Hi,
I have one last thing to finalize for my honeymoon trip in August and I could use some advice. We are going to be travelling from Salzburg to Vienna and either stopping for a night in Melk or Weissenkirchen. I know the distance between Salzburg and Vienna does not require an overnight, but we thought it would be nice to stay somwhere along the Danube. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Strongly consider Durnstein, near Melk but smaller, cuter though Melk has the famous abbey and is also very nice. Durnstein is exceptional. Never heard of White Church.

Durnstein is very nice, if you want a nice place to stay there:
http://www.stockingerhof.com/
Weissenkirchen is better; far less touristy, from there you can go visit Durnstein. Ideal place to stay in this village is:
http://www.holzapfel.at/
Absolutely ideal for a romantic honeymoon trip. Melk is okay to visit for the Abbey, but I would opt for staying in Weissenkirchen.

Melk is a much bigger, somewhat more touristy town than Weissenkirchen. Weissenkirchen is a small village on the Danube with several b&b's (many of them are wineries). We stayed at Schmeltz's and loved it.

In my opinion, Weissenkirchen is a much better choice for an overnight than Melk.

Definitly visit the Melk Abbey however.
This is a very nice site with fantastic views of the Danube.
Much renovation recently completed to restore it to its former beauty.

Melk is about 2 hours by auto from salzburg.

Cross the Danube at Melk and continue to Weissenkirchen.About 15 minutes by auto.

Much to see - the Church- usually an art or historical exhibit in some of the old buildings- just walk along the streets. Stop somewhere and sample the wine. This is a central wine growing town and well known for excelent white wine.

A small ferry can take you across the danube for good phots of the town too.

Many more accomodation choices than Melk.

One very nice place- the Rafflesbergerhof

www.rafflesbergerhof.at

in a 18th century building- beautiful rooms.



Dürnstein is a nice place - but small and overrun with tourists daily in August- a stop for every bus tour and Danube cruise boat.
With really just one street and a river promenade it gets very crowded and I did not mention the bikers that also compete for space in the street.

Only in the evening does it become a little more quiet in August

From Weissenkirchen to Vienna about 1 hour 15 minutes- an easy drive.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
We are not planning on renting a car, unfortunately neither of us is comfortable driving manual and we've heard horror stories from people who reserved automatic and ended up with manual.
anyway, if we go to weissenkirchen, are there good train connections to vienna and salzburg? does anyone have experience with that?
Thanks again!

A regional train runs to Weissenkirchen through nice scenery along the danube from Krems.

The train from/to Weissenkirchen is timed to run just a few minutes before or after the train Krems- Vienna.

Thus an easy connection to Vienna- travel time about 1 hour 15-20 minutes. Trains are comfortable and clean. many use it.

You arrive in Vienna at the Franz Josef Bahnhof- an easy ride on the streetcar D from city center.

Look to the Ausstrian rail website for schedules etc.

www.oebb.at

For Salzburg you can use the same website- Regional train from Weissenkirchen to Krems- then Krems - to-St. Polten - where you will get train to Salzburg. Or the reverse if you come from Salzburg.

Weissenkirchen is a small place - no trouble to walk to hotel from the station.

Easy transfers.