I would like an honest opinion on part of our planned family trip this July. We will have two nights in Vienna then plan to hire a car to drive to Salzburg, stopping at Melk Abbey, then two nights in Salzburg. From reading the many excellent posts in this forum I know that the drive to Salzburg is about 3.5 hours and that we need to spend about 2 hours in Melk (including the tour) so this is an easy one day trip. We have now decided we would like to do the Melk to Krems boat cruise which really complicates things a bit. My question is, do we have time to drive to Melk, look around and do 10:55 tour, take 13:50 boat cruise to Krems, walk to train, take train back to Melk to pick up our car and then drive on to Salzburg. I know it sounds like a very intense day - is it way too ambitious? Would we be better off without the car and using trains? (remembering we have luggage so the car is convenient for storing). If we drive, should we spend the night somewhere else and drive to Salzburg the next morning? I would appreciate any opinions or suggestions.
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Several problems with your plan.
The auto trip Vienna - Melk is an easy drive - less than 1 1/2 hours.
Melk and the Abbey are less than 5 minutes from the Wstautobahn - the road to Salzburg.
The Abbey has a large parking lot. From the Abbey to boat docks an easy 5 minute drive and adequate parking near to the docks.
The boat ride is very nice and I highly recommend it.
But the easiest train back to Melk is one going along the east side of the river.
Melk is on the other side of the Danube.
Trains run about every hour. If by train only - you must walk across the Danube Bridge - this is some distance - a walkway is provided - shared with bikes.
You can make a connection via St. Polten , but this takes some extra time.
for train info
www.oebb.at
but you will see a possible connection from Krems to Spitz - then onward to downtown Melk via a bus.
This a very easy connection as the bus waits for the train directly at the Spitz train station.
The train ride Krems - Spitz is very nice passing through vineyards and also provides a close look at the little towns.
This is a very nice area and you may wish to consider a stay overnight in Melk or the town of Emmersdorf just across the river .
Much cheaper than Salzburg and the next morning onward to Salzburg- less than 2 hours by car.
The journey also possible using just the train.
Melk station has storage lockers for luggage.
if you wish more info just ask .
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Thanks Vertical - as usual you are full of good advice!
I did see the train to Spitz with the connecting bus to Melk but wasn%26#39;t sure how easy it would be for non-locals to catch this (know where bus is etc). From what you say it does sound easy enough.
I%26#39;m inclined to think you are right and that a stopover in Melk would be a good idea, but if we did decide to carry on to Salzburg that evening would we be better off driving or training? I guess what I want to know is, will we see more by driving (more scenery)? What time does it get dark mid July? If we are driving from 18:00 to 20:00ish will it still be light anyway?
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Happy that you saw the connection already.
Spitz is a small but very nice town.
The train station is just a very small building - fitting the size otf the town.
the bus will will be parked immediately next to the station. 15 seconds walk . Of course with the destination posted clearly on it. . Probably you will not be the only one making this transfer.
regarding train versus driving.
The drive very easy - autobahn in generally good condition for the entire distance- much recently renovated. They may do some new repairs this time too but normally no real problems.
The scenery not that great in my opinion, but I drive this way fairly often and forget about looking.
Mostly country side - numerous farms - passing some towns- only the last few kilometers before Salzburg are interesting - including the Mondsee.
The train runs almost in the same area as the autobahn so scenery is much the same.
The city of salzburg is not really greaat for cars, but if you plan excursions into the Lake region or elsewhere - the car is good and much easier with luggage.
July - darkness - perhaps 20:30 - 21:00 so no lighting problems for your drive.
Auto does provide more flexibility and avoid waits for trains or the stress to get to the station on time.
From melk to salzburg requires a change of train as you probably know already.
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vertical, thank you once again for taking the time to answer my questions - and you do it so well! I now have all the information I need to make a decision without all the stress of wondering if I%26#39;m doing the right thing. Cheers!
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You are most welcome - if you have more questions just ask.
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