We thought it was just going to be a boat ride, similar to the many we have been on in Europe. But we were simply amazed at the beauty of the terraced hillsides (vineyards) and towns/castles along the banks of the Danube. We took a bus/boat tour from Vienna, a 1/2 day excursion, about 45 minutes from Vienna. We stopped... More

Absolutely loved the Wachau region. We decided to take the train from Vienna to Melk, bike to Krems, and take train back. From everything I had read the bike ride wasn't supposed to last more than 2-3 hours. Wrong! It took us 3 hrs or so (with a couple stops along the way) just to get to Spitz. By that... More

Apricot candles, candies, liquor, schnapps, brandy, jam, wine, juices, anything apricot is here. It is worth an hour of shopping and an hour for lunch in this basically one street town. Loved the steep stone paved street coming down from the Abby. The Abby plus the town is a nice 3-4 hour visit.

The second thing I will tell you about is that we did the trip to the Wachau Valley with the fantastic help of the TA experts. It works like clockwork just like they tell you. One thing - when you go to the train station at 06:15 there are very few people to ask where to buy the tickets. It... More

We took the advice of excellent and experienced tripadvisor contributors like Vertical and others and did the the trip on our own; its cheaper and more relaxed; no rushing from one place to the other. We took an early train from Westbahnhof to Melk, a pleasant 1.h 15m trip.We spent the whole morning in Melk. We went on purpose on... More

Austria is stunningly beautiful and this particular area is more so with deep valleys, quaint villages and towering castles. It appears to be the most beautiful part of the Danube River. We enjoyed the library at the Abbey at Melk, but if you've seen an abbey before, you could probably take a pass, although the view from on top is... More

We had an idyllic bike ride in the Wachau Valley. The only problem was in coming into Melk a steep hill (I walked up). But when we got there, we were rewarded by a guided tour of Melk Abbey. The richly jeweled chalices, the tapestries and especially the library. The chapel makes you wonder how the church could have a... More