I%26#39;m trying to decide where to stay in the Wachau region. I%26#39;m looking at both the Richard Lowenherz and Schloss Durnstein. While similar in terms of location, views, pool, ability to rent bikes (all important to me), I%26#39;m curious if one is generally considered %26quot;nicer%26quot; than the other (quality of rooms, food, grounds). Neither seems to offer balcony rooms, which I would have liked. Also, I%26#39;ve read that Durnstein is touristy. Would I be better off in Weisskirchen or elsewhere for that purpose or does it not matter if we aim to bike during the day and return to the town at afternoon/evening? Is one location better than another for restaurants? Thanks!
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Answered your message.
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We did the exact same thing and rented bikes for four days. It was a complete blast and our daughter still talks about Dürnstein, even though she was three at the time and it was two years ago.
We loved our stay at the Hotel Blondel Sänger, where we had the best balcony room in the world. Our view included the Dürnstein monastery%26#39;s chapel as well the Richard the Lionhearted castle ruins. Both are lit up at night. While not as fancy as the two you have looked at, relaxing on the chaise lounges on the balcony is the the deal-clincher. There%26#39;s only one balcony room though, the appartmente.
Breakfast is a treat, too, served in a lovely garden with yet another view of the chapel%26#39;s tower. Breakfast includes a homemade apricot strudel to die for.
Best of all, though, about the Blondel Sänger is that our train was way way late and we arrived after the kitchen had closed. They stayed up late to put together a lovely cold platter and brought out refreshing local wine and we felt we were in heaven. (I wrote an extensive review only to have my computer crash, so never attempted one again.)
We rented bikes from:
http://www.rentawachaubike.at/
They dropped off and picked up, and included a kid%26#39;s seat as well. Great service, nice bikes.
The tourists land late in the morning and clear out before dinner time. Weird how it is almost all day-trippers, and not even really that. (Call them two-hour-trippers.) By nine o%26#39;clock, the town is magically quiet. Also, the mornings are lovely. We had the ruins all to ourselves at 11 AM.
Best of all is riding the bike and pedestrian ferry across the Danube from Dürnstein and back. No, let me change that. Best of all is everything! We loved that little town.
Definitely Dürnstein since it is well-located for two great restaurants, Loibnerhof and Jamek. We enjoyed Loibnerhof to no end, it was fabulous. Jamek we screwed up on, so didn%26#39;t go.
One bit of advice for bike riding: The incline, while slight going upstream, is a pain after a while. Riding downstream is a breeze. Try to take the boat or train upstream and then ride downstream (or vice versa, ride downstream and take the boat back). We took the boat to Melk then rode back on that side.
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Hi, I am interested to know what hotel you decided on as we are trying also decide where to stay along the Danube.
Thanks
Bev
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