Greekgazoo

We will be staying in Vienna in September and would like to visit bot Melk (Abby) and the city of Krems. I would imagine that we will be taking a train from Vienna to either Krems or Melk first, then traveling btwn the two small cities and then back to Vienna at the end of the day. We would like to take boat at some point, either between Melk and Krems or Krems/Melk back to Vienna. Can anyone provide any assistance on how they would approach this day of our trip. Which city to travel to first? Take a boat from which two cities? How long is the boat ride back to Vienna from these cities?

THANKS,

GreekGazoo

MaureenB

You can purchase a very reasonably priced Combi-pass at the train station that will give you all the transportation options you name. The pass also includes entry to the Melk abbey, which is definitely worth a visit. We bought ours the day of travel, and had no problem getting it (this was in mid-June '05).

Using this pass, we took the train to Melk, visited the abbey, had a snack in the pretty abbey garden, walked to the boat dock, took the boat to Krems and enjoyed the scenery, than walked to the train depot in Krems (a long walk), and took the train back to Vienna. I think you can do it differently, but this is how we used the transportation pass.

It made a very nice day trip. I don't remember the exact transit times, though.
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tcreath

We did a similar trip a few years ago and had a lovley time. I can't help with the Vienna portion because we did this from Salzburg and had a car, but what we did was drive to Melk to see the abbey (which is magnificent), then drove to Krems, dropped our car, rented bikes and biked down to Spitz, picked up the boat and rode back to Krems to pick up our car. Seeing the valley and riding through the small towns on bikes made it a fantastic day.

Tracy

danon

There is a long walk from the boat to the train station in Krems.
We walked to Krems, had a glass of wine ( after all the beer on the boat), then after a while took a train to Vienna.
The tourist office at the train station gave us all the information .

molker

As mentioned above , a combi ticket is available for this day trip.
About 40 euro inclusive.
You can buy it at the Westbahnhof on the day you travel.

Just to add to the prior good advice-
I would suggest the train from Vienna to Melk.

Train schedule

www.oebb.at
The entrance fee to the Abbey is included. This is a beautiful baroque Benedictine Abbey. Fantastic views of the Danube.
From the Abbey - about a 15 minute walk to the boat dock.
The Danube cruise takes you to Krems passing beautiful villages and vineyards.

boat schedule
www.ddsg-blue-danube.at

You will leave the boat in the neighborhood of Stein- an interesting place with old buildings, narrow streets.

A tip - behind the Kunst Museum next to the University campus is a small train station.
You can get a regional train there for the short trip 5 minutes to the main Krems train station then transfer for the 1 hour train trip back to Vienna.
Or get a taxi to the station from boat dock - -or walk probably 20 minutes - 3 kilometers.

No boat back to Vienna. would be too long and not interesting a ride anyway