Melk to Durnstein by boat, Return by bus?

This is the bus timetable for going to Melk from Dürnstein (or the other way round):
http://www.zuklinbus.at/Fahrplaene%20PDF/waldviertel/wl1.pdf

I suggest that you take as much time as possible in Dürnstein. Not only the medieval town is worth visiting, but walk up to the castle ruin and climb there to the summit. If weather permits you will have a marvelous view of the Wachau valley.

The bus passes through a tunnel beneath the old village of Duernstein, with stops at each end of it.

Hi jctimson,

May I ask if you did take the bus from Durnstein to Melk? How long does the ride take? It looks to me that there is no bus running from Durnstein to Melk in the afternoon. Is that correct? I plan to take a bike ride from Melk to Durnstein (leaving Melk around noon time), drop off the bike at Durnstein and take the bus back to Melk to get back on the cruise. Thank you.

Mei

Yes, there are buses all day so you will be able to take the WL1 in the afternoon without problem.

Did you look at the link to the schedule provided above?

Even though the poster said the bus schedule link was "from Melk to Durnstein," it's the one that shows Durnstein to Melk so you can see the frequency and duration of the buses. We were on that bus a couple of weeks ago in the Melk to Durnstein direction. It's great. Many buses a day - no problem. I can't answer where to board in Durnstein, unfortunately. Try the tourist information office for that info.

Even though the poster said the bus schedule link was "from Melk to Durnstein," it's the one that shows Durnstein to Melk

The link gives you the full bus schedule in either direction, 4 pages in total. The first two pages show the direction upstream along the Danube river, the other downstream.

Thank you all for the very helpful information. I will only be in Melk for one day (cruise stop) and will go tour the Melk abbey in the morning I've read/heard a lot about the beauty of the region and really want to do the bike ride from Melk to Durnstein/Krem. Two questions:
1. Other than Nextbike, does anyone have a bike shop to recommend for renting a bike in Melk and drop of in Durnstein/Krem?
2 Do I have enough time to do the bike ride in the afternoon ad get back to Melk (by bus) in time? I will be on a Viking Danube cruise if that gives you any more clarity.

Thanks again.
Mei

Emily and wmt1,

Thank you both for sharing your knowledge about the area. Like many travelers, I am very grateful.

About the bus schedule: I did look at the table for Durnstein to Melk direction. What confused me is that many buses seem to "skip" the section between Spitz and Schwallenbach. Does this mean these buses take an alternative route that "connect these two stops in 3 min? Or does it mean I need to catch a different line at Spitz to continue? I know I am showing my ignorance (not being able to read German doesn't help), but thought it's better than losing precious time on the road trying to figure this out. Thank you.

Mei

What confused me is that many buses seem to "skip" the section between Spitz and Schwallenbach.

Time table reading 101:
Every horizontal line in a time table stands for a station or a stop. A vertical bar in a column crossing a horizontal line means that a bus/train does not service that particular station or stop, but continues further following the vertical bar down.

In that particular case nothing is "skipped", i.e. Spitz and Schwallenbach are only 2 miles away, therefore the 3 minutes ride. Most busses go that route, but some special ones, marked with "Z" on the top of the column go a different route. The stops of that alternate route had been inserted into the time table, thus splitting Spitz and Schwallenbach in the print.

wmt1,

Many thanks for your explanation. The time tale makes perfect sense now.

A follow-up question, do these buses have bike racks that would allow passengers to bring their bikes on board too? Not sure if I will be able to rent a bike that can be dropped off at a different location. Thanks.

Mei

There is a special version of the WL1 bus called the radtramper which runs typically twice/day and allows bikes. Here's the most recent schedule I could find:

http://www.ooevv.at/upload/content/RAD-TRAMPER_2016.pdf

Normal WL1 bus does not allow bikes.

Thank you, Emily! That's really helpful.