Great Itineraries

The districts surrounding Vienna are compact, and each can be explored in a day or two.

If You Have 1 Day

East of Vienna: The elegant Baroque castle at Schlosshoff, near Marchegg is your destination. Tour the castle and its formal gardens before heading to the ancient Roman site of Carnuntum, where you can delve deeper into the past. Keep in mind: Schlosshof is only 15 mi from the center of Bratislava in Slovakia. It would be ideal to combine a day at Schlosshof with an overnight in Bratislava.

If You Have 1 Day

South of the Danube: To get a taste of the fringes of the Vienna Woods to the capital's south and west, head for Mödling and Baden. Both are smaller communities with unspoiled 17th-century town centers on a scale easy to assimilate. The route to Baden runs through the band of rolling wooded hills that mark the eastern edge of the Vienna Woods. These hills are skirted by vineyards forming a "wine belt," which also follows the valleys south of Vienna.

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North of the Danube: To enjoy the rolling hills and vast expanses of vineyards (and to sample their output), seek out the Weinviertel to the north of Vienna. Retz, a charming town near the Czech border, is known for its reds, which you can taste in a windmill vinothek.