We will be traveling to Vienna in May, and are interested in taking a day trip to Melk. After reading about the area, I think we would also like to visit Durnstein along the way. Can anyone give me information about the trains in that area. Would we be able to go from Vienna to Melk by train, then take a train from Melk to Durnstein and on to Vienna in one day? Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks.

It's been a few years since we've done it, but we took the train to Melk in the morning, toured the abbey, had lunch, then took a boat on the Danube to Durnstein in the afternoon. You can then return to Vienna by bus or train. It makes for a great day.

we did the same but took the boat to Krems and train from Krems back to Vienna.
Great day trip!

Go to:
http://www.oebb.at/vip8/oebb/en/
That is the Austria National Railway site.
You can do it all by train, however, I recommend that you train to Melk from Vienna and from there take the boat down to Durnstein. There is another rail station at Durnstein for the trip back...I recommend staying overnight at Durnstein, great village at night after all the tourists have mostly gone. If you stay, try the Stockingerhof:
http://www.stockingerhof.com/
Great place with few tourists run by Peter and his wife...they have excellent wine there too.

Thanks to all of you so much for the information. This is extremely helpful.

Your plan makes a great day-trip from Vienna. We didn't detour to Durnstein, but took the train Vienna- Melk, boat to Krems, train back to Vienna. It was a beautiful day, and not too rushed, although we didn't spend time in Krems because the last train was departing soon. The boat passes by some vineyards, and I'd wished we were stopping at one.

The Melk monastery is amazingly beautiful and interesting. If you buy the Combi-Pass (if it's still available), you get all train/boat tickets, plus an entrance to the monastery. It's a great buy, about 39EUR apiece, I think.

Have fun!
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