MS Austria, Wachau boat cruise???
 

Can anyone recommend the Wachau Valley boat cruise on the MS Austria? From what I can tell the cruise looks great and has a good prices. website http://www.brandner.at/partner/brandner

My only concern is getting from Vienna to Melk or Krems for the launch point...I am having trouble with the train ticket website. I have checked on oebb.at but I can not find this page in English.

Any help/comments on the cruise or getting train tickets would be most helpful.

Thanks
L

Finally, after 3 hours of trying I got the OEBB website to come up in English. Is it best to buy tickets now or wait till the day before my journey?

From what I saw there are only 3 trains leaving Veinna going to Melk and arriving before 8:20 am. I'm kinda worried about the trains being full and not getting tickets if I wait.

Any thoughts???

Thanks

I wouldn't worry about trains - Austria's amongst finest in Europe always seem to have room - but at rush hour? Could easily reserve in Vienna. Train to Melk, visit the historic and great abbey near the station, meander down to the boat dock, float to Durnstein - get off here if possible - really nice - old wine town with ruined castle of Richard-the-Lion-Hearted, or at least where he was imprisoned returning from some Crusade after being kidnapped. Can take train from here to Durnstein - few car train to Krems, change there for train to Vienna - commuter trains probably can't reserve. unless you need to be on that one boat there are frequent services Melk-Durnstein-Krems through the gorgeous vineyard-carpeted and castle-studded Wachau Valley so you wouldn't have to fight rush hour train traffic - about every two hours until about 4:30pm.
info: www.ddsg-blue-danube.at for schedules - no need to reserve boats i believe or even possible. Train fares each way so cheap no advantage in booking online i'd think. Note - if worried about seating buy a first class ticket - should have lots of seats to chose from then - cost still negible for these short trips.

No need to book before the day you plan to go or reserve a seat. Trains run frequently and are not full ( no such thing as rush hour ) You can buy a combination ticket for train - boat and Melk .
Look to : www.ddsg-blue-danube.at for info as mentioned before.
Both Brandner and DDSG boats leave Melk and arrive Krems near each other and have similar schedules.Boats are large and hold hundreds of tourists.
No need for first class ticket on train. In fact train Krems to Vienna has only one class and no reservation of seats.
This is a very nice day trip!

Thanks for the replies PalQ and Molker. I had only been checking into the Brander boat cruise but I will take a look at DDSG also. Thanks for the info on the train tickets.

Do either of you know on those boat tours can you do a round trip and return back to Melk or do you stop in Krems and take the train back from there.

Thanks again for the info!

This is a great idea...we may add it to our trip. I was hoping to get to Melk during our time in Vienna.

Thanks!
Anne

lexi asked:
Do either of you know on those boat tours can you do a round trip and return back to Melk or do you stop in Krems and take the train back from there.

Yes, you can do a round trip; it costs 21 EUR as opposed to 16 EUR one way. Look at the Brandner and DDSG web sites and plan you trip however you wish. Bear in mind that the boat dock is a considerble distance from the train station in both Melk and Krems.

A long way in Krems that's one reason i advise disembarking in Durnstein, a wonderful town to explore and then take the train from right in town to Krems, where you can look around and then rail back to Vienna. You will not miss much by not boating Durnstein-Krems - we actually walked from Durnstein to Krems - a lovely walk on small roads thru vineyards along the Danube - just a few miles.

Thanks again everyone for the info?

If I go to Melk or Krems is the distance so far that I can't walk to the boat dock or will I have to take a taxi. I just want to make sure I allow for enough time from the train station to make the cruise departure.

Anne - When are you going? We leave 4 weeks from today!!! I am so looking forward to this trip.

L

From the Melk trainstation ( Bahnhof) to the ship station is probably a 20 minute walk.
It is all downhill unless you visit the Abbey ( a must see) the Abbey is about half way to the ship station.
In Krems, the Danube boat docks some distance from the train station. I have seen a horse -drawn wagon there at busy times that could take you to the Station. Krems city bus also runs but I have no idea of the schedule. The town also has taxis.
Walking would take 20-25 minutes through the town of Krems.
Only downside of leaving the boat in Durnstein is the fact the the local trains connecting Durnstein and Krems only run about every 1 1/2 hours and usually have a 2 minute connection to the Vienna train.
The Vienna train is usually a double decked set of 4 cars -very easy to find.
Durnstein is worth a visit. Perhaps getting the next boat to Krems is the easiest way.

Lexi, I'm not going until next Spring. We leave the US on 3/9, and end the trip in Vienna, so we'll be there from April 7 through 13th (right before Easter)

Anne

Lexi, I was wondering if you did this boat trip...how was it? I'm planning on doing it on our trip...we leave in a week!!!

Anne