Wachau Valley

Posted by Kyle (Richmond, Virginia, USA) on 03/28/24 03:39 PM

We will be in Vienna in May and want to spend a day in Wachau Valley. I have read Rick's "Day Out in the Danube's Wachau Valley" and still have few questions. We will train to Melk and then bike or boat to Krems and return to Vienna in evening.

*How long should we plan to tour town of Melk and Abbey?

*Should we get tickets to Abbey ahead of time or are we safe in getting them at the Abbey? .

*If we take boat, where do we catch it in Melk? Can we hop-on and hop-off at towns along river, What towns are "must see" if we have to limit our time?
*Is it reasonable to make this trip independently in a day from Vienna?
Thanks in advance for for providing any more info or suggestions from anyone who has done this trip.

Posted by Cath

Port Townsend, WA

03/28/24 04:26 PM

33 posts

I just sent a request to the Wachau "chamber of commerce" and they sent me a bunch of info. We too are looking to see the Melk Abbey and visit Krems.
Here is the address where you can download the info brochures for the region.
https://www.donau.com/en/wachau-nibelungengau-kremstal/information-service/ordering-downloading-brochures/

They also shared the boat trip scheduling site- http://www.ddsg-blue-danbube.at/
And the train site for looking at train schedules- https://fahrplan.oebb.at/bin/query.exe/en?

Hope this helps!

Posted by christa

alameda, ca, usa

03/28/24 04:57 PM

2695 posts

I did this day trip a few years ago using a combination ticket from OBB, not sure if it's still offered--train from Vienna to Melk (about a 10 minute walk up to the Abbey), Abbey entrance ticket was included (though you can easily buy it upon arrival) and I spent about 1.5 hours on a guided tour and then walked down to the charming little town and explored a bit before having lunch. So, maybe 3 hrs total for the Abbey + time in Melk. The main street in Melk leads down to the Danube and there are signs to the boat docks, allow 10 minutes to walk there. The boat also stopped at Durnstein, then on to Krems where I exited. Krems looked interesting but I was unfortunately dealing with a very painful blistered heel so instead of checking out the town as I planned to do I caught the bus to the train station to head back to Vienna around 4 pm. Still, all in all it was a lovely day out of Vienna and very easy to do.

Posted by Diane M

04/01/24 05:15 PM

114 posts

My daughter and I are hoping to go to Vienna at the end of May and we also wish to visit Melk. Do we need to book the train in advance, or is it possible to buy train tickets at the station the morning we intend to go to Melk? I would love to bike from Melk to Krems, but it sounds like it would take too long, since we intend to return to Vienna the same day. Has anyone used the bus to go from Melk to Krems? The RS guide suggests that it's more flexible than the boat, allowing opportunities to stop along the way and visit some of the villages. I'm interested in feedback from anyone who has done this!