Vienna day trips

From Vienna: The Abbey at Melk is a good day trip. Bratislava the cap of Slovakia is also a commond day trip (neve done it). Some people go as far as Salzburg for a night. Reports are mixed but I'm intrigued enough to put it on a future list. Halfway between Vienna and Budapest (1.5 hours on the direct rail line) is Gyor which has a great old center, square, markets, synagogue, rivers, etc. And best of all the Archabbey at Pannonhalma is a cab ride away http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannonhalma_Archabbey 3.5 hours by direct train is Budapest. You could actually take a 7 or 8 am train out of Vienna be in Budapest before noon, spend the day on your own or with a guide to cover more ground more quickly and then catch a 8 pm train back to Vienna and be back in your bed by midnight. Its a little agressive but not terribuly so. By car or guide with a car you can cut about 3 minutes each way.

Hi, In Austria Graz or Eisenstadt in Burgenland, the latter if you're interested in classical music. Both are very doable time-wise.

You are right; Prague and Budapest are too far for comfortable one day trip. If you want to visit Czech Republic for one day trip then I would suggest Brno or Lednice. There are many direct trains from Vienna to Brno and vice versa. It takes depending on train slightly less or more than two hours. For schedule check Deutsche Bahn. What to see in Brno: cathedral Petrov, climb the tower for views, castle Spilberk. Just walk through Masaryk Street- a lot of shopping, visit vegetable Market on Vegetable Square, visit TI in Old City Hall where they can answer your questions. Depending on your interest you can see Mendel Monastery and Museum where this founder of genetics did his experiments. Not too far from the center (take streetcar) there is Tugendhat villa which is on UNESCO heritage list. Worth for fans of architecture. Or by city bus you can get to Austerlitz battlefield where is a monument and museum. Worth for history fans. Or you can go to chateau Lednice (more information in Rick Steves book: Prague and the Czech Republic or google Lednice). You can see chateau, tropical greenhouse, minaret there. All of it is in a big park. Park connects to Valtice chateau where is Salon of Wine. It's on UNESCO heritage list. Check: http://www.salonvin.cz Site is also in English. To get to Lednice: get of Wien-Brno train in Breclav and take bus to Lednice. Check schedule on idos.cz It's also in English. Or you can also take taxi from Breclav to Lednice. It's only 10 km.

Thanks!! These recommendations are exactly what I was looking for!!

For an upcoming visit to Vienna, we're looking at a day trip to Bratislava using Twin City Liner, a high speed river boat on the Danube to get there in the morning and then return by train in the evening. Travel time is about the same, about 1.5 hours; the boat is $40, the train $26.

Vienna to Bratislava is about 50 miles center to center. It takes a little less than an hour by car. By train you can get there in as little as an hour and ten minutes to which you have to add the time to get to the station, and lead time at the station. So if you are the least bit nervous it's closer to a two hour endeavor. The high speed boat once (and maybe still does) go to Budapest. I've never been on it but people who have said it was loud and bumpy; but an experience and travel is about experiences. The boat will also cost you a somewhat more than the train. If there were four of you a car and driver might not be much more expensive.

We spent a lovely day in Sopron, Hungary, which is right on the border with Austria and would make an easy day trip. It has a beautiful town center and some quirky little museums. We have a particular interest in Hungary and Roman history and found that the day we allotted to Sopron was only barely enough time. Without those specific interests, it would be nice place to spend a relaxing day, see some of Hungary, have a long lunch, and return to Vienna for a late dinner.