junction in the region located on the Graz to Vienna main...

 below Heubodenhöhe Hill. It flows through the Austrian states of Styria

Styria (state)

Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states, covering 16,401 km². It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. ...

 and Burgenland

Burgenland

Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...

, and the Hungarian counties of Vas

Vas

Vas is the name of an administrative county in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. The county is a part of the Centrope Project.-Geography:...

 and Győr-Moson-Sopron

Gyor-Moson-Sopron

Győr-Moson-Sopron is the name of an administrative county in north-western Hungary, on the border with Slovakia and Austria. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Komárom-Esztergom, Veszprém and Vas. The capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county is Győr...

. It flows into a tributary of the Danube (Mosoni-Duna) in northwestern Hungary, in the city of Győr

Gyor

-Climate:-Main sights:The ancient core of the city is Káptalan Hill at the confluence of three rivers: the Danube, Rába and Rábca. Püspökvár, the residence of Győr’s bishops can be easily recognised by its incomplete tower. Győr’s oldest buildings are the 13th-century dwelling tower and the...

. Towns along the Rába include Gleisdorf

Gleisdorf

Gleisdorf is a small town in "East Styria" , about 25 km east of Graz. It is situated in the valley of the Raab in the district Weiz.-Sister cities:* Winterbach im Remstal * Nagykanizsa...

, Feldbach

Feldbach, Austria

Feldbach is a town in the southeast of the Austrian state of Styria, near the Slovenian and Hungarian border. It is located in the valley around the river Raab.- History :...

 (both in Austria), and Szentgotthárd

Szentgotthárd

Szentgotthárd is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the Rába River near the Austrian border, and is home to much of Hungary's small Slovene ethnic minority....

 and Körmend

Körmend

-Places of interest:The town is especially well known for its castle which used to belong to the Batthyany family, one of the most important aristocrat families of Hungary. Blessed Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann , a famous ophthalmologist who was beatified by the Catholic Church, lived in the...

 (in Hungary). In the early Tertiary

Tertiary

The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...

 the river used to flow in the opposite direction, but tectonic uplift reversed this flow.

The Rába Slovenes, living in the Rába Valley (Sln. Porabje, Hung. Vendvidék), are the westernmost group of Hungarian Slovenes

Hungarian Slovenes

Hungarian Slovenes are an autochthonous ethnic and linguistic Slovene minority living in Hungary. The largest groups are the Rába Slovenes in the Rába Valley in western Hungary between the town of Szentgotthárd and the borders with Slovenia and Austria. They speak the Prekmurje dialect of Slovene...

. The Raba Valley is part of the wider region of Prekmurje

Prekmurje

Prekmurje is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region settled by Slovenes and lying between the Mur River in Slovenia and the Rába Valley in the most western part of Hungary...

.