We will be finishing a 11 day trip to Prague and Vienna and are thinking of spending a few days in the countryside riding bicycles along the Danube, perhaps a hike or two, and visiting wineries. What town will be an ideal home base and please offer lodging suggestions if you have a favorite. We will be flying out of Vienna late morning at the conclusion of our Wachau valley stay.
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5372 posts
We always stay in Duernstein, but Weissenkirchen and Spitz are also very nice small villages. In Duernstein, we stay at Gasthaus Stöger, which has an amazing garden. Krems is a much larger town and is charming, but lacks the countryside feel. Melk is much smaller than Krems and has a village feel, but is quite heavily touristed. If you do a search, you might find even smaller villages in between Melk and Krems with nice lodging.
I would add that you must allow at least two hours to get from the Wachau to the airport. If your flight out is late morning, then I question your timeframe here.
Posted by
Hickory, NC USA
437 posts
We stayed in Melk in a 2 BR apartment at the hotel zur Post and then I moved to an airport hotel before a morning flight home. I loved Melk, had some nice meals, walked all around the gardens at the monastery after my visit, and used hotel bikes to ride down to Krems, stopping a number of places, then take the boat back. The only thing I would change would be to pay to rent better bikes.
My son travels from Wels to Vienna all the time to take late morning flights home (usually leaving in the wee hours), but I like to be nearer the airport. Plus, my travel day back from Vienna (alone, since I was the only one flying home) was on my birthday and I took the afternoon and early evening for one last farewell to Vienna, visiting the Albertina and then picking up my birthday cake at the Sacher Café and bringing it all the way home to share with my husband, so I made it fun.
Posted by
OP
Oak Park
243 posts
Thank you for your advise. We will modify our trip and stay in Vienna for the last evening. We have several small towns to choose from and will have to research and see which one fits us best.
Posted by
shingle springs, CA, USA
782 posts
I have also stayed at the Hotel Zur Post,great location, staff and Restaurant.The owners were fantastic with Tips and places to Day trip to.
Mike
Posted by
Melbourne, Australia
17 posts
Hi Nick,
I agree with Emily's post. Melk is a nice place to camp. The town has a lovely "village" feel to it. Krems, i was quite take aback by how "busy" it was. Durnstein is lovely but small. We stayed overnight at Maria Taferl. Very small town, 1 street, 2 hotels, 1 church. Hotel Rose was simple, amazing views and good food.