The Best Day Trips from Vienna

The 7 best day trips, ranked

Ordered by how well they repay a full day - factoring travel time, what you can actually see, and how easy they are without a car.

1. 1

   Bratislava

   Another capital, an hour away

   80 km east · ~1 hr by train

   A second capital city for the price of a commuter fare. The old town is small, cobbled and walkable in an afternoon: Michael's Gate, the Maximilian Fountain, St Martin's Cathedral, and the blocky white castle on the hill above with grounds you can walk for free and an interior costing about 10 EUR. It is noticeably cheaper than Vienna for lunch and beer, which is part of the appeal. Be honest with yourself about scale - most people see the centre and leave, and the centre is genuinely small.

   Getting there: Direct trains leave Vienna Hauptbahnhof regularly and take about an hour; if you are staying in the south of the city, some also run from Wien Simmering. The combined Bratislava return ticket, which bundles the train with local transport at the other end, costs around 19 EUR for an adult and 9.50 EUR for a child. Boats along the Danube also make the run, and several tours pair a coach out with a catamaran back.

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2. 2

   Wachau Valley: Melk and Durnstein

   Abbey, vineyards and a Danube boat

   90 km west · ~1 hr by train to Melk

   The best single day out from Vienna. Melk Abbey is a yellow baroque monastery on a rock above the river with a library and church that stop people mid-sentence. Then you get on a boat and drift past terraced vineyards, apricot orchards and hilltop ruins to Durnstein, the blue-towered village where Richard the Lionheart was held for ransom. Doing it in that direction matters: downstream is faster and you arrive at the prettier end with the afternoon light. A standard day runs 8 to 10 hours door to door.

   Getting there: The efficient version, and the one locals recommend: train from Vienna to Melk in about an hour, often 9 to 11 EUR one way if you book ahead, then the early-afternoon boat downstream to Durnstein and a train back from Krems. The Krems to Durnstein boat runs about 23 EUR one way or 26 EUR return; the full scenic Krems to Melk stretch is roughly 37 EUR one way or 44 EUR return. Melk Abbey entry is about 16 EUR.

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3. 
   3

   Salzburg

   Mozart and mountains, if you start early

   300 km west · ~2 hr 30 by train each way

   Mozart's birthplace, a fortress on a crag, baroque squares and the Sound of Music locations, wrapped in mountains. It is a wonderful city and it is genuinely doable as a day trip by train if you take the earliest departure and the latest return, giving you roughly six hours on the ground. The honest advice is that Salzburg rewards an overnight far more than a dash, and if you only have one day for a long trip, the Wachau gives you more for less travel.

   Getting there: Fast direct trains run Vienna to Salzburg in about two and a half hours each way, which makes a five-hour round trip before you have seen anything. Book ahead for the cheaper fares. Coach tours also run but take longer.

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4. 
   4

   Hallstatt

   The famous view, if you can stay over

   300 km west · ~4 hr each way by public transport

   The most photographed village in Austria: pastel houses stacked on a lakeshore under a mountain wall, with a salt mine above and a boat crossing that provides the famous view. It is beautiful and it is completely overrun at midday, and the village has been vocal about the crowds. As a day trip from Vienna the maths is brutal - eight hours of travel for a village you can walk across in fifteen minutes. Do it as an overnight, or on the way between Vienna and Salzburg, not as a return dash.

   Getting there: There is no quick way. By public transport it is a train and a connection, around four hours each way, and the classic arrival involves a small ferry across the lake to the village. Coach tours from Vienna exist and are long.

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5. 
   5

   Baden bei Wien

   Spa town on a tram fare

   26 km south · ~1 hr by tram

   A Habsburg spa town of sulphur baths, a casino, a rose garden and Beethoven's summer lodgings, at the edge of the Vienna Woods. It is where Vienna went to take the waters, and it still functions that way rather than as a tourist set piece. Good for a half day, a thermal soak and a walk in the vineyards, and it is the easiest trip on this list to do on a whim.

   Getting there: The Badner Bahn, a local tram, runs from central Vienna to Baden in about an hour on ordinary regional fares. It is one of the cheapest and least stressful trips here, with departures every fifteen minutes or so.

6. 6

   Danube Bend: Budapest

   A third capital, if you commit to the early train

   240 km east · ~2 hr 30 by train each way

   A third capital within day-trip range, and the most spectacular of the three. Five hours of travel for a city of this size is a hard trade, so this only works if you take the first train out and the last one back, and accept you will see the Parliament, the river and one thermal bath rather than the city. If Budapest interests you at all, two nights beats one long day by a wide margin.

   Getting there: Direct trains run Vienna to Budapest in about two and a half hours each way. Book in advance for the low fares, which can be very cheap on this route.

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7. 7

   Vienna Woods and Mayerling

   Forest, abbey and an underground lake

   30 km southwest · ~1 hr by bus and train

   The wooded hills where Vienna goes walking, with three specific draws: Heiligenkreuz, a working Cistercian abbey with Romanesque cloisters and monks who still sing the hours; the Seegrotte, an underground lake in a former gypsum mine you cross by boat; and Mayerling, the hunting lodge where the Crown Prince died in 1889 and took the Habsburg succession with him. Good for a half day and easy to combine with a wine tavern on the way back.

   Getting there: Regional buses and trains reach the main stops southwest of the city in about an hour. Half-day coach tours cover the loop of Mayerling, the Seegrotte underground lake and Heiligenkreuz Abbey in one go, which is the efficient way to see all three.

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Day trips from other cities