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Travel to Vienna next week

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Hello. I am travelling to Vienna for a business conference next week then will take a few extra days to stay in Vienna and my son, who is studying for his fall semester in Madrid, will meet me there. We'll have 3 full days.

A few questions.
1. We would like to take the train to Melk then either ride bikes or take the boat to Krems then back to Vienna. I see a combo fare on OBB but can't find any time tables. Do you just show up and there are boats ongoing leaving from Melk to Krems? Is it possible to bike half-way then boat half-way or it's all of nothing by boat from Melk to Krems? About how long does the bike ride take?
2. We obviously don't have time to get to Halstatt, but is there any lake town close to Vienna that we might be able to take a day trip to visit?
3. I've read about the "Almabtrieb" which sounds like a sight to see but it doesn't seem like there are any of these events happening anywhere near Vienna and we may be too late in the season anyway. We will be there the weekend of October 13-15.

Thanks for any insider tips on the above.

Posted by
2274 posts

The OeBB Wachau-Ticket is what you need. You can take any train to Melk, but you must carefully check the timetables for the ships, e.g., when biking from Melk to Dürnstein to catch the last boat departure from Dürnstein to Krems.

https://kombitickets.railtours.at/en/kombitickets-austria/wachau-ticket

On the page to which the link above leads, there are links to the two river cruise companies which serve the route Krems-Melk-Krems:
DDSG Blue Danube
Brandner Schiffahrt

The Wachau-Ticket allows you free choice of transport.

Note that the ship's summer schedule ends October 8th, i.e., there is a reduced number of cruises at the time of your stay.

Bike rental: https://www.nextbike.at/en/niederoesterreich/
If you click on Locations and enter Wachau the pick-up and drop-off places will be shown.

Posted by
371 posts

You may want to consider Bratislava. It is very easy to get to and a short trip. My husband and I had a great time visiting Bratislava for the day. We took a bus from the Vienna airport, but there are train, bus and boat options to get there depending on where you are staying.

We found this amazing pub via asking a local shopkeeper where we should have lunch.

http://www.bratislavskarestauracia.sk/en/

Posted by
5513 posts

  1. There are two boat companies, Brandner and DDSG. https://www.brandner.at/en/small-wachau-cruise/ and https://ddsg-blue-danube.at/cruises-wachau/?lang=en are the links. I would recommend touring the Abbey, boat to Duernstein and then bike to Krems train station. The dock in Krems is a long, long walk from the train station anyway. You can do the boat ride in chunks. The bike ride times can be seen on Google Maps, but if you plan to stop along the way, then plan for it is take a good part of your afternoon.

  2. No, nothing like Hallstatt. You don't have time anyway, just enjoy Vienna for your remaining 2 days.

  3. Almabtrieb happen in the Tirol, which is about 5-6 hours away from Vienna. It is a mountain thing and Vienna is hardly even close to the Alps.

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