Like every European capital, Vienna offers a wide range of things to do to keep you entertained for more than one visit. Whether it is your first time, or you are just back for a chilled rendezvous with the city of music, you will surely love your time in Vienna. However, we recommend remembering the plethora of options for day trips from Vienna, and choosing the city as a base for your bigger vacation!
Located on the Danube, at the easternmost extension of the Alps in the Vienna Basin, the city is surrounded by amazing opportunities to spend a day outdoors. Food and wine aficionados will find delightful traditional village restaurants and taverns to satisfy their appetite, while culture addicts can explore the region’s rich history and heritage. Furthermore, distances in this part of Europe are fairly small, making it possible to reach other outstanding capitals within a short drive. The best option is to pan your Vienna itinerary, (be sure to get a Vienna city card,) then planning a few days trips from Vienna to complete your holiday.
I am Anca and you’ve met me before, I am a long-term expat who fell in love with and in Vienna ten years ago. As a young family, we share our enthusiasm for Vienna and Europe on our blog, where we also offer personalized itineraries to our readers. Since we have a toddler we also purchased a car, and this has made the search for destinations for short trips from Vienna a weekly debate in our house. We gladly expand our repertoire almost every weekend, so if you are ever in Vienna planning a day trip, do make sure to let us know. We’ll happily share our knowledge with you and tailor your itinerary according to interests/time/budget.
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10 Amazing Day Trips from Vienna
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Bratislava
The capital of neighboring Slovakia is only 60 km from Vienna, making it an ideal destination for a day trip. The two cities are interlinked to such an extent that they form a single metropolitan area with 3 million inhabitants. The nicest way to reach Bratislava is with the Twin City Liner, a boat that runs regular services between the two capitals on the Danube. A vibrant city that features a medieval town center of romantic cobblestone streets, a castle overlooking the Danube from atop a cliff, and a modern, lively attitude and flair, Slovakia’s capital offers plenty of great sightseeing and shopping opportunities, as well as some great restaurants and beer pubs.
If you prefer someone else do the planning and the driving for you day trips from Vienna, you can reserve your trip to Bratislava right now!
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Vienna Woods
The Vienna Woods (Wienerwald) are the green lung of the area, a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve at the foothill of the Alps, easily reachable from the city by public transportation. There are walking and hiking trails of different lengths and difficulty that are clearly marked, as well as some very well-maintained parks in the area. Organized day trips in the Wienerwald will invariably take you to Seegrotte Hinterbrühl, Europe’s largest underground lake. It was accidentally formed in 1912 when a blast flooded a former gypsum mine with 20 million liters of water. A friendly and affable guide will tell you the secrets of this grotto during your boat trip on the underground lake. Suffice to say that you can actually have your wedding party here, and that the Nazis used it as a production factory for their jet fighters.
Another famous location in the Vienna Woods is the former imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling where Crown Prinz Rudolf (the direct heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his mistress were mysteriously found dead in 1889.
No guide of the area is complete without mentioning the Roman spa town of Baden. Step into the world of the Habsburg Empire while admiring the villas in the pedestrian town center. Baden used to be the summer residence of the imperial family and is home to one of Europe’s largest casinos and a thermal spa that features a 2,500 square metres freely supported glass roof and a hot outdoor pool.
Worth mentioning are also the Cistercian Abbey at Heiligenkreuz which stands its ground since 1133 and the Romanesque Liechtenstein Castle dating from around the same time. To learn about the fantastic history of the family that owned it for more than 900 years, make sure to book a guided tour in advance
If you prefer someone else do the planning and the driving for you day trips from Vienna, you can reserve your trip to the Vienna Woods right now!
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Wine-making villages
Impressed already? Mind you, it gets even better, as the Vienna Woods are famous for the authentic wine-making villages scattered everywhere. They are among the locals avorite day trips from Vienna. Enjoy a meal in the carefree atmosphere of cozy taverns or directly in the vineyards. Listen to the live music, and if you are lucky you might catch a glimpse of the local folklore about the Vienna Woods that is so dear to the hearts of the Viennese and has inspired Beethoven and Strauss.
Public transportation will take you to the Viennese neighborhood of Grinzing, the most famous wine producing village within the city limits. From here, you can take a bus or hike to Kahlenberg, the highest point in the area, which the Viennese regard as their own private mountain. As you descend through the vineyards for your dinner with magnificent vistas over the city, you will definitely understand why Vienna has been declared the world’s most livable city for nine years in a row!
Our favorite village in the area is Gumpoldskirchen, although we would never say no to a stroll in Mödling or Bad Vöslau.
Melk Abbey and the Wachau Valley
The Benedictine monastery in the small town of Melk is located atop a steep cliff overlooking the Danube. If you are not one to be blown away by its majestic Baroque library, a river cruise on the Danube will surely do the trick. The 40 km valley between Melk and Krems is renowned for its excellent wines, savory apricots, romantic castle ruins, and traditional villages. It was inscribed in the list of World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO as the “Wachau cultural landscape”. If you do not want to book an organized trip, it is very easy to plan your own day trip from Vienna, as train connections run regularly between Melk/Krems and Vienna.
If you prefer someone else do the planning and the driving for you day trips from Vienna, you can reserve your trip to Melk right now!
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Hallstatt
This charming settlement in the Salzkammergut lakes region is probably the most photographed village in the world. Surprisingly, massive tourism has not decreased the authenticity of the ancient salt mine village, the core of the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape area, on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1997. Spending a day here feels like stepping back in time. From Vienna you can reach Hallstatt by driving, although organized day trips are easily found. We recommend the one offered by the Austrian Railways that includes the two-way train ride, a boat transfer from the train station, a guided tour of the salt mine, and free entrance to the panorama platform. It allows you to schedule the day flexibly and see things at your own pace, with plenty of time to wander around and take beautiful photos.
If you prefer someone else do the planning and the driving for you day trips from Vienna, you can reserve your trip to Halstatt right now!
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Salzburg
Mostly known as the birth city of Mozart, Salzburg’s size makes it an ideal destination for a day trip from Vienna. The charming old town center overlooked by a fortress will enchant you with magnificent views of the Alps and delicious Austrian cuisine. A promenade along the Salzach river will bring you to the Mirabell palace and its amazing Baroque gardens, from where you can admire the city’s skyline with its many spires and domes. Whether it’s Mozart, the world-renowned Salzburg Opera Festival, or The Sound of Music, Salzburg is a cultural city per excellence, and thus a mandatory addition to your Austrian itinerary.
If you need more ideas for what to do during your visit to Salzburg, you will find some amazing options in this Salzburg Itinerary. You will also want some amazing places to eat while you are there, so check out this vegan guide to Salzburg. The choices are scrumptious, whether you are vegan, or not.
Budapest
It does not happen often that I need a break from Vienna, but when I do, I simply hop on the train and spend a weekend in neighboring Hungary’s capital. Spoiled for choice, yes, I know. The direct train ride only takes about two and a half hours, thus one day is enough to discover “The Paris of the East”, its amazing architectural patrimony spanning from Baroque to Art Nouveau and world-renowned thermal springs. Go for a long walk on Castle Hill and admire the Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church, take a Danube cruise for breathtaking views of the famous Parliament House, and enjoy the hustle and bustle of lively Vaci street. A day cannot get more memorable than that!
If you prefer someone else do the planning and the driving for you day trips from Vienna, you can reserve your trip to Budapest right now!
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Carnuntum
Speaking of memorable days, I will always remember the day trip we took to the Archaeological Park Carnuntum, as we had the brilliant idea to bike the 42 km that separate it from Vienna. Talk about a long summer day…..The open air museum that presents the remains of the Roman city that housed the Pannonian army is outstanding, with several civilian houses rebuilt to recreate their original appearance. The remains of the fourth largest amphitheater in the Roman Empire are still used occasionally for concerts of performances, and if you want to save yourself the bike ride, direct local trains to Petronell-Carnuntum are running at regular intervals from Vienna.
Two palaces in one day – Schloss Hof and Niederweiden Palace
At the end of a 45 minutes’ drive from Vienna you can immerse yourself in the mesmerizing world of the Baroque at its best.
The magnificent Schloss Hof Baroque palace used to be the summer residence of Maria Theresa and Prince Eugen of Savoy, and it is Austria’s largest palace complex in the countryside. This idyllic imperial estate offers plenty of activities for your visit: temporary exhibition, exciting walks, themed gardens, rare breed animals, a park and a water playground for children.
A mere two kilometers away is the Niederweiden palace, built in the most elegant Baroque style and reminding of a French château. It used to be Prince Eugen of Savoy’s hunting lodge, and visitors can still enjoy exquisite venison dishes here, as well as outstanding pastry specialties in the patisserie.
To get you there by train, regular services run between Vienna’s Main Station and Marchegg.
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Neusiedler Lake
One of the few drawbacks of Austria’s natural landscape is that it is a landbound country, although it does not feel like one. Plenty of extraordinary lakes make up for that romantic atmosphere that only beautiful bodies of water dispense. The Neusiedler lake, about an hour drive out of Vienna, is the largest steppe lake in Central Europe. Surrounded by charming little villages like Rust or Mörbisch, it offers a plethora of options to spend a day outdoors, like sailing, swimming, or taking a bike ride around the lake. There is an opera festival in Mörbisch in summer and an outing to the area can be combined with a shopping spree at the Parndorf Designer Outlet where 160 designer shops, cafés, play areas, and restaurants await you.
Which of our day trips from Vienna will you put in your plans?
Certainly this is not an exhaustive list of Vienna day trips. We wanted to give you a combination of our favorites, plus a few you probably wouldn’t read about on other sites.
Being located in the heart of Europe gives the Viennese a myriad of choices for a quick getaway, and our 10 require no more than 2.5 hours of travel, at most. If you are planning to visit Vienna, keep in mind that it makes an ideal base for a more extensive travel list. It will be much simpler to remain in the same lodging for several nights, while getting out to experience the amazing Vienna day trip options, rather than changing hotels night after night.
If you are planning your first trip to Vienna, make sure you read our guide to plan your Vienna holiday!
And, make sure to PIN this!
Anca is only the voice of Dream, Book, and Travel, a family travel blog started together with her husband Sinan. They are a Romanian/Turkish couple who call Vienna their home for ten years, but who have lived and studied abroad for most of their adult life. They believe that travel is part of one’s journey and not a break from it, and that every destination/holiday can be made special if approached from the right angle. To convince you of this, they offer personalized itineraries in Vienna and Europe, as well as book suggestions, and family travel ideas. You can find them on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram.
